Microsoft Unified Support Services.
MICROSOFT UNIFIED SUPPORT SERVICES
Microsoft Unified Support Services affords you the peace of mind knowing your Microsoft products – and the people who use them – are supported, so you can focus on accelerating your enterprise.
Support services include:
Proactive support services help maintain and improve health of your IT infrastructure and operations.
Service Delivery Management to facilitate planning and implementation
Prioritized 24×7 problem resolution services to provide rapid response to minimize downtime
Benefits of MSFT Unified Support Services
Deep technical expertise.
Single source and direct link to product engineers with over 20 years experience serving enterprises.
Investment in Relationships.
Technical Account Managers (TAM) serve as a personal connection between your organization and Microsoft for all your support needs.
Global support experience.
Accelerate your digital transformation worldwide with support in over 100 countries and 40 languages.
Support data analytics.
Data collection, diagnostic checks, incident tracking and root cause analysis (RCA) save your enterprise precious time.
Consulting guidance.
As needed consults from MSFT engineers to achieve the outcome you need to succeed.
Technology-specific.
20 technology-specific, highly-specialized support groups including Designated Support Engineers (DSE) and Mission Critical support.
The Economic Impact of Unified Support Services
Microsoft Unified Support Services allows an enterprise to streamline its IT functions by opening support tickets as needed. This allows enterprise IT to focus on strategic use of Microsoft technologies and the operational efficiency of a reduced helpdesk headcount.
In addition, Forrester claims MS Unified significantly reduces downtime events, Microsoft product training and engineer-led Microsoft risk assessments while increasing IT productivity.
Source: Forrester. The Total Impact of Microsoft Unified Support, October 2018
MS Unified Support Services – Case Study
A midwestern state in the US is exploring the option of moving from a Microsoft Premier agreement to a Unified contract that would cover all (consolidate) Executive Branch agencies and any other agencies, such as Judicial, that want to participate.
Following is a summary for the value add/proposition associated with the state purchasing a single Unified Support contract for multiple agencies.
UNIFIED SUPPORT SERVICES VALUE PROPOSITION FOR THE STATE
Economy of scale | A statewide contract significantly reduces the cost for support through economy of scale by more than 70%. Additional discounts are realized by utilizing Enterprise agreement 24×7 incidents to buy down the contract. |
24×7 reactive support | The state will be able to open cases as needed for issues large and small. This should increase time to resolution and address persisting issues with Microsoft Products. |
Performance support | The state will be on Microsoft’s top tier of Unified Support. This includes shorter SLA’s, higher tiered support, and preferential case management in the queue above lower level tiered customers. |
Proactive case support | Technicians can open cases as needed to help them address technical deficiencies in for specific Microsoft products and features they need more information on. This can save countless hours in research and searching technicians must do. |
Microsoft proactive assessments |
Access to 30+ on demand assessments for Microsoft’s most common products used. This includes AD, Server, Windows, SCCM, SCOM, etc. These engagements previously cost north of $10K a piece. |
Online training | State IT staff will have access to online training content that is continually updated with the latest workshops, WorkshopPlus, and web cast materials. They will also have access to portals to create and track training plans with access to course content, recorded trainings, and online labs. |
ServicesHub | Users will access Microsoft’s Unified Support portal to create cases, review cases, get product updates, access training, access risk assessments, and view contract details. |
Access to additional paid add-on services | Several training opportunities and Microsoft specific engagements were only available to customers with a Premier or Unified contract. All included state agencies can now take advantage of these engagements through the statewide contract. Additional cost will apply. |
Microsoft support escalation / management | Users will have access to the Microsoft Technical Account Manager to help customers with general Microsoft questions, navigating the Microsoft ecosystem, escalate cases, lobby on behalf of the customer, and manage other support needs. |