Microsoft Pay Per Incident (PPI) Alternative.

Looking for a Microsoft Pay Per Incident (PPI) alternative? See 5 reasons why companies of all sizes are switching from MS PPI to US Cloud Premier Support services.

When you decide to use Microsoft software and services for your business, you expect to receive the highest quality support possible. Oftentimes, when companies sign enterprise agreements with Microsoft, it comes with its enterprise support. Before July 2018, this was called Premier Support, but recently the company transitioned to Unified Support. We’ve written at length about what this means for your business, but there’s an interesting use case we’ve come across with our small and midsize clients that you need to know about: Microsoft Professional Support, also known as Pay Per Incident (PPI).

If you use Microsoft software and services but don’t spend enough money to qualify for an enterprise agreement, chances are you’ve been pointed to PPI by Microsoft. Available as a single PPI or a 5-pack of incidents, this level of support focuses on troubleshooting a specific problem, error message, or functionality that is not working as intended for Microsoft products. In these cases, Microsoft defines an incident as a single support issue and the reasonable effort to resolve it. You can only submit PPI requests online, and you can expect to have an initial response anywhere between two and eight hours after you contact Microsoft. When Microsoft does finally get back to you, a support professional assigned to your case will define what it believes to be the problem and won’t start working on resolve it until you agree to their definition.

The fact that it is a slow response time is one thing, but the bigger issue comes in that PPI incidents don’t have to be resolved to be considered closed. Microsoft doesn’t guarantee it will solve your issue. Even if the support professional assigned to your case can’t fix your problem, you could still be charged by Microsoft. If you give up by closing your case, Microsoft still reserves the right to charge you as though your issue was resolved.

The other problem with PPI? Microsoft will not guarantee that a US-based professional – much less an actual Microsoft employee – will be assigned to troubleshoot your support ticket. This becomes a huge issue for public sector agencies who cannot allow anyone outside of the United States to perform software support services, due to >NIST Special Publication 800-171 Protecting International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).

Essentially, ITAR mandates that data and information accumulated by many public sector agencies cannot go outside the United States, with very few exceptions. When it comes to support of enterprise systems, ensuring that support is based in the USA and not overseas is paramount. These public sector agencies cannot risk otherwise.

The good news is that there are alternatives that provide a better level of service while ensuring all support is based in America.

Here Are Five Reasons to Switch from Microsoft PPI to US Cloud Premier Support:

1. All support is handled in the US. You will never be outsourced to a call center overseas. All US Cloud staff are located in St. Louis, Missouri. We also completely comply with ITAR, so you don’t need to worry about having your support tickets being farmed around the globe.
2. Two decades of Microsoft experience. US Cloud is a Microsoft Certified Partner and Cloud Solution Provider, meaning we are experts in the ins and outs of Microsoft technologies for companies of all sizes and in every industry sector.
3. Response to any support ticket in six minutes. The fastest anyone will respond to a ticket you submit through PPI is two hours. US Cloud will get back to you 20 times faster, because every issue is business critical.
4. A white glove customer experience, every time. No language barriers, no disjointed systems that force you to repeat your issue over and over again as you get handed off to different support professionals. At US Cloud, you only need to tell us your problem once, and we’ll take it from there. Our only goal is your complete satisfaction.
5. A better support experience without a 30% Microsoft Tax. Your support hours never expire with us. Only purchase the support you need and don’t pay a Microsoft tax for extra for support on products you don’t use. In many cases, that means you’ll save up to 30% with US Cloud Premier Support versus PPI or any other Microsoft enterprise support option.

Ready for a better enterprise support experience that doesn’t discriminate based on how much money you spend on Microsoft software? Contact us today!