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Add Third-Party Microsoft Software Support and Maintenance to Your Enterprise IT Roadmap.

Savvy CIOs are adding 3rd party Microsoft software support to their enterprise's IT roadmap in 2024 to free up funds for strategic projects.
Published Feb 02, 2024
Mike Jones
Written by:
Mike Jones
Fitting third-party support into your roadmap can make your life and business plans become exponentially easier.

Incorporating 3rd Party Software Support into Your Enterprise IT Roadmap

An IT roadmap is crucial to laying out your technology plans for the next year while sticking to the goals and directives of your company. Larger vendors like Microsoft tend to throw a wrench in your plans by changing aspects of their software support package seemingly on a whim.

While third-party support alternatives are the optimal solution, fitting them into your roadmap is another challenge entirely. However, should you manage to make the switch, your life and business plans become exponentially easier.

Fitting third-party support into your roadmap can make your life and business plans become exponentially easier.

What is an Enterprise IT Roadmap and Why Create One?

Enterprise IT roadmaps are intended to create an outline for your future goals, priorities, and resources. These are typically created for the coming year and encompass anything from tech initiatives to outside resource allocation. Your enterprise goals for projects this year and long-term goals for projects spanning the next 3-10 years play into this outline. Any business goals that align with tech in any capacity should be placed somewhere on the roadmap.

Vendors typically throw a wrench in the IT planning process as they make changes to their ongoing processes. Larger vendors like Microsoft are notorious for massively upcharging clients, removing cost-saving tier prices, and adding unfavorable bundled options to the mix. Most companies abide by these changes since they are using Microsoft services and support at the same time. However, when Microsoft decides to change aspects of their product that effect its longevity, upgrade frequency, and price changes with no customer input, then your enterprise IT roadmap is out of alignment. The control you thought you had up to this point is reduced because Microsoft wants more money, despite seeing record numbers year over year.

An Enterprise IT roadmap is created with the intent of smoothing over your yearly schedule and finding ways to upgrade or innovate your tech stack. A great roadmap will even offer ways to save you money by finding deficient areas of operation. Most clients of US Cloud found out one way or another that the main deficiency in their plans boiled down to Microsoft support.

Enterprise IT roadmap for 2024

The Benefits of an Effective IT Roadmap for Enterprises

Benefits of enterprise IT roadmap

Avoiding costly vendor lock-ins empowers businesses to reclaim ownership of their IT roadmap and their tech initiatives. Greater control over your IT infrastructure improves daily operations, revenue generation, and scalability of your company, but in what ways?

  • Less Disruptions
    First and foremost, while maintenance and updates are unavoidable, they don’t have to be constant or grind your workflow to a halt. The frequency of these disruptions puts financial strain on your business and causes delays to your processes. The more you can minimize downtimes and disruptions, the better. An effective IT roadmap is capable of outlining when maintenance and updates are slated for launch so your teams can prepare ahead of time.
  • Improved Flexibility
    You may find that some solutions don’t have the same value they once did. Some of these services even slip under the radar. An IT roadmap can outline where deficiencies exist and how to improve upon them. This improves the flexibility of your organization and enables you to implement improvements faster to better support the advancement of your business’ goals.
  • Modernization
    These days, software solutions feature more extensive capabilities that continually expand what your business can accomplish. Automation is making leaps and bounds each year, with new ways to simplify data collection or email your clients coming out at a rapid pace. A roadmap helps you determine where you can fit modernized approaches into your current tech stack, accelerating your growth and making expansion less painful.
  • Complete IT Control
    Software lock-ins and inflexible legacy support agreements often increase vendor profits since you are forced to pay for a bundle of services, even if you only utilize a fraction of the offered solutions. Implementing third-party services into the mix gives you back some of the power that bigger vendors like Microsoft would try to take from you. Adding the third-party approach to your roadmap will lead to greater innovation in the long run.
  • Leverage in Vendor Negotiations
    The more options at your disposal, the less likely you are to get trapped into an unfavorable IT solution. With greater access to a broader marketplace and insights into different services offerings and pricing models, you now hold more cards to negotiate fair prices for vendor services. Once again, utilizing them in a roadmap will help you determine where you stand in the industry and how much you can afford to shift or add to your current services, now that a third-party entity is there to help leverage negotiations and reduce costs.

Third-Party Microsoft Enterprise Support Services

Microsoft Third Party Support

Studies show that software maintenance and subscription spending takes up roughly 20% of organizations’ technology budgets, with some enterprises experiencing significant revenue changes due to post-pandemic economic shifts. Many of these companies have had to cut upwards of 30% or more of their costs to stay afloat, something that third-party alternatives can help alleviate.

Third-party Microsoft alternatives like US Cloud give you the breathing room necessary to succeed. Using a third-party support service as a Microsoft support alternative provides you the power to make more impactful decisions across your business as you save 30-50% on your IT spend in support costs alone. A shift to US Cloud is the edge you need to succeed.

CIOs Embracing Third-Party Software Support?

Despite the overwhelming positives, the consideration to switch to a third-party support provider is slowed due to the common fear of losing access to Microsoft expertise, crucial security updates, or missing out on discounts or bundled software licenses. While all of these elements are highly impactful to an enterprise’s bottom line, Microsoft fees take up the majority of IT budgets. Your budget is dominated with Microsoft costs, which are increasing roughly 30% each year as they find new ways to inject more money into their revenue streams. Your need for Microsoft support is a green light for them to upcharge as much as they can, since the alternatives are all but unheard of. That was, before US Cloud started taking the Microsoft support space by storm.

Third-party support from US Cloud has all the benefits and none of the drawbacks that Microsoft would claim. You still get to escalate high-severity tickets to Microsoft. You still have access to Microsoft professionals for all of your IT needs. But now you are working with a company that cares. Not only do we save you 30-50% in the first year, but we have also financially backed SLAs that guarantee your tickets have a response within 15 minutes of submission. No more overseas engineers, no more waiting on the phone for hours, no more oppressive, monopolistic pricing for suboptimal services. US cloud gives you the services you deserve with the consistency you would expect.

CIOs embrace third party software support

Adding Third-Party Microsoft Support to Your IT Roadmap

Add Microsoft third-party support to enterprise IT roadmap in 2024

Adding US Cloud to your IT roadmap empowers you to make bigger, bolder decisions this year. As Microsoft continues to pull revenue options away from their clients, now is the best time to make a switch. Make 2024 the year that you set all your plans into motion with US Cloud to back you up. Set up an IT roadmap with US Cloud as your support alternative and see how much money you will save based on our statistics. You’d be surprised how much you’ll have left over for that next innovative project.

Mike Jones
Mike Jones
Mike Jones stands out as a leading authority on Microsoft enterprise solutions and has been recognized by Gartner as one of the world’s top subject matter experts on Microsoft Enterprise Agreements (EA) and Unified (formerly Premier) Support contracts. Mike's extensive experience across the private, partner, and government sectors empowers him to expertly identify and address the unique needs of Fortune 500 Microsoft environments. His unparalleled insight into Microsoft offerings makes him an invaluable asset to any organization looking to optimize their technology landscape.
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