Do You Need Microsoft Unified Support?.

Most businesses don’t really need Microsoft Unified Support. Stop wasting IT budget on services you don’t use. See how to get the expert 24/7 global Microsoft support your business needs while reducing your MS Unified costs 30-50%.

It’s a question every business asks themselves at least once when dealing with Microsoft Support for Business. It’s often a tedious process that leaves you frustrated and occasionally without the answers you’re looking for, but it’s a necessary evil. Or is it? Do you truly need Microsoft to handle all your support needs? What do they even offer and are there alternatives that could provide what you need and faster?

Starting with the basics, you use Microsoft products every day. When something doesn’t work, like if Microsoft Outlook is throwing an error, you would naturally go to your internal help desk and then the company that made it to deal with the problem. You probably use a wide variety of Microsoft products, from Office and Teams and Windows, so most of your software needs are centered around Microsoft. Should a critical business system go down, Microsoft Unified Support is there to handle the advanced support needs of your business.

Additionally, you need a Microsoft business support service that offers consistent assistance hours for your problems, because you will have problems. Technology sadly isn’t perfect yet. Microsoft Unified Support provides four-hour standard response times to your issues, with 30-minute rapid response times for catastrophic issues. In that timeframe you’ll be redirected based on the severity of your case. Break-fix solutions will be handled by engineers that are either offshore third parties or in-house experts.

Your account service team consists of a Customer Success Account Manager (CSAM) and a Critical Situation (CritSit) Manager. You will be dealing with a CSAM for the majority of your tickets, with escalation to MS Unified when the need arises. Tickets are resolved through Microsoft employee support professionals or third-party (contracted) offshore technicians, which may be a compliance issue for some regulated industries. Third parties aren’t beholden to the same guidelines and laws that US-based engineers are, so keep that in mind when dealing with Microsoft Unified Support.

Microsoft also has a variety of online DIY resources and engineer led proactive solutions. The bill may look a little steep based on the support assistance hours in your package, but you’re paying not only for peace of mind but also for expert support services. It’s coming straight from the software manufacturer themselves, so it’s expected to work well, just like the Microsoft software your business runs on. Working with Microsoft Unified Support seems to cover all your bases, or does it?

Everything that has been said about Microsoft Unified Support up to this point is true, but the grass may be greener on the other side for some. Microsoft offers business support plans, but there are third-party support providers focused on value. The truth is that you don’t need Unified Support to handle your tickets, because US Cloud can provide faster Microsoft business support at 30-50% less than MS Unified.

We fully support all Microsoft technologies, from Azure Cloud to Microsoft 365. Our initial response times are 15-minutes across all ticket severities. Kiss the four hour wait time goodbye. With financially backed SLAs and 24/7/365 global support, you’re never left twisting in the wind, waiting for a response again.

Our engineers are all US-based experts averaging 16 years of experience. That means you won’t be playing telephone with overseas foreign contractors in a different time zone or worrying if your data is protected. Not only do you have a Critical Situation Manager with us, but you’ll also have a Technical Account Manager (TAM) and a dedicated account team to ensure your problems are handled timely and professionally.

We escalate cases to Microsoft on an as-needed basis, but those only account for 14% of our total tickets. Everything else is resolved in-house by our team of expert Microsoft-certified engineers. Since all of our engineers are state-side, we guarantee your data is under federal government-level security protocols. Your data never leaves the US and is held to the strictest compliance standards.

Finally, we also offer engineer-led, proactive services and training as needed so you can tackle or get ahead of any basic problem and approach us with the tough stuff. Our team is here to support you even for simple questions around use-cases. No need to worry about playing email round robin with your support team until you finally get a half-baked solution or non-answer.