Healthcare and Hospital Case Studies – US Cloud Microsoft Support

HEALTHCARE & HOSPITAL CASE STUDIES

Read case studies from Fortune 500 healthcare organizations and regional hospitals who have switched from Microsoft Unified support to US Cloud for 30-50% cost reduction, faster response times and all USA engineering teams.

Healthcare case studies - us cloud microsoft support

What’s Inside the US Cloud Healthcare Case Studies

  • 40+ Healthcare organizations and hospitals
  • Fortune 500 healthcare to regional hospitals
  • Rescued IT budgets with 42% average industry savings
  • Microsoft Unified to US Cloud key decision drivers

Why Healthcare Organizations Should Read the Case Studies

US Cloud’s primary mission is to help companies get the most out of their Microsoft software. And for some, Microsoft support is still the right fit.
US Cloud healthcare case studies show 50% savings on Microsoft supportBut with Unified Support increases straining healthcare IT budgets, many organizations are finding themselves needlessly wasting IT dollars on MSFT support and seeking an alternative.  By moving to US Cloud for Microsoft support, large healthcare providers and hospitals are able to save millions of dollars per year (30-50% in year 1) in cost reduction and future cost avoidance (average 3x savings over the next 5 years).
This Microsoft support savings can be reinvested in innovation to drive growth and better serve their medical staff and patient populations.

Budget pressure forced us to look at US Cloud. The resulting cost savings freed up funds for an Epic migration that had been put on hold indefinitely due to Covid. It was a win-win right out of the gate.

Allen C., Vendor Management - Regional Hospital

We didn’t realize it at first but our Cloud adoption was driving up our support costs.  Overlaying our Cloud roadmap with the Unified cost forecast was a real eye opener.  The savings that we will put back into the budget will go a long way towards our cancer and genetic research efforts.

Willam J., IT Sourcing - Fortune 500 Healthcare Company

Unified Support 3 Year Forecast for Healthcare

US Cloud Healthcare Case Study - 3 Year Microsoft Unified Support ForecastAs healthcare organizations and hospitals continue their digital transformation, many are accelerating their Microsoft 365 or Azure adoption. As a result, their Microsoft Unified pricing may see substantial increases in years two and three.
The big takeaway is all healthcare enterprises should do a 3-year forecast to fully understand their Microsoft Unified costs and avoid surprises.

US Cloud Healthcare Case Study #1

Healthcare Giant Bets Big on Independent MSFT Support Partner

Client: Ultra Large Multi-National Health System

Industry: Healthcare

Annual Revenue: $14.1 B

Key Drivers: Cost reduction

Client Profile: A massive healthcare conglomerate with 400 acute care hospitals across the U.S., Puerto Rico and the U.K. With over 80,000 employees, the Client maintains an extremely complex hybrid Microsoft ecosystem that is fragmented due to consolidations and acquisitions.

Why Leave Microsoft Support: After consolidating IT spend over the last several years, the Health System was negotiating its master Microsoft EA and were surprised with an almost 80% increase in associated support costs under Unified. It was clear that they needed a less expensive alternative for Problem Resolution Support (PRS), but as a heavy user of Microsoft Dedicated Support Engineers (DSE’s) they were concerned about losing access.

Switching to US Cloud: Health System Procurement was tasked with finding a viable alternative and after an international RFP it was determined that only Microsoft and US Cloud were capable of supporting their Microsoft infrastructure. After extensive evaluation, including vetting US Cloud’s elite Microsoft Partner Network that would provide DSE specialists, the Health System decided try an independent 3rd party for their support.

US Cloud Healthcare Case Study - MSFT Support 2021

Budget Dollars Saved
Year 1: $980,000
Cost Reduction
Year 1: 41%
Cost Avoidance
Years 2-5: 356%
Benefit
The substantial savings allowed the Client to continue with critical Epic system consolidation. This effort would have been put on hold to fund the Unified Support price increase and would have extended security vulnerabilities inherent with connected Epic instances from smaller, less sophisticated hospitals.
The Procurement Team credited this initiative for hitting their aggressive 2020 price reduction goal.
US Cloud Microsoft Support - Healthcare Case Study #2 2020
Budget Dollars Saved
Year 1: $1,950,000
Cost Reduction
Year 1: 43%
Cost Avoidance
Years 2-5: 461%
Benefit
The Client’s IT Team was able to avoid lay-offs that would have been inevitable if they had been forced to accept the Microsoft Unified pricing.
The Procurement Team won significant praise for both averting staff cuts without giving up capability or service in order to achieve savings targets.
US Cloud was also able to provide expert DSE’s for Azure AD, SCCM, Intune, Dynamics, and M365 from its substantial elite MSFT Partner network.

US Cloud Healthcare Case Study #2

West Coast Health System Realizes That Money Isn’t Everything

Client: Large US Health System

Industry: Healthcare

Annual Revenue: $8.8 B

Key Drivers: Cost reduction, poor Microsoft support quality

Client Profile: One of the largest Health Systems on the West Coast with 24 acute care hospitals and 200 clinics. The Health System has over 50,000 IT users and maintains a cloud-heavy environment that requires substantial DSE and proactive support.

Why Leave Microsoft Support: The Health System was shocked by the 200%+ price increase that came with their new Unified Support quote. They realized with their continued push into Azure their support costs would also mushroom in years two and three. However, it was the mounting frustration with Microsoft’s poor responsiveness and quality of support that drove them to look for alternatives.

Switching to US Cloud: The Client hired a procurement consultant to help reduce costs. Familiar with other non-OEM support models for other technologies, the consultant sought out US Cloud as a potential alternative. After an extended RFP process, US Cloud was selected as the support provider. Even when Microsoft matched the price, reportedly knocking $2 million off their Unified quote, the Health System stuck with the decision to switch to US Cloud.

US Cloud Healthcare Case Study #3

Mid-Sized Hospital Referred to US Cloud by…Microsoft!

Client: Mid-Sized US Hospital

Industry: Healthcare

Annual Revenue: $900 M

Key Drivers: Cost avoidance, critical outage with no support

Client Profile: Mid-sized Hospital in the Southeastern US with 5,500 employees. The Hospital’s Microsoft environments are all on-premise except for O365. The Hospital is looking at closing their datacenter and moving to Azure in 2022-23.

Why Leave Microsoft Support: The Hospital simply couldn’t afford Unified and opted out, planning to use internal IT resources and Microsoft Pay-Per- Incident Support. When vital systems crashed and they couldn’t reach Microsoft, the Hospital was left completely vulnerable during the pandemic.

Switching to US Cloud: US Cloud received a call from their Microsoft EA rep, desperately trying to get help for his client. The primary care Hospital had lost three of its four Exchange servers with the fourth only working intermittently. The outage could cripple Hospital operations and Microsoft wasn’t responding.

IT staff called their main Microsoft account manager for help, but he could not get a response either. As a last resort, the Microsoft rep Googled Premier Support alternatives and found US Cloud.

US Cloud Healthcare Case Study - MSFT Support Services 2022
Budget Dollars Saved
Year 1: $58,000
Cost Reduction
Year 1: 66%
Cost Avoidance
Years 2-5: 183%
Benefit
Within two hours of reaching US Cloud, the Exchange problem was solved – with “special pandemic” pricing of $0.
The Director of IT felt that without US Cloud’s help the incident could have threatened quality of care and potentially cost her and the IT Purchasing Manager their jobs.
Two months later, US Cloud created a plan the Hospital could afford and gave them an “insurance policy” for Microsoft Support moving forward.

US Cloud Microsoft Support for Healthcare Example

THE TICKET TO NOWHERE

Issue: After switching to US Cloud in 2020, the Client was having issues with Akamai (a global internet security service). It was flagging the Health Center’s IPs as exhibiting malicious behavior on large public sites, including Microsoft.com – a major issue since this inhibited access to vital cloud portals and other critical online services.

This would be a major issue anytime, but in the middle of a global pandemic it was a potential catastrophe. Akamai advised going to Microsoft directly to have the IPs whitelisted because Microsoft was the customer using their product. At this point, the Client opened a US Cloud ticket to help manage the situation with Microsoft.

Without the work-around, this would have caused significant disruption for the Health System. And without US Cloud’s continued help, we would have wasted a ton of time and likely never gotten resolution.

Eric S., Director of Technical Operations - Mid-market Healthcare Provider

Microsoft Escalation: This was clearly a Microsoft issue and US Cloud immediately opened a Premier for Partner ticket to engage Microsoft. Given the criticality of the situation, US Cloud also opened an internal ticket and engaged a specialist partner to explore a work-around solution to get the Client back online ASAP in the case that Microsoft didn’t resolve the issue quickly.

Microsoft transferred the ticket twice within 6 hours before finally (incorrectly) informing the Client that the issue was “out of MSFT support and [we] request you to check with the Akamai WAF support directly.”

Solution: Fortunately, within that same time period, the US Cloud and partner team identified a work- around solution to rotate IPs so that when an IP address was flagged, a new IP was used instead. This technically fixed the problem, but the Client still wanted Microsoft to resolve the root cause. What followed was a two-month struggle through the Microsoft bureaucracy that US Cloud doggedly pursued to resolve the ticket. Some statistics from the case:

  • Number of transfers to different MSFT engineers on the ticket: 13
  • Number of Microsoft engineers that just stopped responding: 5
  • Number of “V-“ badged, non-Microsoft engineers from 3rd party vendors: 7
  • Number of times US Cloud contacted MSFT to push the process: 32
  • Number of times the Client had to take time out to engage with MSFT: 3
  • Number of times US Cloud had to pressure the TAM to intervene: 6
  • Number of times US Cloud had to explain the issue from scratch: 8
  • Number of times Microsoft apologized for delays: 9

HEALTHCARE & HOSPITAL CASE STUDIES

Read case studies from Fortune 500 healthcare organizations and regional hospitals who have switched from Microsoft Unified support to US Cloud for 30-50% cost reduction, faster response times and all USA engineering teams.

Healthcare case studies - us cloud microsoft support

What’s Inside the US Cloud Healthcare Case Studies

  • 40+ Healthcare organizations and hospitals
  • Fortune 500 healthcare to regional hospitals
  • Rescued IT budgets with 42% average industry savings
  • Microsoft Unified to US Cloud key decision drivers

Why Healthcare Organizations Should Read the Case Studies

US Cloud’s primary mission is to help companies get the most out of their Microsoft software. And for some, Microsoft support is still the right fit.
US Cloud healthcare case studies show 50% savings on Microsoft supportBut with Unified Support increases straining healthcare IT budgets, many organizations are finding themselves needlessly wasting IT dollars on MSFT support and seeking an alternative.  By moving to US Cloud for Microsoft support, large healthcare providers and hospitals are able to save millions of dollars per year (30-50% in year 1) in cost reduction and future cost avoidance (average 3x savings over the next 5 years).
This Microsoft support savings can be reinvested in innovation to drive growth and better serve their medical staff and patient populations.

Budget pressure forced us to look at US Cloud. The resulting cost savings freed up funds for an Epic migration that had been put on hold indefinitely due to Covid. It was a win-win right out of the gate.

Allen C., Vendor Management - Regional Hospital

We didn’t realize it at first but our Cloud adoption was driving up our support costs.  Overlaying our Cloud roadmap with the Unified cost forecast was a real eye opener.  The savings that we will put back into the budget will go a long way towards our cancer and genetic research efforts.

Willam J., IT Sourcing - Fortune 500 Healthcare Company

Unified Support 3 Year Forecast for Healthcare

US Cloud Healthcare Case Study - 3 Year Microsoft Unified Support ForecastAs healthcare organizations and hospitals continue their digital transformation, many are accelerating their Microsoft 365 or Azure adoption. As a result, their Microsoft Unified pricing may see substantial increases in years two and three.
The big takeaway is all healthcare enterprises should do a 3 year forecast to fully understand their Microsoft Unified costs and avoid surprises.

US Cloud Healthcare Case Study #1

Healthcare Giant Bets Big on Independent MSFT Support Partner

Client: Ultra Large Multi-National Health System

Industry: Healthcare

Annual Revenue: $14.1 B

Key Drivers: Cost reduction

Client Profile: A massive healthcare conglomerate with 400 acute care hospitals across the U.S., Puerto Rico and the U.K. With over 80,000 employees, the Client maintains an extremely complex hybrid Microsoft ecosystem that is fragmented due to consolidations and acquisitions.

Why Leave Microsoft Support: After consolidating IT spend over the last several years, the Health System was negotiating its master Microsoft EA and were surprised with an almost 80% increase in associated support costs under Unified. It was clear that they needed a less expensive alternative for Problem Resolution Support (PRS), but as a heavy user of Microsoft Dedicated Support Engineers (DSE’s) they were concerned about losing access.

Switching to US Cloud: Health System Procurement was tasked with finding a viable alternative and after an international RFP it was determined that only Microsoft and US Cloud were capable of supporting their Microsoft infrastructure. After extensive evaluation, including vetting US Cloud’s elite Microsoft Partner Network that would provide DSE specialists, the Health System decided try an independent 3rd party for their support.

US Cloud Healthcare Case Study - MSFT Support 2021

Budget Dollars Saved
Year 1: $980,000
Cost Reduction
Year 1: 41%
Cost Avoidance
Years 2-5: 356%
Benefit
The substantial savings allowed the Client to continue with critical Epic system consolidation. This effort would have been put on hold to fund the Unified Support price increase and would have extended security vulnerabilities inherent with connected Epic instances from smaller, less sophisticated hospitals.
The Procurement Team credited this initiative for hitting their aggressive 2020 price reduction goal.
US Cloud Microsoft Support - Healthcare Case Study #2 2020
Budget Dollars Saved
Year 1: $1,950,000
Cost Reduction
Year 1: 43%
Cost Avoidance
Years 2-5: 461%
Benefit
The Client’s IT Team was able to avoid lay-offs that would have been inevitable if they had been forced to accept the Microsoft Unified pricing.
The Procurement Team won significant praise for both averting staff cuts without giving up capability or service in order to achieve savings targets.
US Cloud was also able to provide expert DSE’s for Azure AD, SCCM, Intune, Dynamics, and M365 from its substantial elite MSFT Partner network.

US Cloud Healthcare Case Study #2

West Coast Health System Realizes That Money Isn’t Everything

Client: Large US Health System

Industry: Healthcare

Annual Revenue: $8.8 B

Key Drivers: Cost reduction, poor Microsoft support quality

Client Profile: One of the largest Health Systems on the West Coast with 24 acute care hospitals and 200 clinics. The Health System has over 50,000 IT users and maintains a cloud-heavy environment that requires substantial DSE and proactive support.

Why Leave Microsoft Support: The Health System was shocked by the 200%+ price increase that came with their new Unified Support quote. They realized with their continued push into Azure their support costs would also mushroom in years two and three. However, it was the mounting frustration with Microsoft’s poor responsiveness and quality of support that drove them to look for alternatives.

Switching to US Cloud: The Client hired a procurement consultant to help reduce costs. Familiar with other non-OEM support models for other technologies, the consultant sought out US Cloud as a potential alternative. After an extended RFP process, US Cloud was selected as the support provider. Even when Microsoft matched the price, reportedly knocking $2 million off their Unified quote, the Health System stuck with the decision to switch to US Cloud.

US Cloud Healthcare Case Study #3

Mid-Sized Hospital Referred to US Cloud by…Microsoft!

Client: Mid-Sized US Hospital

Industry: Healthcare

Annual Revenue: $900 M

Key Drivers: Cost avoidance, critical outage with no support

Client Profile: Mid-sized Hospital in the Southeastern US with 5,500 employees. The Hospital’s Microsoft environments are all on-premise except for O365. The Hospital is looking at closing their datacenter and moving to Azure in 2022-23.

Why Leave Microsoft Support: The Hospital simply couldn’t afford Unified and opted out, planning to use internal IT resources and Microsoft Pay-Per- Incident Support. When vital systems crashed and they couldn’t reach Microsoft, the Hospital was left completely vulnerable during the pandemic.

Switching to US Cloud: US Cloud received a call from their Microsoft EA rep, desperately trying to get help for his client. The primary care Hospital had lost three of its four Exchange servers with the fourth only working intermittently. The outage could cripple Hospital operations and Microsoft wasn’t responding.

IT staff called their main Microsoft account manager for help, but he could not get a response either. As a last resort, the Microsoft rep Googled Premier Support alternatives and found US Cloud.

US Cloud Healthcare Case Study - MSFT Support Services 2022
Budget Dollars Saved
Year 1: $58,000
Cost Reduction
Year 1: 66%
Cost Avoidance
Years 2-5: 183%
Benefit
Within two hours of reaching US Cloud, the Exchange problem was solved – with “special pandemic” pricing of $0.
The Director of IT felt that without US Cloud’s help the incident could have threatened quality of care and potentially cost her and the IT Purchasing Manager their jobs.
Two months later, US Cloud created a plan the Hospital could afford and gave them an “insurance policy” for Microsoft Support moving forward.

US Cloud Microsoft Support for Healthcare Example

THE TICKET TO NOWHERE

Issue: After switching to US Cloud in 2020, the Client was having issues with Akamai (a global internet security service). It was flagging the Health Center’s IPs as exhibiting malicious behavior on large public sites, including Microsoft.com – a major issue since this inhibited access to vital cloud portals and other critical online services.

This would be a major issue anytime, but in the middle of a global pandemic it was a potential catastrophe. Akamai advised going to Microsoft directly to have the IPs whitelisted because Microsoft was the customer using their product. At this point, the Client opened a US Cloud ticket to help manage the situation with Microsoft.

Without the work-around, this would have caused significant disruption for the Health System. And without US Cloud’s continued help, we would have wasted a ton of time and likely never gotten resolution.

Eric S., Director of Technical Operations - Mid-market Healthcare Provider

Microsoft Escalation: This was clearly a Microsoft issue and US Cloud immediately opened a Premier for Partner ticket to engage Microsoft. Given the criticality of the situation, US Cloud also opened an internal ticket and engaged a specialist partner to explore a work-around solution to get the Client back online ASAP in the case that Microsoft didn’t resolve the issue quickly.

Microsoft transferred the ticket twice within 6 hours before finally (incorrectly) informing the Client that the issue was “out of MSFT support and [we] request you to check with the Akamai WAF support directly.”

Solution: Fortunately, within that same time period, the US Cloud and partner team identified a work- around solution to rotate IPs so that when an IP address was flagged, a new IP was used instead. This technically fixed the problem, but the Client still wanted Microsoft to resolve the root cause. What followed was a two-month struggle through the Microsoft bureaucracy that US Cloud doggedly pursued to resolve the ticket. Some statistics from the case:

  • Number of transfers to different MSFT engineers on the ticket: 13
  • Number of Microsoft engineers that just stopped responding: 5
  • Number of “V-“ badged, non-Microsoft engineers from 3rd party vendors: 7
  • Number of times US Cloud contacted MSFT to push the process: 32
  • Number of times the Client had to take time out to engage with MSFT: 3
  • Number of times US Cloud had to pressure the TAM to intervene: 6
  • Number of times US Cloud had to explain the issue from scratch: 8
  • Number of times Microsoft apologized for delays: 9
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