Third-Party Software Support from US Cloud Helps Reduce Your IT Spend.

Gartner finds third-party software support from US Cloud reduces Microsoft software spend by 50% with same or better quality of service.

Software is the second highest spend in the IT space, which results in a constant battle for procurement and vendor management leaders to find new ways to drive the cost of software spend down while retaining the solutions they need.

Affordable services always come with some sort of caveat, but a recent study from Gartner finds that there are some independent third-party alternatives that can reduce your software spend by up to 50% while still giving you the same or better level of services you seek. Among the top five choices is US Cloud. Not only do we offer full Microsoft support, but we go even further.

Independent third-party software support (TPSS) is, as defined by Gartner, a lower-cost alternative to the maintenance, support, and consulting service fees that are charged by megavendors like Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, and SAP.

TPSS providers are not authorized channel partners, but instead offer fully independent support. This means entities like US Cloud have no relationship with the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) or independent software vendor (ISV).

In essence, US Cloud can’t access intellectual property, software updates, firmware updates, or obtain OEM/ISV Level 3 or backline support. Instead, we offer cloud-based support that mirrors or improves upon the Unified/Premier support model that Microsoft offers.

For the purposes of Gartner’s study, optimal TPSS service providers like US Cloud were chosen based on how advantageous their solutions were at:

• Reducing Software Spend
  Software maintenance profit and loss operating expenses were the focus of this branch, where the average annual savings through a TPSS sits at roughly 50%. Compared to the annual maintenance, support pricing models and policies of megavendors like Microsoft, the year-over-year financial benefits are chief to TPSS success.
• Customized Contracts for Increased Flexibility
  Organizations using third-party providers were consistently able to improve flexibility in their software maintenance and support contracts, enabling them to opt out of new or future software versions and release upgrades if they were considered too costly or unnecessary for the business model. Where a megavendor would have these upgrades as a part of the contract, thus driving up the price, TPSS services give more breathing room to IT budgets and allow companies to pick and choose the solutions they want to fund on a more granular level.
• Providing Specialized Services
  These services include custom code, modifications, and unique product-specific requirements, as well as improved SLAs in some cases. For example, US Cloud provides financially backed SLAs that guarantee a 15-minute response to any support ticket submitted, something that Microsoft can’t provide even on their highest-paid Unified Support plan.
• Custom Agreements for Shorter Terms
  Typically, megavendors have a long-term annual maintenance contract. This usually spans 3-5 years and boasts reduced prices and improved support, with the latest technological advancements covered depending on your needs. However, these are more costly than selective agreements, like short-term or month-to-month support from TPSS providers. If you have a specific product that needs support, Microsoft will help you, but it usually comes in a bundled support package that requires you to pay for everything under the support umbrella, even if you don’t use some of those services. With someone like US Cloud, you are saving money by only paying for the services you need at a lower rate than Microsoft would require.
• Using Lower-Priced TPSS Proposals as Leverage
  When negotiating with software megavendors, you can bring up a TPSS service as a way of threatening to leave a contract. This works because it will essentially remove a revenue stream from their network if you follow through. As a countermeasure, they will likely reduce the price of their contract to try and match the services that the TPSS provides. This enables procurement to use lower-priced proposals as a bargaining chip in the renewal process. It is recommended that you bring up US Cloud’s name in your Microsoft support negotiation process, as this has resulted in up to 30% price reductions from the contract total.

Over 400 global enterprises will join US Cloud in 2024 for faster, more economical Microsoft support, having fully replaced Microsoft’s Unified/Premier Support with US Cloud’s 24/7 all US domestic support.

Founded in 2017, US Cloud focuses on replacing Microsoft support offerings at a lower cost, with support services that span all of Microsoft’s products. This extensive support comes with the added benefit of reducing your IT support spend by 30-50%.  

US Cloud offers 24/7 support with fully US-based, domestic engineers on three shifts to handle client needs in any time zone or international market. US Cloud is Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) compliant, and capable of supporting government entities in GCC environments. In fact, early last year we replaced Microsoft as the primary support option for the Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) program.  

No matter what type of Microsoft technology you use, US Cloud can support it at any severity. Our in-house engineers provide guaranteed 15-minute or less ticket response times, with financially backed SLAs to hold us to our word. We complete 85% of all tickets in-house and those that require escalation to Microsoft are done so through our secure third-party escalation partners at the highest priority.

We support Microsoft cloud, hybrid, and on-premises products, including any Microsoft technologies that are past their end-of-life support cutoffs. We can help you extend these services for up to ten more years to give you time to prepare for a future upgrade.  

Besides standard support, US Cloud has a proactive services catalog with engineer-led engagements that provide insights into systems health checks, security assessments, proprietary diagnostic tools for Azure readiness, migration support, chalk-talks, and more.

Join the hundreds of savvy enterprises worldwide that have already replaced their Microsoft Unified/Premier Support with US Cloud. Reinvest the millions of dollars in savings in strategic projects to increase competitive advantage and grow faster.