Regression testing is a growing pain point that Microsoft Partners can address to drive durable, recurring revenue.
Microsoft frequently releases updates to its cloud business applications ecosystem, and those updates are getting more complex. When an update occurs, companies need to run tests to ensure it doesn’t break their systems, which results in downtime.
And downtime is expensive.
The Price of Downtime
ITIC’s 2024-2025 downtime survey found that 93 per cent of firms say one hour of unplanned downtime now costs at least $300,000.
Splunk’s 2024 downtime research found that Global 2000 companies lose $400 billion annually due to downtime and performance degradation, while 74 per cent of technology executives said downtime delays time-to-market. Sixty-four per cent said it slows developer productivity.
DORA’s current delivery metrics show instability in change fail rate and deployment rework rate, indicating that failed changes trigger hotfixes, rollbacks, and unplanned remediation.
When an update breaks pricing logic, order management, warehouse flows, billing, case routing, or financial posting, customers pay twice: once in immediate disruption and again when they must divert their skilled staff from their planned work to emergency repair.
Obviously, the best option is to prevent downtime. But that’s not easy.
“Innovation is Constant”
Business Central’s update documentation states that minor updates occur every month except April and October, and that these updates include critical improvements and regulatory changes.
Customer Engagement apps and Power Platform continue on the April and October wave model, while F&O apps run on a quarterly service-update schedule, with sandbox environments updated seven days before production. Microsoft is also expanding the breadth of its changes. The 2026 Power Platform wave alone includes “hundreds of new features,” and Microsoft’s March 2026 business applications update explicitly states that the company is moving beyond biannual launch events toward lighter, more frequent updates because “innovation is constant.”
Sharing Responsibility in Regression Testing
Microsoft performs regression testing on the product, but it also states that each customer’s data, configurations, and extensions are unique, so customers must perform their own regression testing in their own environments after each update. For finance and operations apps, Microsoft offers RSAT because user acceptance testing is typically required before a Microsoft application update or before custom code reaches production. In Power Apps, Test Studio is specifically designed to write and automate tests for canvas apps. For Business Central, Microsoft has added preview sandbox capabilities so customers and Partners can test upcoming versions with their own data and installed extensions, explicitly stating that this reduces risk and improves testing accuracy.
Most tellingly, Microsoft says it no longer runs manual validation of Business Central Marketplace apps and instead relies on publishers to test their apps properly. The platform vendor, in effect, is saying: “We will update the platform, but you must prove your solution still works.”
From the Partner’s perspective, specialist ISVs that provide testing and release-readiness services, such as TheTestMart, offer a practical way to generate recurring revenue without building an in-house testing practice from the ground up. A Partner can resell or bundle those tools and services into managed offerings for Dynamics 365, Business Central and Power Platform customers, then position them as an ongoing safeguard against update-related disruption. That helps the Partner expand its service catalogue, deepen its role after go-live, and create a more predictable revenue stream tied to every customer environment. It also reduces delivery risk, because the Partner can lean on a purpose-built testing solution rather than scrambling to respond manually every time Microsoft pushes a new wave, service update or platform change.
The Recurring Revenue Opportunity
That’s the value Microsoft Partners can find if they sell regression testing as a managed service. Partners can package release-readiness monitoring, change-impact analysis, preview-sandbox refreshes, automated regression packs around critical business processes, deprecation surveillance, post-update smoke tests, and executive reporting into a monthly or quarterly subscription.
It also aligns with the broader economics of the Microsoft channel. Microsoft’s own partner blog says that adoption does not end at deployment and that Partners who extend customer value through managed services create recurring opportunities and ongoing revenue.
Another Microsoft partner post, citing IDC research, says services Partners generate $8.45 for every $1 of Microsoft revenue and that 62 per cent of total Partner revenue comes from services. Microsoft also highlighted in January 2026 that Partners can unlock up to $6.26 in services revenue for every $1 spent on software solutions via Marketplace. Separate managed-services industry research from Houlihan Lokey reaches the same conclusion from a capital-markets angle: recurring revenue remains a cornerstone of value because it produces predictable cash flow, stronger retention, and longer engagement.
Testing fits that model unusually well because the demand is built into the platform’s update cadence itself.
Customers need testing.
They need it because Microsoft’s release model is frequent, mandatory in places, and increasingly complex.
Partners need it because the vendor has made clear that solution-specific validation belongs in the customer’s own environment, not in Microsoft’s generic test bed. Partners who treat every update as an unfortunate interruption will live in a cycle of unpaid escalation and customer frustration. On the other hand, Partners who treat every update as a predictable operating condition can productize assurance, defend mission-critical workflows, and bill for continuity.
