Switching to Third-Party Microsoft Support and Maintenance Leads to Big Savings.

Forrester® Research predicts that companies who switch to third-party Microsoft support and maintenance services will save over $5 billion through 2027. As the global price of Microsoft Unified Support continues to grow, more companies are seeking alternatives that keep the prices consistent while ensuring the same solutions are offered across the board. Businesses can reshape their strategic IT investments and business agility through third-party alternatives, but the benefits run even deeper.

Until now, the norm for enterprises has been a dependence on the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to provide software support and maintenance for their products. However, with the rise of Unified support costs and the layered support that many companies can’t get through Unified, a need for third-party alternatives gave rise to solutions like US Cloud jumping into the market. Businesses that turn to third-party support and maintenance (TPSM) providers find that they are saving more money each year on support costs while retaining the same or greater degree of support quality.

Statistically, Forrester finds that nearly 80% of decision-makers report that they use some combination of OEMs and TPSMs in their support process. This is to be expected, as even if you work with a TPSM, they can’t handle every ticket that comes through. Certain tickets simply require the fidelity of the OEM to complete, which are treated as escalation cases on the TPSMs part. Studies find that even though the cost of OEM maintenance services cause problems for IT and procurement leaders, they are hesitant to switch to TPSMs for fear of losing out on the OEM expertise.

Around 80% of current leaders say that they would recommend the TPSM they use to their peers. All told, this tells us that businesses are naturally looking out for their own best interests. They are afraid to change up the status quo, even if that means saving them a significant amount of money, because they could potentially lose out on the expertise of the OEM. However, those that do switch over to a singular or hybrid support model with TPSMs find that the benefits far outweigh the negatives, to the point that they would recommend it to their peers. Times are changing and the support you deserve at a price you can reasonably afford is already a reality.

Most IT leaders claim that there is at least one challenge that prevents them from following through on critical priorities. One of the most common obstacles that over half of all decision-makers face is IT budget reallocation. The price of Unified continues to rise alongside the addition of more Microsoft products like Copilot, leaving your company to find new ways to tackle your goals or forgo them in hopes of having a larger budget next year.

Beyond the financial focus, companies are hesitant to trust third-party support due to security and inflexibility concerns. Most third-party Microsoft support options up to this point have been a smaller-scale operation that is heavily focused on a specific market niche. While useful to certain businesses, there are concerns that smaller operations have less budget for solid security or flexible solutions. Current third-party support doesn’t have those hangups though. US Cloud is an alternative that not only offers flexible support for most Microsoft products, but we are fully certified to stick with government compliance and ensure your data is safe no matter what.

Why would you consider switching from your OEM to a third-party support option like US Cloud? The initial driver for procurement is typically economic as US Cloud lowers your yearly support costs by 30-50%. But IT leaders are also concerned about support quality and find our U.S. domestic engineers average 15 years of Microsoft support experience compelling. Next are security updates, OEM expertise, or discounts on bundles. We roll out the same security updates as Microsoft, escalate tickets as needed to Microsoft, and don’t offer the same bundles as Unified. That last point may sound scary, but it’s for your benefit. Our support offering is based on your needs, so instead of buying a bundle of solutions and only using a handful, we let you pick out what we support and charge you accordingly.

Inflexible contracts and services are the bane of many businesses, especially on the support side. If your support needs change in the future, your contract with the OEM leaves you in the lurch. With US Cloud, your contract can be adjusted as needed. You aren’t locked into a hard and fast sales cycle that forces you to use support services you don’t need or to wait until the renewal to gain support for new services. Just update as needed and you’re good to go. Typically, an OEM will either require a new contract to be drafted up or charge extra for a contract alteration, but with US Cloud, there’s no hassle and no additional fees.

All these points add up to create greater value for your company. You wouldn’t be seeking out an OEM alternative if it meant that there would be no upgrades. Stakeholders need the reassurance that switching is beneficial in more ways than one. Your TPSM should be capable of providing a proof of concept to validate cost savings and capabilities, which should also help put stakeholders at ease over a potential switch.

Can a TPSM meet your unique software support and maintenance needs? Are they proactive or reactive? Do they offer more than just cost cutting and convenience? Once you’ve answered these questions, it should help shape the direction of support you’re looking for and show the value add of a new third-party support provider.

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again. US Cloud is the only third-party Microsoft support alternative in the world capable of fully replacing Microsoft Premier/Unified Support. We save businesses 30-50% on their annual support costs, have a 15-minute guaranteed response to tickets of all severities, and have a fully domestic team of expert engineers that average 15 years of Microsoft experience. When you need a reliable TPSM to take over your Microsoft support needs, US Cloud is here to help.