What Is the Microsoft Commerce Incentives Program — and What Does It Mean for Your Business?
If you’re running Microsoft 365 and have 250 or more employees, there’s a partner incentive program that can pay for part — or all — of a security or data engagement with a certified Microsoft Solutions Partner. Most mid-market IT leaders have never heard of it.
What Is MCI?
Microsoft Commerce Incentives — commonly called MCI — is Microsoft’s centralized partner incentive program. It replaced a fragmented set of older programs in 2022 and consolidates rewards for certified Microsoft Solutions Partners across Azure, Modern Work, Security, and Business Applications.
The basic mechanic: Microsoft rewards Partners for driving adoption of its platform. Those rewards include co-op funds — money Partners can invest in customer-facing activities, including assessments, workshops, and advisory engagements. The result is that qualifying companies can access expert-level engagements at subsidized or zero cost.
One important distinction: Microsoft does not directly fund client assessments. MCI is a partner incentive. Exelegent earns co-op funds and directs them toward subsidizing your engagement. This is what makes the program legitimate — and what determines who actually qualifies.
How the Money Flows
The flow is straightforward, but most companies never see behind the curtain:
Microsoft issues co-op rewards to certified Partners based on qualifying activity — primarily adoption and expansion of Microsoft solutions. Exelegent, as a certified Solutions Partner, earns those rewards and chooses to direct them toward reducing the cost of customer engagements. For qualifying companies, this can reduce an engagement that would typically cost tens of thousands of dollars to little or nothing out of pocket.
Who Qualifies?
MCI co-op subsidized engagements are not available to everyone. The typical qualifying profile for companies working with Exelegent as their Microsoft Solutions Partner is:
US-based company with active Microsoft 365 licensing
Between 250 and 5,000 employees
Decision-maker with budget authority — CTO, CIO, CISO, CEO, or VP level
Has not completed a partner-delivered assessment in the current Microsoft fiscal year
If your company doesn’t meet every criterion, it’s still worth a 15-minute conversation. Partial subsidy options sometimes apply, and the call is the fastest way to confirm where you stand.
What Can You Access Through the Program?
Through Exelegent’s MCI co-op funds, qualifying companies can access three types of partner-subsidized engagements:
Cybersecurity Assessment
A full vulnerability scan across your M365 environment, with a dollar-denominated risk score, compliance posture review, and a prioritized 90-day remediation roadmap. Board-ready executive report included.
Know Your Data — Security Discovery
Discovers sensitive data — PII, PHI, financial records — across SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, and email. Identifies overshared files, external access risks, and what Microsoft Copilot can already see in your environment.
Microsoft 365 Optimization Review
License utilization and right-sizing analysis, security feature adoption gap review, and Copilot readiness assessment. Identifies ROI you’re already paying for but not capturing.
Why This Matters More Than It Used To
Three trends are converging that make MCI-subsidized engagements increasingly valuable to mid-market IT leaders right now.
Microsoft Copilot raises the stakes on data governance
Copilot for Microsoft 365 surfaces data from across your environment based on user permissions. If your permissions are misconfigured — overshared SharePoint sites, broad group access, legacy external sharing — Copilot can expose that data to people who shouldn’t see it. A Know Your Data engagement addresses exactly this. And under MCI co-op subsidies, it costs your company nothing to find out where you stand.
Security assessments are now table stakes for cyber insurance
Underwriters increasingly require documented risk assessments as a condition of coverage — or use them to price premiums. An executive-grade cybersecurity assessment with a quantified dollar risk score and remediation roadmap is exactly what your broker needs. Getting that report at $0 out-of-pocket changes the calculus on whether to prioritize it.
License waste is a real CFO conversation
The average mid-market company uses a fraction of the security features included in Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 licenses. An M365 Optimization Review identifies which capabilities you’re already paying for but not using — and builds a roadmap to capture that value. For a CFO looking to justify existing Microsoft spend, this engagement delivers a concrete answer.
What Happens After You Reach Out
The process is designed to be low-friction on your side:
- Step 1 — Fill out the form. An Exelegent Microsoft Partner specialist reviews your profile and reaches out within 1 business day. No IT prep needed.
- Step 2 — 15-minute qualification call. We confirm which MCI co-op subsidized engagements are available to your company, explain what you receive, what it costs, and what happens next.
- Step 3 — Engagement begins. Once aligned, Exelegent applies MCI co-op funds to cover or significantly reduce the cost. You receive the full deliverables — report, risk score, roadmap.
There is no obligation to purchase anything after the engagement. The assessment is a standalone deliverable. If what we find creates a project you want help with, we’ll present options — but that decision is entirely yours.
Find out which MCI benefits your company qualifies for.
A 15-minute call confirms your eligibility and exactly which subsidized engagements are available to you — at no cost and no commitment.
