Microsoft Unified Support competitors.

MICROSOFT UNIFIED SUPPORT COMPETITORS

Microsoft Unified Support competitors can save your enterprise 50%. Review competitor analysis and compare pricing to identify Unified’s top challenger.

Microsoft Unified Support competitors

Microsoft Unified Support Competitive Analysis

Use the competitive analysis on third-party Microsoft Support providers to find a viable alternative to MS Unified.

The world’s largest IT analyst and research firms have already done the competitive analysis for you. According to Gartner’s latest Market Guide for Independent Third-Party Support, dated September 12, 2022, there are 3 primary competitors to Microsoft Unified Support.

Pricing and support quality are the two drivers prompting enterprises to examine MS Unified Support competitors. Additional competitive analysis of the competitors vs Microsoft Unified has revealed 4 common scenarios where a Unified competitor may be attractive.

Financial or budget pressure
An increasing number of organizations believe they are not receiving a fair value in return for their Microsoft support fees. For years, big software vendors have enjoyed a virtual monopoly on support services for their products. With more than 90% profit margin on support operations, you pay a vendor 10 dollars for every dollar the vendor spends on actual support.

Licensees are coming to the conclusion that the software vendor support model is at best dated — and at worst obsolete and seemingly unfair.

Third-party Microsoft support lets you cut IT costs immediately and gain a predictable, low-cost support model for the future. Today, highly responsive third-party IT support is available at an immediate annual cost savings compared to original vendor support fees, sometimes by as much as 50%. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Longer resolution time or IT frustration
While Microsoft Premier and Unified support costs have continued to rise, the level of customer service provided seems to have steadily declined. When you contact Microsoft about a problem, a junior-level technican might advise you to upgrade or implement a service pack that combines hundreds of other fixes. The technician may also suggest that it is a custom code issue and is therefore your problem. Before you know it, one small issue has morphed into a big project with regression testing and downtime that costs a lot of money and consumes time and other resources. When you get back in touch with support, it is difficult to get access to experienced engineers unless you navigate a maze of offshored escalations.

Third-party Microsoft support takes a fundamentally different approach, typically emphasizing full service over self-service. In place of a help-desk generalist taking your call, you may speak to a highly experienced support engineer who can directly address your issues, with no escalations.

As clients experience responsive support, they come to rely on and truly leverage their third-party Microsoft support program. Organizations that historically logged only five or six issues a year with their vendor may suddenly call third-party support 10 or 15 times a month. Why? The most frequent response is, “You actually fix our issues!” Cases that had been logged with software vendors for years but never addressed, including some of the toughest and most complex issues, are frequently resolved in days or weeks.

Forced upgrade or migration
Although product upgrades 10 or 15 years ago delivered vital new features to automate core business processes, that’s not usually the case now. Today’s proven software applications are highly functional and reliably support tens of thousands of organizations and billions of dollars in transactions.

Extending the life of a current release through third-party support reduces risks and costs. New Microsoft software releases can take months or years to fully vet and debug, disrupting the previously stable production environment. Likewise, the constant deployment of software vendor fixes introduces its own set of risks.

And while software vendors have invested in developing cloud versions of their apps and acquired companies to meet those goals, their licensees seem less enthusiastic about the functionality and migration costs of these options. Today’s trends include investments in hybrid IT — innovating around core systems with best-of-breed applications that enhance the customer experience, improve employee relations, and drive commerce.

By delaying or avoiding costly and disruptive Microsoft product upgrades, you’ll have more capacity to invest in strategic initiatives that may improve your company’s bottom line today.

Already use third-party support for Oracle or SAP
Today, third-party IT support has been embraced by world-class organizations of all sizes. Over 60% of the Fortune 500 currently use a third-party support provider for Oracle, SAP, or IBM. These enterprises know the model works and are already reaping the benefits of cost savings and better service. Adding Microsoft to the list is a natural progression.

In addition, prominent industry analysts and members of the media have recently recognized the role of third-party Microsoft support in a comprehensive IT strategy. US Cloud, for example, has experienced significant and sustained growth since the company launched in 2017. Organizations worldwide, including midmarket, public sector, and Fortune 500 companies have made the switch to US Cloud.

Microsoft enterprise software licensees have made the move to US Cloud because we offer an alternative that has delivered immediate ROI. And yes, our clients can and do continue to work with Microsoft to purchase additional licenses. Our response time SLA is 15 minutes or less for all severities, with actual response time of less than seven minutes on average. You’ll find smart, fanatical support engineers at US Cloud. These experienced professionals are committed to a single, vital goal: to provide the finest Microsoft enterprise support to IT teams.

Microsoft Unified Support Competitive Analysis

MS Unified Support Competitor Pricing

MS Unified Support Competitor Pricing

All competitor pricing to Microsoft Unified Support will result in significant price reductions.

Switching from Microsoft to a Unified competitor – Year 1 will yield an immediate 30-50% cost savings and years 2-5 typically results in another 140% cost avoidance for most enterprises.

Unified Support Pricing is Higher Than Industry Average
Gartner analysis suggests the Unified Support Program will be ‘far above’ the industry average. Microsoft charges 6-12% for support, plus a 25-29% SA maintenance charge. This puts the overall cost of licensing maintenance and support between 33% and 39%. The industry average is 18%-25%.

Why Compete with Microsoft Unified Support
Many Microsoft Gold Certified Partners have heard for years that Microsoft Premier Support was expensive but at least their customers could buy the number of hours they actually needed. The new “as needed” Unified Support model is a significant overall price increase for most organizations. Up to 50% or more according to Gartner’s latest 2022 report. And the news spread quickly through the Microsoft Partner community.

And while some partners were afraid to bite the hand that feeds them, some boldly chose to step off the Microsoft licensing gravy train and do what’s best for the client.  Deliver Microsoft support at a reasonable cost and compete with the OEM software support offering.

Microsoft Unified Support Competitor Matrix

Use the Unified Support competitor matrix to rapidly compare Microsoft’s main competitors to Unified.  Identify a shortlist of competitors and further qualify with a Microsoft third-party support vendor checklist or RFP.

Microsoft
Support
Feature
Microsoft
Unified
Support
US Cloud
Microsoft
Support
Third-Party
Support
Provider 1
Third-Party
Support
Provider 2
Comprehensive
Coverage
All
products
All
products
Database only Database only
Industry-aligned
Pricing
15-20%
more
15-30%
less
15-30%
less
15-30%
less
Response Time –
Critical
60
minutes
15
minutes
10
minutes
15
minutes
Time to
Resolution
25% more 25% less NA NA
US Based
Support
Offshore
mix
Yes Offshore
mix
Yes
Extend Life of MS Assets No Yes Yes Yes
Account Management Downgraded to CSAM TAM NA NA
Flexible Contracts No Yes Yes Yes
Diversified Supplier Status No Yes No No

Microsoft Unified support competitor #1 supports Microsoft (database only), Oracle, SAP, and IBM.
Microsoft Unified support competitor #2 supports Microsoft (database only), Oracle, and SAP.
Source: Gartner Report G00757595.

Microsoft Unified Support Competitor Matrix

Microsoft Unified Support Top Competitor

Microsoft Unified Support’s Top Competitor

Gartner, IDC and InfoTech have all identified US Cloud as the top challenger to Microsoft Unified Support due to its cost savings and focus on quality.

The third-party support model is proven with over 18 years of provider support for SAP, Oracle and IBM. 50% cost savings is the norm and the Microsoft platform is no exception. US Cloud was the trailblazer in third-party Microsoft Support in 2018 and continues to lead the market.

US Cloud Delivers Faster, More Economical Microsoft Support
As Microsoft’s focus shifted away from small enterprises in 2018 towards mid-market and large enterprise targets for more impactful cloud licensing deals, Premier Support quality began to wane for Microsoft’s small enterprise customers. With the formal rollout of Unified Support in 2020 and its unlimited support ticket model, additional load began to build on the service delivery teams. With the retirement of Premier Support in June 2022, Unified is now the only support option offered by Microsoft.  As a result, mid-size enterprises are now bearing the brunt of the falling support quality with missed response targets, languishing tickets, non-compliant offshore support, and loss of their TAM.

Per the world’s largest IT analyst and research firms¹, US Cloud is the only MS Unified competitor with service delivery parity capable to fully replace Unified.

Additional datapoints for US Cloud as Microsoft’s prime support competitor:

  • Supports clients in 28 countries worldwide with 24/7 follow-the-sun teams.
  • Industries supported include information technology, government, higher education, computer software, banking, hospital & healthcare, financial services, oil & energy, manufacturing, insurance, and utilities.
  • Year over year growth² and focus on Microsoft enterprise support since 2017.
  • Software integration with enterprise ITSM ITIL certified platforms. ISO 27001 certified.
  • Over 600 enterprise customers including Fortune 500 and Global 2000.
  • All US domestic workforce screened for security and compliance.
  • Certified diversity supplier meeting enterprise and Federal contract diversity mandates.

¹ Gartner, IDC, Infotech
² Inc 5000 List 2020, 2021

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