Microsoft Unified Support Deep Dive.

Microsoft Unified Support has been around for years, but many people don’t understand everything Unified offers and alternatives that could provide big savings. Microsoft Unified Support is your one-stop-shop for all your Microsoft product and service support needs, but what does that mean?

Microsoft Unified Support is one aspect of Microsoft Enterprise Services that offers support solutions for all Microsoft enterprise products and services on the market. They provide consultation, advice, education, and direct support with the aid of industry professionals.

Unified Support helps enterprises implement and adopt Microsoft products, services, software, and devices to solve, envision, and understand new possibilities for your business.

Escalating support tickets in Microsoft's Unified Support can be a hassle. US Cloud handles these escalations efficiently and at almost half the cost.

Microsoft Unified Support gives you access to a global network of specialists that are well-versed in Microsoft product knowledge. These services are around the clock, so you have a response exactly when you need it. With the death of Premier Support on July 1, 2024, Unified Support is the only option available to you.

Typically, an average enterprise will rely on 5-8 Microsoft technologies to run its core business. Unified, on the other hand, supports every Microsoft technology on the market, with a list that continues to grow every year.

When you buy Unified, you are paying for blanket support across the board. Even if you only use a handful of Microsoft services, you still must pay for the full support package.

If you feel like you are underutilizing your support, you can check your Unified reports to see what categories your tickets fall under. Unified Support also provides on-demand IT health assessments and technical training.

However, health assessments are a rarely used feature since most large enterprises don’t perform more than two migrations per year. In a similar vein, while the on-demand technical training is useful, most enterprises prefer DSE-level training that involves a two-way dialogue and customized content.

These two elements, along with the catalogue of support solutions and 24/7 support, increase the cost of Unified with no real return in value. This all culminates in the price.

Your overall Unified Support bill is based on a variety of factors. First, you pay based on the past 12 months of Azure, server, and user spending. Then you factor in additional solutions like:

• Azure Event Management
  Expert advisors for successful digital event planning and execution.
• Enhanced Designated Engineering
  Long-term, customized engagements with a team of experts to maximize technology value.
• GitHub Engineering Direct
  Expedited GitHub support for more effective management.
• Office 365 Engineering Direct
  A line to Office 365 product engineering teams for advanced monitoring and analysis.
• Support for Mission Critical
  Support for peak performance and preventative services to create stable environments.
• Unified Enhanced Response
  Accelerated response times with additional Microsoft experts for efficient resolution.

If your enterprise is located overseas, you have to account for potential economic adjustments to the Unified pricing model on a quarterly basis. Now add on the ever-increasing number of products that need support, which include products like Copilot.

Once you’ve laid it all out, the price is astronomical only because you are paying for a multitude of services you won’t use. It’s more of a convenience fee, though that convenience is more in Microsoft’s favor.

Part of the high support cost comes from the convenience of 24/7 support. You pay for a CSAM that will move your ticket up the line to a relevant resource if it can’t be immediately solved. However, you aren’t the only one sending in tickets.

Navigating Microsoft's Unified Support can feel like finding your way through a complex maze.

With a steady stream of tickets aren’t the world piling up, Microsoft must lighten the load. To do so, they rely on overseas technicians to handle the lower severity tickets.

This results in a lack of compliance regulations. While this offshoring assistance means your ticket may get a faster response, your data is no longer covered under US compliance and data governance laws.

If something goes wrong, you don’t have the same protections you would if your data was handled solely in the US. On top of this, there is less oversight and a greater risk of data leaking. Vigilance is key to ensuring your data stays safely on American soil and fully protected.

Beyond overseas contractors being added to the mix, the quality of Unified has dropped over time. You pay more for a bundle of services, a fraction of which are useful to you. Gone are the days of directly conversing with a TAM to dive into your issues and help you get ahead of future problems.

You now interact with a CSAM, who has less experience than a TAM and exists to move you through the support process. Worst of all is the time.

Microsoft doesn’t have any SLAs, so when they say they will get to your ticket within 4-8 hours after submission, that’s an estimate, not a guarantee. In fact, most companies in the Microsoft support space don’t offer an SLA because that requires enough engineers, planning, and capability to financially back up.

It’s hard to account for the unknown, so most opt to give you a rough estimate of how long it will take to get back to you, with a greater emphasis on faster responses for higher priority tickets.

When you realize US Cloud's 'bucket of hours' support model means you'll never run out of time for your Microsoft support needs!

Microsoft Unified Support may be the biggest support service for its own products, but that doesn’t make it the best. That’s why US Cloud exists. We are the leading third-party Unified support option on the market, ensuring you have all the services necessary to keep your business moving forward successfully.

While most shy away from SLAs, US Cloud embraces them. We provide financially backed SLAs that guarantee you see a response within 15 minutes of submitting a ticket. All our engineers are in the US, so your data is always protected and compliant.

Our resolution times are, on average, twice as fast as Microsoft’s. We have 24/7 support hours and can assist enterprises across the world. Instead of a bundled service offering, you buy a bucket of hours that go towards any product or service you need help with.

We even provide proactive and reactive support to make sure you are rarely caught off guard. All this to help you save 30-50% on your annual support spend.

Microsoft Unified Support is deep, but US Cloud goes deeper. Start supporting your industry the right way with US Cloud today.