fbpx
February 25, 2021
  • Home
  • /
  • Blog
  • /
  • Microsoft FastTrack Ready Partner

Microsoft FastTrack Ready Partner

Some organizations live by the mantra “There is always room for improvement in everything.” Microsoft is one of those organizations. Microsoft ­­and its Partners strive to improve on their customer services. They have tried to do so by either reinventing their products or reorganizing their services. If you hadn't imagined that Microsoft Cloud services could get any better, you are in for a surprise. 

In September 2017, Microsoft announced FastTrack for Microsoft 365. It offers deployment and adoption of self-serve tools, guidance, and engineering assistance for collaboration, voice, devices, and security across Windows 10, Microsoft 365, and EMS. 


Microsoft FastTrack

Microsoft's Fast-Track Program is a package of dedicated services, sources, assistance, and funding. It allows Microsoft partners companies to provide Microsoft Cloud services with greater benefits, lower costs, and efficiency to their customers. You can now have Microsoft Fast-Track services in your Office 365 and Dynamics 365 for business

FastTrack is designed to help you deploy Microsoft 365 at no additional costs. You can use the FastTrack high-quality solutions with a new or existing qualifying subscription.

All remote guidance is provided to you through a combination of tools and published documentation. The personnel cannot act on your behalf but will provide you with a combination of verbal and written instructions and best practices to help you successfully equip your eligible services and allow users to take full advantage of your Microsoft 365 purchase.

FastTrack helps in the following languages: Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai, and Vietnamese.


Features of fastTrack


Envision

Identify and prioritize scenarios while learning about available resources as you plan for rollout. This stage is critical to your journey, as you’re setting business goals to measure success.


Onboard

During the Onboard stage, you work remotely with the FastTrack team and/or your partner. Together, you prepare your environment and get a project plan in place to start the process of moving to the cloud.


Drive Value

Lasting cloud services success depends on usage and satisfaction. Achieving this success requires planning and execution through the Envision and Onboard phases, and ongoing operational excellence.


Services and Scenarios supported by FastTrack

This topic includes details on the workload scenarios supported by FastTrack and the source environment expectations necessary before we can begin. Based on your current setup, we work with you to create a remediation plan that brings your source environment up to the minimum requirements for successful onboarding.

FastTrack provides guidance to help you first with core capabilities (common for all Microsoft Online Services) and then with onboarding each eligible service:


Data Migration 

FastTrack can help you migrate mail and file data in your source environments to Office 365 (Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive for Business).

The type of assistance we provide depends on your number of Office 365 licenses:

  • For Office 365 tenants with 150-499 licenses: FastTrack provides migration guidance only; you are responsible for performing the data migration. We guide you through documentation that helps you plan and use free tools to perform a self-service migration.
  • For Office 365 tenants with 500 or more licenses: FastTrack provides migration guidance and data migration services. We provide guidance to help you plan your migration, configure your source environments and Office 365 tenant, and leverage our data migration services to migrate your data. You create and schedule your migration events. We launch migration events in accordance with your schedule, monitor their progress, and provide status reports.


What’s New in FastTrack? Product Updates

  • Adoption content for Microsoft Search: The Microsoft Search in Bing adoption kit includes ready-to-use templates to help your Microsoft 365 users understand how Microsoft Search in Bing helps them be more productive every day.
  • Curated Microsoft 365 self-guided resources: Answer a few simple questions to get access to curated resources to get started on your Microsoft 365 journey today!
  • Adoption Guidance for Microsoft 365: Discover the keys to successful adoption and build your custom plan.


Eligibility for Microsoft FastTrack


Microsoft 365

  • All customers with current and eligible Microsoft 365 plan subscriptions can use Microsoft FastTrack onboarding, migration, and adoption services.
  • In addition to access to online Microsoft FastTrack resources, eligible customers have access to remote guidance from Microsoft FastTrack specialists or approved partners.
  • Subscriptions to individual components of Microsoft 365, (Office 365, EMS, and Windows 10) are also eligible for FastTrack services. See below for details on specific services and products enabled by Microsoft FastTrack.


Office 365

  • All customers with current and eligible Office 365 subscriptions can use Microsoft FastTrack onboarding, migration, and adoption services.
  • In addition to access to online FastTrack resources, eligible customers have access to remote guidance from FastTrack specialists or approved partners.
  • Customers with more than 150 Office 365 seats have access to Microsoft FastTrack services for questions and answers on Office 365.
  • Migration assistance for email and files is available with the purchase of 500 or more seats.
  • Mail can be moved to Exchange Online from on-premises Exchange Server, IBM Domino, Google Apps for Work, Novell GroupWise, or IMAP-capable systems. Files can be moved to OneDrive for Business from Google Drive, Box, or file shares and to SharePoint Online team sites from file shares.


EMS

  • EMS and the cloud services included in the Microsoft FastTrack Center Benefit for EMS: Enterprise Mobility + Security, Enterprise Mobility + Security (as part of the Secure Productive Enterprise).
  • Purchased as standalone: Microsoft Azure Active Directory Premium (E3 and E5), Microsoft Intune, Microsoft Intune for Education, Microsoft Azure Information Protection (E3 and E5), and Microsoft Cloud App Security.


Azure

  • FastTrack for Azure requires a Microsoft field nomination.
  • Located in one of the below geographical locations where Microsoft FastTrack is available: United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom or Western Europe (defined as the Microsoft WE region), Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Nordics, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
  • Please note Microsoft FastTrack delivery is available in English only.
  • Eligible customers also need to have an identified Azure project estimated to consume a minimum of USD 5,000 per month (or local currency equivalent) of Azure services (at TPID level). Please note that all commercial and government customers are eligible if they satisfy the criteria regardless of purchase channel and licensing.
  • FastTrack is a post-sales tool, so customers are required to have an active paid Azure subscription to be eligible.
  • Customers can’t be directly supported by a Microsoft Cloud Solution architect.


An overview of the Microsoft FastTrack digital experience and resources

Here's a look at the newly expanded FastTrack to help you successfully rollout Microsoft solutions. Office 365 Senior Product Manager, Sharon Liu will show you how FastTrack helps you to identify and prioritize your key scenarios and stakeholders, build a customized success plan that you can share with others, get assistance from our team of Microsoft FastTrack engineers and use pre-built assets to inform and train your users.

How Does Microsoft Fast-Track Program Help Partners?

Partners and FastTrack working together is a powerful combination that leads to the most successful deployments. FastTrack’s customized guidance includes access to Microsoft engineering expertise, best practices, and a variety of tools and resources. However, Microsoft FastTrack alone may not cover all of a given customer’s onboarding and adoption needs.

That’s where you can add value—providing your services and expertise to fill any gaps to optimize customers’ Microsoft 365 implementations. Grow your business by offering onsite project management, custom scopes of work, and customized training to enable your customers’ success. You might also consider becoming a Microsoft FastTrack Ready partner, which enables you to leverage the FastTrack methodology to deliver the FastTrack benefit directly to customers

A facilitated partner means more facility and innovation for customers. Microsoft Fast-Track Partners can give more efficient, customized, and enhanced solutions to their clients with extended deployment and support capabilities because the underlying objective of the Microsoft Fast-Track Partner Program is to facilitate the clients. Any company with Microsoft Fast-Track status offers

  • Additional tools, resources, and guidance that reduce the cost of deployment
  • A dedicated team of Microsoft sources focused on building customized customer solutions
  • Incentive and customer referrals that widen interconnections within the business community


How Does Microsoft Fast-Track Program Help Customers?

If you're corporate and want to move your business to the cloud, any Partner with Microsoft Fast-Track Ready status can give you an advantage over other companies. If you choose a Microsoft Fast-Track Partner to deploy a Cloud Solution for your organization, you can have much more than just a solution. You would experience extended support post-deployment at a cheaper price. Furthermore, Microsoft servers, engineers and consultants would directly involve themselves to make sure that the whole process is completed smoothly. With Microsoft Fast-Track Program, you can have

  • Microsoft solutions at a discounted price. You can enjoy the perks of having standard Microsoft services at a cheaper price with greater customization.
  • Microsoft engineers assist you in deployment and migration. If you are encountering a problem that is unique to your business needs and need expert professionals, Fast-Track Partners should be your choice. They can involve Microsoft resources and manpower directly to solve your problems and design you a tailored solution.
  • Additional resources and help for customized solutions for your business and improve customer engagements.


How to Use Fasttrack Service Description

The FastTrack service description helps business stakeholders understand the benefits and answer key questions like; What purchases are eligible? How to get help? What can I expect from Microsoft FastTrack? What obligations do I have? What about data migration?

To ensure this, it’s broken down into four sections:

Eligibility – Understand if your purchase is eligible for FastTrack assistance and identify the Microsoft 365 services covered by FastTrack Specialists.

Process and Expectations – Learn how to engage FastTrack for assistance, get an overview of how that assistance is provided, receive tips for a successful experience, and understand key responsibilities of both FastTrack and your company.

Products and Capabilities – Obtain more details on the specific guidance Microsoft FastTrack provides for each Microsoft 365 product or capability and our expectations for your source environment prior to the start of that work.

Data Migration – Understand the type of data Microsoft FastTrack will migrate into your Microsoft 365 environment and specifics around the process and limitations.


How Can We Help?

Communication Square, a Microsoft Gold Partner and also, a FastTrack-ready partner - has helped several clients get on-board for Microsoft business solutions with Microsoft Fast-Track Partner Program. We ensure expert guidance and that the onboarding experience is a pleasant one and take pride in extending our professional services and support post-deployment, constantly keeping in touch with our clients to find their pain points, and analyzing their environment to design a tailored solution for their needs.


FAQs


1. What are the sign-in requirements for microsoft.com/FastTrack?

To sign in you must have an active work or school account (organization ID or Azure Active Directory ID) on an active tenant (including free-trial tenants). This work or school account is the email address and account that you use to sign in to Microsoft 365, Office 365, EMS, or other Microsoft cloud services for work or school. If you don’t have a work or school account you can obtain one by purchasing Microsoft cloud services or signing up for a trial. 


2. I’m eligible for Microsoft FastTrack but don’t have an Azure Active Directory ID to log into the FastTrack portal. How do I sign in?

See the entry above for more information about Azure Active Directory IDs. If you are currently eligible for FastTrack but are experiencing difficulty logging into the FastTrack portal because you do not have an Azure Active Directory ID, please contact the FastTrack team by sending an email to FastTrackNoTenantSub@Microsoft.com with the subject line "FastTrack Non-AAD login" and include the following information:

  • Name
  • Company name
  • Phone number at which you can be contacted for support
  • Time zone in which you are located


3. What is Microsoft FastTrack for Microsoft 365?

Microsoft FastTrack is a benefit designed to help you deploy Microsoft 365 (included in eligible subscriptions) at no additional cost. You can use FastTrack services with a new or existing qualifying subscription. 


4. What role do partners play when working with Microsoft FastTrack?

Microsoft FastTrack specialists can work closely with both customers and partners during a FastTrack engagement. This teamwork helps customers benefit from all the resources and guidance available through FastTrack. With the purchase of an eligible subscription, customers, partners, or field staff can request assistance for FastTrack services. With access to FastTrack’s best practices, customers and partners can use a standardized, repeatable process to support successful deployments. Additionally, partners can combine their expertise with Microsoft FastTrack services to provide best-in-class solutions to their customers’ plans.

 Once engaged, an approved partner works with their customer to help build a plan that drives the achievement of their business goals. Local environment considerations and timelines are documented to prioritize resources. A Microsoft FastTrack specialist can help review the plan and provide guidance about business goals, local infrastructure requirements (on-premises and/or to the cloud), timing, and resource needs. Once planning is complete, the partner and customer have a blueprint for managing the customer rollout.


5. What are the eligibility criteria to be Microsoft FastTrack Ready?

Active Gold Cloud Productivity or Active Cloud Enterprise Mobility Manage, along with one of the following:

Teamwork eligibility – 2,500 active entitlements growth in trailing twelve months on three of the four Teamwork workloads (Exchange, SharePoint, Teams, Yammer)

Security eligibility – 2,500 active entitlements growth in trailing twelve months in both Microsoft Intune and Microsoft Azure Active Directory Premium workloads.

Get Modern eligibility – Either 5,000 monthly active user growth in trailing twelve months on Office 365 ProPlus or deliver five or more Windows 10 ECIF engagements in FY19


6. What workloads are in scope for this program?

Our goal is to help customers realize business value with Microsoft 365. As part of the Microsoft FastTrack program, you'll be supported and incentivized to help customers get the most out of the following workloads:

Exchange Online

SharePoint Online

Microsoft Teams


7. How can I set up Microsoft 365 by myself?

Our guides walk you through setting up the services you want to use. You select the features and options you want to deploy, and the guides build a step-by-step setup plan customized to your needs. You'll get a full set of instructions, videos, reference articles, and scripts. Some guides include automation that will change some of your settings, while in other areas of the guide you can change your settings and data to guide you. You can use these guides anytime, even during planning or after you've already set up the services, to learn more about Microsoft 365 features and options. In addition, you can use the guides to prepare your environment and set up email, Exchange Online Protection, Windows 10 with Office 365, SharePoint, Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise, OneDrive for Business, Azure AD Connect, Azure AD Basic and Premium, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Groups, Skype for Business, Yammer, and StaffHub.


8. What are the 3 phases of Microsoft FastTrack?

Microsoft FastTrack is divided up into three stages, designed to make sure your cloud journey starts on the right foot, and that you move to Office 365 with confidence. The three stages are called Envision, Onboard and Drive Value.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Last Updated 10 months ago

About the Author

Rijah is a professional Marketing Executive & content specialist. You may know her from her greatest hits like, "No, I can't just make it go viral." or "No, you can't have everybody as your audience." and "Yes, you're absolutely going to need a copywriter!"

Rijah Naseem

{"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}
>