Microsoft responds to partner feedback, brings back internal use rights benefit

Early this month, Microsoft announced that it will retire the internal use rights (IUR) association with the product licenses partners receive in the Microsoft Action Pack effective from July 1, 2020. Many partners criticized Microsoft’s decision. Microsoft even explained the reason behind this change. But due to overwhelming feedback from partners against this change, Gavriella Schuster, Corporate Vice President, One Commercial Partner, today published a blog post saying that they are bringing back internal use rights (IUR) for partners.  Read her full blog post below.

Over the last several days, we’ve heard from many of you about changes we were planning to make regarding benefits included with gold and silver competencies, and those in the Microsoft Action Pack. These included benefits related to internal use rights, or IUR — specifically the terms governing the use of product licenses to run partner businesses.

I want to thank you for sharing your feedback with us and would like to provide an update on partner benefits.

Your partnership and trust matters to us. Given your feedback, we have made the decision to roll back all planned changes related to internal use rights and competency timelines that were announced earlier this month. This means you will experience no material changes this coming fiscal year, and you will not be subject to reduced IUR licenses or increased costs related to those licenses next July as previously announced.

We listened to you, and we have acted.

Each year we review how we engage with partners and evolve our approach to ensure we provide best-in-class support to you and stay ahead of market changes. As we move forward, we commit to providing even more advance notice and consultation with our partner community to mitigate concerns and address issues up front. We will continue to invest in our partner program to ensure we create opportunities for all our partners.

Our decision to rescind these changes required a thorough review, and a key determining factor was the connection and trust we have with you, our partners — a valuable asset we do not take for granted. Together, we can continue to be a catalyst for digital transformation industry wide.

We appreciate your feedback, apologize for the confusion this caused some members of our partner community, and look forward to growing our partnership with you in the months and years to come.

Sincerely,

Gavriella

Source: Microsoft