Thirty days. Twenty-five users. One clear path to AI.
For small and medium-sized businesses, AI is no longer a someday conversation, it's a right-now decision. SMB customers aren't asking whether AI matters anymore; they're asking how to put it to work in ways that are practical, fast, and secure. The hard part isn't interest. It's the starting line.
Customers are looking to identify relevant use cases, experience AI in their everyday work, and evaluate its value before making a broader commitment. This creates a significant opportunity for Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partners to lead customers from initial interest to sustained adoption. The SMB segment represents a Microsoft-estimated $625 billion* market opportunity in FY27¹, yet most organizations remain early in their AI transformation journey.
As shared at MCAPS Start for Partners, FY27 brings record levels of CSP and programmatic incentive investments through the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program, alongside investments in partner capabilities, skilling and go-to-market resources designed to enable growth, bring new customers and workloads to the Microsoft ecosystem, and deliver customer success through Frontier transformation, starting with Microsoft Copilot.
One of the primary investments we are making for the partner ecosystem is Copilot in 30, now available through CSP New Commerce. Copilot in 30 is a new, limited-time, CSP partner-led Microsoft 365 Copilot Business trial offering** designed for SMB customers with fewer than 300 employees. It is available through December 31, 2026. This offer combines a 25-user, 30-day Microsoft 365 Copilot Business trial with partner-ready resources and customer guidance (download kit), campaign materials, setup resources, adoption content, and conversion guidance. Together, these resources give you a structured way to turn AI interest into hands-on Copilot experience.
What’s new
For partners, Copilot in 30 provides a repeatable path to turn customer engagement into adoption planning and growth. Rather than positioning Copilot as a standalone product trial, you can lead a guided experience centered on real business needs. Customers can explore how Microsoft 365 Copilot Business fits into their daily work, test scenarios across roles, and build confidence with a focused group of users.
Copilot is the on-ramp. It enables people to work smarter and faster today, and it opens the door to the agents and workflows that follow. You can use the 30-day experience to guide customers through practical scenarios, identify high-value use cases, and create a clearer path from evaluation to paid Microsoft 365 Copilot Business deployment.
Why Copilot in 30 matters for CSP partners
SMB customers are looking for practical AI experiences that demonstrate value in the flow of work. They need a structured way to explore how Copilot can improve productivity, strengthen collaboration, and address everyday business priorities.
Copilot in 30 provides a defined evaluation window, while the supporting resources give your teams a foundation for customer targeting, onboarding, adoption, and next-step planning. With this structure, you can connect AI interest to specific roles, workflows, and expected outcomes without turning the evaluation into a complex transformation project.
“This trial is closely aligned to the needs we're seeing from SMB customers. It provides a clear path to engage businesses currently using free Copilot experiences and guide them toward a more structured evaluation of Microsoft 365 Copilot Business.”
- Kristen Fehrenbach - VP, Global Microsoft Alliance, Pax8
How partners can guide the 30-day experience
A successful evaluation starts before licenses are assigned. Begin by using Copilot within your own organization so your teams can guide customers from direct experience. Then use the Copilot in 30 launch kit (download kit) to plan customer targeting, setup, adoption activities, and conversion conversations.
Prioritize customers already using Microsoft 365 Business Standard or Microsoft 365 Business Premium, particularly organizations with eligible users who have not adopted paid Copilot licenses. Renewal discussions can also create a natural opportunity to introduce a structured AI evaluation.
During the trial, keep the customer experience simple. Focus on a small number of high-value scenarios across familiar Microsoft 365 workflows, including Outlook, Teams, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and agent-based experiences. Use prompts, practical guidance, and regular check-ins to understand where customers are seeing value and where additional direction is needed.
This approach gives users time to build familiarity while providing your organization with an engagement model that can scale across multiple SMB customers.
“SMB customers are interested in AI, but they need a practical starting point and guidance that connects the technology to their day-to-day business priorities. Copilot in 30, combined with the TD SYNNEX Destination AI™ enablement framework and programs like AI Game Plan and Cloud Labs, gives partners a structured way to help customers identify meaningful use cases, experience value firsthand, and build confidence in their path to broader AI adoption."
- Reza Honarmand - Senior Vice President, Global Cloud and Hyperscalers at TD SYNNEX
Coming soon: A new customer evaluation tool, the Copilot Success Planner, is planned for mid-August. Customers will be able to select their industry and receive tailored prompts and scenarios for their day-to-day work.
The tool is designed to make evaluations more relevant and consistent. It can enable customers to explore role-based scenarios, record feedback, and identify the use cases that should shape the deployment conversation. For partners, it provides a scalable framework that can be adapted to each customer’s goals and priorities.
“Trials will be an important part of how we engage SMB customers this fiscal year. We are looking forward to using Copilot in 30 as a practical way to introduce Microsoft 365 Copilot Business, guide customers through evaluation, and create a clear path to conversion.”
- Jevgeni Tkatsov - Group Lead, Microsoft Commercial at ALSO Group
From evaluation to broader deployment
The end of the 30-day experience should not be the end of the customer conversation. It should be the moment when the customer can make a more informed decision about where Copilot belongs next.
Partners should review outcomes with the customer and align on the next step. For some customers, that may mean converting the initial trial group into paid seats. For others, it may mean expanding to additional teams, building a phased rollout plan, or pairing Copilot adoption with readiness work around security, governance, and change management.
For many customers, Copilot is only the beginning. Industry analysts expect that by 2030, 45% of organizations will orchestrate AI agents at scale, embedding them across business functions.2 Once people are working confidently with Copilot, the natural next step is agents that extend those workflows and, over time, orchestrate work across them. Helping customers establish that foundation now positions both your customers and your practice for the transformation ahead.
This is where partner guidance matters most. A strong evaluation creates momentum. A clear conversion conversation turns that momentum into adoption.
"AI adoption doesn't happen through awareness alone. Customers need a clear path to experience the technology, understand where it delivers value, and build confidence in the outcome. We believe Copilot in 30 is a defining motion for many partners this half, helping customers experience the full unlock of Copilot firsthand and accelerate adoption among those best positioned to realize results quickly."
- Duncan Robinson, VP of Cloud and Services at Ingram Micro.
Backed by new FY27 investments
Copilot in 30 is part of a broader set of FY27 partner investments designed to empower partners to turn customer AI interest into adoption, revenue growth, and long-term customer value.
Frontier Accelerate for Copilot is one of the largest investment areas for Microsoft in FY27, with Copilot-related partner investment increasing 130% year over year across the full journey,3 from envisioning and proof of concept through deployment and adoption.
The SMB offer portfolio is expanding as well. In July 2026, Microsoft transitioned the promotional Microsoft 365 Business with Copilot offers into two durable SKUs: Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot and Microsoft 365 Business Premium with Copilot.
Microsoft also launched a 25% promotional offer on Microsoft 365 Business Basic plus Microsoft 365 Copilot Business, available through December 31, 2026, and extended the 15% promotional offer on Microsoft 365 Copilot Business through December 31, 2026.
Microsoft is increasing investment in solutions that help prepare customers for Copilot adoption, such as Microsoft 365 Business Premium. In addition, Copilot Cowork introduces a consumption-based opportunity that partners can explore alongside their existing licensing and services business.
Together, Copilot in 30, Frontier Accelerate for Copilot, updated SMB offers, incentives, skilling, and go-to-market resources give partners more ways to meet SMB customers where they are and guide them from evaluation to durable Copilot adoption.
Get started now within the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program
- Download the Copilot in 30 launch kit for partner-ready assets, customer guidance, and campaign materials. Review the Microsoft 365 Copilot Partner FAQ (download pdf) for trial-related questions, and watch for more details on the customer evaluation tool.
- Join the upcoming workshop for practical guidance on identifying eligible customers, activating Copilot trials, driving adoption, monitoring usage, and converting successful trials into paid deployments.
- Explore the new Copilot Success Microskilling series, available beginning August 3. The series is designed to enable partners to accelerate planning, customer targeting, trial execution, and reporting through ASPX. An additional Copilot Success Planner microskilling resource will be available on August 14.
- Start transacting Microsoft 365 Copilot Business trials via CSP New Commerce starting August 1 using product ID: CFQ7TTC0MM8R and SKU ID: 006Z.
- Target high-propensity accounts with tools such as the AI Business Solutions & Security Insights dashboard.
- During and after the trial, use Copilot Analytics (download ppt) and customer business reviews to track adoption, refine scenarios, and define the next action.
- Review current offers (download pdf), partner incentives, and eligibility in Partner Center, then align your sales and delivery teams on the Copilot in 30 motion.
- Strengthen your campaigns by tapping into tools like Partner Marketing Center Pro. Align your go-to-market motions with resources from the Frontier Transformation campaign in a box, and differentiate your organization through Solutions Partner designations, the Copilot specialization, and the Frontier Partner specialization (download pdf).
SMB customers are ready to understand what AI can do for their business. With Copilot in 30, and our new investments for FY27, CSP partners have a guided, repeatable way to turn that interest into hands-on experience, adoption planning, and long-term Copilot growth.
1 Microsoft analysis based on IDC, Worldwide ICT Spending Guide: Enterprise and SMB by Industry, IDC_P33207_0725, July 2025. Figures represent Microsoft’s FY27 total addressable market estimates.
2 IDC Press Release, IDC Future Scape 2026: Predictions Reveal the Rise of Agentic AI and a Turning Point in Enterprise Transformation, October 2025.
3 MCAPS Start for Partners FY27, Incentives and Investments session, Uriel Rootshtain.
* Throughout this document, $ refers to USD.
**Offer details: Copilot in 30 includes a 25-seat, 30-day Microsoft 365 Copilot Business trial at $0 through CSP New Commerce. Trials are fixed in quantity and duration, limited to one trial per customer per offer, and auto-renew to a paid subscription by default unless renewal settings are changed, or the trial is canceled within applicable terms. A 7-day cancellation window applies. Offer availability is limited and subject to change.