Microsoft has changed what it rewards, so your commercial model has to change too.
Microsoft is moving partner rewards from selling seats to selling Secure AI workloads. Cumulus Practice gives you the 5P System. The 5P System is a commercial method for selling those workloads, with a business case behind each one. Practice costs £3,500 a year.
Sign up by 15 October and we include one Secure AI Business Envisioning Workshop at no charge. It normally costs £2,500 for Ingram Micro partners. You choose the customer you run it with.
Microsoft co-op funding. If you are eligible, you may be able to claim back up to 100% of the fee. We provide the invoice, the activity description and the proof of execution. Confirm your eligibility and the claim route with Ingram Micro before you count on the money.
Microsoft now rewards different work, and most MSPs still sell the old work.
Microsoft is shifting more partner rewards towards workload growth, adoption and Secure AI. A workload is more than a licence. A workload is AI agents built into how a customer actually works. A different person buys it, for a different reason.
Many customers already have Microsoft AI capability somewhere in the estate. Their boards are now asking a harder question. What has actually changed in the business? They mean revenue, margin, capacity, speed and risk.
That question is your chance to get in front of the board. One partner will turn that business problem into a priced Microsoft workload. That partner gets the conversation, the project and the managed service that follows.
Two sentences we hear from MSP owners.
The same problem causes both. It shows up at opposite ends of the same opportunity.
We only hear about it when they ask us to quote.
We built exactly what they asked for, but there was no next conversation.
Being brought in after the business decision has already been made.
Being brought in late does not mean your technical work is inferior. Whoever leads the commercial conversation writes the requirement everyone else quotes against. If the requirement is written without you, you compete inside somebody else’s decision. You then compete on scope and price. The business value of your work rarely comes into it.
Your implementation business is a real asset, and building it was the right decision. Arriving late to the business decision is what costs you.
Selling a seat takes a quote. Selling a Secure AI workload takes a business case.
Most MSPs can sell Copilot seats. Far fewer can sell secure AI agents built into how the customer works. Fewer still can put a number on that work which the customer’s finance director will accept. Five questions separate the two sales, and most MSPs answer them again on every deal.
- Which sector do we go after, and which buyer in it?
- What exactly do we sell, and for how much?
- Who do we call, and how do we get to the person who signs?
- How do we prove to them it is worth doing?
- How does one project turn into revenue that repeats?
Those five questions are commercial questions. Your team already knows Microsoft 365, Azure and security. The missing work is turning a customer’s business problem into a Microsoft project with a price on it.
Business need
What should get better?
The business case
What is it worth to them?
Microsoft workload
What do we build?
Recurring service
How do we keep it working?
Your customer knows what they want to improve. You know what you can build. The business case in the middle is the work nobody is doing. That business case decides who wins the project.
The 5P System is how you turn a business need into a Microsoft project you can price.
What MSPs do instead today.
All three of these work up to a point. Each card shows where that option stops working.
Working it out on each deal does win deals. Your team then works it out again on the next deal, and nothing you learned the first time gets reused.
Microsoft training teaches your engineers the product. The training does not tell you which sector to target, which problem to lead with, or what to charge.
A consultant gives you a plan. Next quarter, your team cannot run that plan again without hiring the consultant back.
Cumulus Practice gives your business a commercial system it can run again and again. Your team does not start from nothing on every deal, and does not need a consultant each time.
The Cumulus 5P System has five steps and five methods.
The 5P System answers those five questions. It lets you sell a Secure AI workload with a business case, instead of another batch of seats. Each question has a defined method, and each method has a defined output.
Position → Package → Prospect → Proof → Profit. What you learn at P5 feeds back into P1 and P2.
Every session in the programme belongs to one of these five steps. That is what your £3,500 builds.
The Trusted Pipeline Engine uses the relationships you already have. It covers your existing customers, trusted introductions, other partners and referrals. It does not rely on cold outbound calls.
Practice also opens the capital readiness sessions.
These sessions are for MSPs with turnover of £5m and above. BGF is a growth investor. Eligible members get expert guidance on growth, funding options and preparing the business for future investment.
The sessions run four times a year, in a BGF regional office. Your turnover must be above £5m to attend. You do not have to be selling your business, and BGF does not ask for a mandate.
Dates depend on BGF confirmation. See the dates in the calendar →
Join the first cohort and your first customer engagement is paid for.
Sign-ups for the first Practice cohort open on 23 September 2026. They close on 15 October 2026. The cohort sessions begin in November.
Members who sign up for the first cohort get one Secure AI Business Envisioning Workshop at no charge. The Envisioning Workshop normally costs £2,500 for Ingram Micro partners. You choose the customer you run it with.
TechGrowth’s specialists run the engagement alongside you. You keep the customer relationship. If the customer goes ahead, you are still the partner who does the technical work.
| Practice membership | £3,500 a year |
| Secure AI Business Envisioning Workshop | Normally £2,500 for Ingram Micro partners |
| Launch member benefit | Included at no charge |
You decide what to charge your customer for it.
Practice → Envisioning Workshop, £2,500 → Design, from £15,000 → Secure AI Implementation, which you price → recurring service. Both prices are for Ingram Micro partners.
The customer decides at every step. Nothing after the Envisioning Workshop is included in your membership, and no step happens automatically.
15 October 2026
31 December 2026
Booked means you have named the customer and we have agreed the opportunity is suitable. It also means the date is in the diary. The workshop itself can happen later. Every workshop depends on the customer being a fit. We do not offer cash instead.
What the Envisioning Workshop does for your customer.
The Envisioning Workshop normally sells for £2,500 to Ingram Micro partners. This section sets out what your customer buys, what you gain, and what happens next.
The workshop takes one day, on site, with your customer’s leadership team. The day covers business questions, not technical configuration. It looks at where their business needs to improve, and whether AI could do it.
TechGrowth’s specialists run the day alongside you. You are in the room throughout. You keep the customer relationship.
An answer they can act on
- Their own economics on one page. Their leadership team agrees the numbers in the room, so the page is theirs.
- A list of priorities. It shows where AI could improve revenue, margin, capacity, speed or risk. The list is ordered by what is worth doing first.
- A shortlist of AI opportunities. It records what is worth pursuing, and what has been ruled out.
- A written decision. Proceed, wait, or do not invest. Sometimes the honest answer is the last one.
A different kind of conversation
- A meeting with the people who sign. Most MSPs only talk to the IT manager. The workshop puts you in front of the board.
- An agreed priority in writing. You can design a Microsoft workload for that specific priority.
- Numbers the customer produced. The case belongs to them, so their finance team finds it far harder to dismiss.
- A reason for the customer to buy the next step. You also win the technical work at the end of it.
From a first conversation to a Microsoft workload you build.
- Secure AI Opportunity Assessment. This takes thirty to forty-five minutes and costs nothing. It is easy for you to offer, and your customer has nothing to approve. The question it answers is whether anything here is worth looking at.
- Secure AI Business Envisioning Workshop. This is the day described above. It normally costs £2,500 for Ingram Micro partners. One is included when you sign up for the first cohort.
- Secure AI Business Case & Process Design. This costs from £15,000 for Ingram Micro partners, and takes about thirty days. We redesign the work and build the business case. Your customer then decides using evidence, and not a sales pitch.
- Secure AI Implementation. You scope the Microsoft workload, price it and deliver it. TechGrowth does not bid against you for that work.
- You run it. Adoption, governance and the recurring managed AI service.
The Envisioning Workshop turns an IT relationship into a board conversation. That conversation becomes a Microsoft project you win.
No step happens automatically, and the customer decides at every step. The Envisioning Workshop can also conclude that they should not proceed at all. Read the full Envisioning Workshop page →
What you will build through the programme year.
Every session ends with a document, a list or a price. Your team can use each one the following week.
You decide which industry to go after, and which job title signs the order. You also decide why that buyer should pick you over the MSP they already use.
Each offer has a written scope, a price and an opening conversation. Your sales team can quote all three without asking you.
The list names companies in your sector. It records the people you already know inside them, and how to reach the person who signs.
You work out what the problem costs the customer today, and what fixing it is worth. You then build a case their finance director will accept.
How the project you deliver turns into a managed service you invoice every month.
Each workshop covers how that industry makes money and who to call. Each one also includes a list of named accounts.
What the £3,500 covers.
- Everything in Cumulus Community
- The 5P System and its five execution methods: Positioning Map, Offer Factory, Trusted Pipeline Engine, Value Case Builder and Revenue Flywheel
- All ten vertical workshops during the programme year, which cost £5,000 bought separately
- Target-account lists for each vertical workshop
- Support with a Microsoft co-op claim, where you are eligible
- BGF Capital Readiness, for members with turnover above £5m
- One-to-one work inside your business. That is Cumulus Executive
- Consulting delivered at your customer, which follows the four steps of the Customer Ascension Ladder
- Any technical build, licence or managed service
- Any promise of pipeline, funding approval or revenue
Practice costs £3,500 a year. Every price on this page is for Ingram Micro partners only. Do you buy Microsoft somewhere else? You need to open an Ingram Micro account first. Ask us for a referral at the bottom of this page, and we will introduce you to Ingram Micro. Eligible partners may be able to use Microsoft co-op funding. Check your eligibility and the claim route with Ingram Micro before you count on the money.
Who Cumulus Practice is for.
Cumulus Practice is open to Ingram Micro Microsoft partners. Some partners buy Microsoft elsewhere, or direct. They need an Ingram Micro account before they can take part. Ask us for a referral at the bottom of this page, and we will make the introduction. Community explains the method. Practice builds your commercial system with a group of other MSPs. Executive applies the same system one to one inside your business.
Cumulus Practice costs £3,500 a year for each MSP. Sign up by 15 October and one Envisioning Workshop, worth £2,500, is included at no charge.
Book a Practice Fit Call.
The call takes twenty minutes. We look at where you are with Secure AI now, and at your customer base. Then we decide together whether Practice is the right next step. If Practice is wrong for you, we will say so and suggest something better.
Twenty minutes, at a time that suits you.
The call happens on video. Pick a time and you will get a calendar invitation straight away.
- Twenty minutes. There is one call, and we do not book a series of them.
- Four possible outcomes. You join Practice or Executive. You start with Community or a single workshop. Or Cumulus is not right for you.
- No payment on the call. If Practice is right for you, we send a sign-up link afterwards.
- An answer either way. We tell you if the answer is no.
Prefer email? michael.williamson@techgrowthinsights.com
We can introduce you to Ingram Micro.
Cumulus Practice is open to Ingram Micro Microsoft partners. You may buy your Microsoft licences from another distributor, or direct from Microsoft. If so, becoming an Ingram Micro Microsoft partner is straightforward, and we can introduce you.
A simple referral to Ingram Micro
Tell us about your business below. We pass your details to the right Microsoft Partner Development Manager at Ingram Micro. They then contact you. There is no charge and no obligation.
You usually get a reply within a working day.
What an Ingram Micro account opens up
With an account, you can join Cumulus Practice at £3,500 a year. You can also join Cumulus Community, which is free. Single vertical workshops then cost £500 each.
Every price on this page then applies to you.
Prefer email? michael.williamson@techgrowthinsights.com
Sign up for the first cohort before 15 October.
Practice gives you a system that turns a customer’s business problem into a Secure AI workload. You can then price that workload and win the work. Join by 15 October and your first customer engagement is paid for.
Win the business case before you win the build.
