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Become Azure MSP Expert Certified

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Picking the Right Technology to Meet Azure Expert MSP Requirements

The first blog of this MSP series described How to Become a World-Class MSP in 3 Steps: developing and demonstrating expertise, defining and documenting processes, and creating or adopting a powerful cloud management platform. This approach not only helps all MSPs gain industry-leading capabilities, it also serves as a path for Microsoft MSPs to earn the prestigious Azure Expert MSP certification.

In this blog, let’s take a closer look at the type of cloud management platform needed by all top-performing MSPs, along with a deep-dive into the technology requirements of the Azure Expert MSP certification program.

MSPs require an automated cloud management platform (CMP)

A CMP is a core element of running a successful MSP business and managing your Azure clients. Having a powerful, automated CMP will help you increase efficiency and drive more revenue by delivering more services in less time.

Microsoft has confirmed the importance of CMPs in enhancing the capabilities of MSPs by adding requirement 5.20 to the Azure Expert MSP certification program. The requirement states that MSPs must “operate an automated CMP integrated with Microsoft Cloud Platform. The CMP can be a combination of home-grown tools and APIs, enabling 3rd party ISV applications and APIs, as well as Microsoft native tools.”

This can be a daunting aspect of the Azure MSP audit as it requires you to have a tool, or set of tools, that flow through every aspect of the customer experience on Azure from provisioning and service management to consumption monitoring and utilization monitoring. It goes further to require that your systems have the capability to handle comprehensive access management, including governance and policies that restrict access by users within the system.

These management capabilities must also be able to inherit the governance policies set up within the Azure environment. They need to be designed for each customer in an automated fashion, which adds a level of complexity that many MSPs currently do not have built into their platform.

Another aspect that must be considered is how many systems do you want interacting within your environment to fulfill the requirements of 5.20. When looking at the requirements, Microsoft offers MSPs the option of having multiple systems fulfill the tasks required, but the caveat is that these systems must be able to seamlessly interact with each other.

The auditor will be looking for a cohesive flow of data throughout your environment. While one system will not necessarily fit all needs, limiting the number of systems simplifies matters and provides fewer failure points within the section.

In addition, ensuring that the systems you’re using easily integrate with each other is imperative to being successful, not just in the audit, but also in providing a platform for your employees and customers that provides the best Azure experience across the board.

Further underscoring the essential nature of the requirement, 5.20 falls into Category 0 on the certification’s checklist. If you’re looking to pass the certification or become recertified, you must pass 100% of all Category 0 items during the onsite audit or fail at the outset. In other words, not having a robust and powerful CMP is a non-starter for passing the onsite audit.

In contrast, you may choose not to present evidence for some Category 2 and Category 3 checklist items, as long as you meet the minimum category requirements. The table below identifies the categories for each section of the requirements.

To illustrate further, the table below shows that not all Category 2 and Category 3 items must be met, unlike Category 0 and Category 1 requirements.

Evidence to pass requirement 5.20

Now that we’ve examined the critical nature of CMPs to the Azure Expert MSP certification, let’s drill down into the characteristics your CMP must have to pass the certification or qualify for recertification. As described in Microsoft’s Azure Expert Managed Service Provider (MSP) Full Audit Process and Checklist Spring 2020 document, the “CMP can be a combination of home-grown tools and APIs, enabling 3rd party ISV applications and APIs, as well as Microsoft native tools.”

For evidence to pass requirement 5.20, you must demonstrate successful Microsoft Azure use cases with at least 20 customers in the following areas:

  • Service Request Management
  • Provisioning
  • Orchestration and Automation
  • Governance and Policy
  • Consumption Monitoring and Metering
  • Resource Utilization Optimization
  • Access Management

In addition, you will need to make sure your business and CMP have specific capabilities in service-level management and monitoring. For further details on each of these items, please see Microsoft’s certification checklist.

As discussed above, this requires your platform to provide myriad functions that work in conjunction with one another as well as interact with the capabilities and functions within the Azure portal. Along with this, the auditor will ask you to walk through how a customer is represented in each of these scenarios, often from start to finish, meaning you may need to look up a customer on your CMP and demonstrate evidence of how you provision for that customer.

Next, you’ll move to showing how access is controlled for that customer and present a service request and resolution based on that provisioning. Having a CMP that provides you with as close to a “single pane of glass” for that customer as possible will demonstrate your expertise in managing Azure customers, while having a mish-mash of different, disconnected tools will make the process of proving your expertise more difficult and in some cases could cause the auditor to lose faith in your system-based abilities.

Along with the 5.20 requirements, there are a number of other aspects of the audit where your CMP comes into play, such as sections 4.10 and 4.11.

Provisioning and orchestration tooling

Another Category 0 requirement is 4.10, Provisioning and Tooling. To meet this requirement, you must complete an on-site demonstration showing how your products, tools or scripts are used to provision and orchestrate services for your customers in a fully functional Azure environment. While not as extensive in wording as some of the other requirements, this is not a requirement to be passed over quickly.

The auditor is going to be looking for an integrated tool that quickly and easily deploys Azure environments and your ability to use this tool in a customer-facing manner. This means you need to be able to quickly spin up customer-facing Azure environments in real-time. Also, expect that you will be asked how this ties in with the other aspects required in requirement 5.20, not just as a stand-alone capability.

Automated deployment tools

A third technology component of the Azure Expert MSP program is requirement 4.11, Automated Deployment Tools, which falls into Category 1. While not an element required to be completely fulfilled during the on-site audit, all Category 1 requirements must be met to pass the certification or recertify.

This part of the certification requires that partners prove their ability to service customers with products, tools or scripts in the area of “automated provisioning and deprovisioning, and deployment of infrastructure, including tools for continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD).” With this requirement building on 4.10, you should be able to demonstrate this with the same tooling environment given that it is an important aspect of showing your integrated capabilities.

While the information above provides insights into these requirements, I recommend you review the details regarding requirements 5.20, 4.10 and 4.11. To do so, please refer to the certification’s full audit process and checklist document.

If you need a proven CMP that has met each of the technology components of the Azure Expert MSP certification, we can help. In fact, CloudBlue enabled Ingram Micro Cloud to pass all the technology elements of the program right out of the box. Now, we can help you do the same. For more information, contact us at together@cloudblue.com.

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Mike Jennett, Director of CloudBlue Platform Strategy, is an accomplished business and technology executive. With a deep focus on product development and go-to-market strategy, he plays a pivotal role driving strategic growth and market expansion. Mike’s career is characterized by his adeptness in driving technological advancements and his commitment to leading digital transformations with experience including IDC where he was VP of the Mobility and Digital Transformation IEP practices, and HP where he held numerous leadership roles. Mike’s expertise is also reflected in his published works and contributions to multiple tech publications. Mike holds a B.A. from California Polytechnic University.
Having previously to strategic product management, agile transformations, and user experience in CloudBlue, Taylor Giddens heads the Services & Solutions team where he ensures smooth delivery, operations and solution growth for our partners and customers.

The team includes technical account management, managed services, support, custom solution development, and customer enablement.

Prior to CloudBlue, his resume boasts leadership of some of the world’s largest companies during their digital transformations and marketplace launches. Taylor is a practitioner of servitude leadership when it comes to enabling his team to drive positive outcomes on the road to operational excellence.
Laurens van Alphen, a visionary entrepreneur with over 29 years of internet technology expertise, serves as Director of Technical Managed Services at CloudBlue, responsible for Operations and Delivery of CloudBlue SaaS.

As a Dutch racing champion and car enthusiast, he brings the same drive to the tech realm, steering Keenondots from a managed hosting firm to a global cloud enablement leader. Laurens is celebrated for his outcome-driven leadership, deep industry insight, and passion for balancing business innovation with client engagement.
Lincoln Lincoln is CloudBlue’s Head of Global Sales; having been with the company since November 2017. Leading CloudBlue’s global go-to-market organization, he’s responsible for driving accelerated and sustained mutual growth with CloudBlue’s customers and partners, as well as forming new customer partnerships across the Vendor and Provider ecosystem. As part of CloudBlue’s leadership team he is responsible the organisation’s revenue and continued market leadership by delivering and supporting products, services and solutions to organizations in established and new markets around the world.

Before joining CloudBlue, Lincoln was AppDirect’s Regional Director, Asia Pacific & Japan, responsible for forming, building and leading AppDirect’s business and operations across the APJ geography. He built and led AppDirect’s fastest growing and highest performing region globally within 3yrs.

Before joining AppDirect, Lincoln was EMC’s Practice Manager, Cloud Service Providers, APJ, working with the leading Service Providers to maximise their Cloud Business presence & market success. Lincoln joined EMC in 2007, and has over 20 years’ experience in the IT industry, having been based out of Singapore, Australia and the UK. Prior to EMC, he was in range of sales and channel positions at Symantec and VERITAS.

Lincoln has an Honours degree in Business Administration from Kingston University in the United Kingdom.
Brent Clooney is the Executive Director and Associate General Counsel for Ingram Micro Inc., and lead counsel for CloudBlue.

Brent is a Canadian based corporate lawyer with more than 20 years of experience as a strategic legal advisor both in private practice and as in-house counsel to large multi-national companies. Prior to joining Ingram Micro in 2008, he worked at a well-respected corporate law firm in Toronto, Canada and later served as general counsel for Toshiba Canada. During his 15-year tenure at Ingram Micro, he has held positions of increasing complexity and responsibility, and since being promoted to his current role in 2022, Brent is the legal lead for both Ingram Micro’s Canadian and global cloud businesses, as well as CloudBlue.

Brent holds a law degree (LL.B.) from Queen’s University, a Psychology degree (B.A. Honours) from Lakehead University, and has been admitted to the bar in Ontario, Canada since 2002.
Anurag serves as the Head of Product Management for CloudBlue and is responsible for product direction and driving innovation. His leadership has been marked by a keen focus on customer needs, growing the ISV ecosystem, and ensuring the continual evolution of CloudBlue’s product portfolio.

Anurag joined Ingram Micro in 2017 and has been instrumental in, positioning CloudBlue as an industry leading monetization platform for MSP’s, Telco’s and Distributors. Previously Anurag worked at Oracle and Microsoft where he managed many technology projects and programs.
As VP of Engineering of CloudBlue, Rony oversees the development and engineering efforts of the company. He is a recognized leader with more than 25 years of experience in Technology and Product.

Prior to joining CloudBlue Rony lead the R&D efforts at Tripwire acquired by Thoma Bravo, and Cedexis acquired by Citrix. Rony is a leader with extensive experience in transforming both complex technology problems into products that customers love and disjointed organizations into agile high performing teams.
Coen is a distinguished leader and entrepreneur in the realm of cloud technology. Currently serving as CEO of Keenondots and the Global Director of CloudBlue SaaS. He is passionate about driving innovation, fostering collaboration, and leading high-performing teams to achieve transformative results.

With a background as Managing Director of INTO Cloud and a pivotal role as Director of Products of KPN, he brings a wealth of experience in steering organizations through the complexities of the digital landscape.

Beyond the boardroom, Coen is a marathon enthusiast, demonstrating endurance and discipline in pursuit of both professional and personal goals.
Alyson has over twenty years of experience in demand generation, marketing automation and data management. She is responsible for leading the strategy and direction of the company’s brand, performance, and digital marketing.

Prior to CloudBlue, Alyson served as Ingram Micro’s Director of Global Business Intelligence Marketing Automation driving channel partner campaigns. Her tenure in marketing leadership at prestigious companies such as Western Digital, Ocean Institute celebrates redefining marketing campaigns and building top performing teams based on trust, experimentation, and results.

Alyson resides with her husband and three children in Orange County and is an active volunteer and donor within her children’s sports and education programs.

Darek Tasak is leading Customer Success & Value Creation for CloudBlue. In his role, he looks after CloudBlue customers globally during the entire lifecycle of our relationship: from the initial on-boarding, through in-life account management, always ensuring they build successful businesses leveraging our technology. Additionally, he is also in charge of Partnership & Alliances, as well as Pricing Management for everything we commercialize.


Before CloudBlue, Darek managed Ingram Micro’s Services division for hi-tech customers in Europe & APAC. His prior experiences include also launching and leading pan-European services business for TDSynnex, as well as strategy consulting with Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

As President of CloudBlue, Uddhav is a distinguished leader and visionary with nearly two decades of platform-building experience. He is an industry leader in digital commerce, the subscription economy, and monetization platforms.


Notably, at SAP, he spearheaded the transformation of their platform business into a multi-cloud platform-as-a-service, offering enterprise and developer-friendly subscription models. At Pure Storage, he championed the efforts to successfully disrupt the storage industry by creating revolutionary Storage-as-a-service, AIOps-as-a-service, and Disaster Recovery-as-a-service offerings with cutting-edge features and establishing a sophisticated subscription commerce infrastructure that is channel-friendly.


At CloudBlue, Uddhav guides and empowers businesses to rethink their monetization strategies by unlocking the power of digital ecosystems and marketplaces. CloudBlue provides enterprises with a mature multi-tier, multi-channel marketplace and monetization platform that enables usage-based subscription models and global delivery of Anything-as-a-Service solutions. Uddhav has played a pivotal role in shaping the future of the subscription economy through his innovative thinking and impactful contributions.

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