• Sidebar: Four Types of Support Services

Although product releases get the most buzz, keeping existing products going is a major part of Microsoft’s business. Microsoft offers a variety of product support offerings aimed at many different types of customers. Customers should be familiar with all their support options—not only through formal support contracts but also through volume licensing plans and partnership with Microsoft—to ensure they maximize their benefits. Support is likely to play a larger role in Microsoft’s future as major products reach maturity and release cycles lengthen, and it could help compete with open-source software, for which reliable support may not be available.

This report looks at the structure of Microsoft’s support offerings and specific support packages offered by Customer Service and Support (CSS, which includes the former Product Support Services) and Premier Support organizations. However, it does not cover support programs that are specific to Microsoft Business Solutions products, which were acquisitions and still have support plans that were in place before they were acquired. (However, MBS customers can also sign up for the general Microsoft support packages described here.)

Microsoft has many types of support, from fixing specific problems to providing general guidance on major IT initiatives. These offerings are generally sold as packages or are provided as additional benefits in partner and licensing programs.

Support Package Components

Microsoft’s support packages typically offer four major types of services: problem resolution, information, account management, and proactive services.

Problem resolution services comprise the bulk of CSS’s work, and deal with specific problems. For example, if a customer’s Exchange server crashes and the customer is unable to get it operating, Microsoft classifies this as a break-fix incident: a problem with specific symptoms where there is a reasonable expectation that the problem is caused by the Microsoft product. The customer can get this problem resolved through CSS, paying per incident (where an incident is the complete process of resolving a customer’s problem, which can involve numerous telephone calls, e-mails, patches, and other efforts to resolve the problem) or per hours of support required.

Advisory services are used not to solve specific problems, but to tap Microsoft’s expertise in developing software or integrating its products, and to upgrade the skills of a customer’s own staff. For example, development consulting and lab services is a catalog of services (generally sold by the hour) that includes architecture and code reviews, performance testing, benchmarking, scalability testing, problem isolation in Microsoft laboratories, and scalability testing. It is available in support packages typically purchased by ISVs and system integrators. Microsoft also holds workshops around the world for customers (e.g., Windows NT to Windows Server 2003 migration).

Information services supplement support with documentation that is relevant to a customer’s needs, or reference material that can be accessed when necessary. For example, Web sites such as TechNet and MSDN Online provide detailed and specific answers to technical questions. While many of these resources are available to nonpaying customers, paying customers may have access to special newsgroups, software downloads, and other reference material that nonpaying customers do not.

Account management and support services are found mostly in managed support (explained below). These services include developing a customer profile, tracking a customer’s support history and satisfaction, and monitoring the progress of incident resolution as it is escalated within CSS. Some packages offer a technical account manager (TAM) who is the customer’s Premier Support contact at Microsoft and manages their account.

Basic Support Taxonomy

Microsoft’s packages of support services can be distinguished by some basic properties, such as the type of customer the offering is intended for, the software supported, the channel through which the software has been purchased, and how much personal attention an organization wants from Microsoft.

Support by Audience and Product

A basic support distinction is between personal support and business support. Although this report focuses mostly on business support, the categories do overlap slightly.

Personal Support is aimed at consumers and small businesses that purchase software through retail and OEM channels. The products typically sold through these channels—such as the Windows operating system, retail versions of Office, games, Money, MSN, and reference products—are eligible for a certain amount of free support, such as support for installing the product.

If a product is not eligible for free support (for example, the free support period may have expired, or the type of problem may not merit free support), these customers can purchase support for US$35 per incident.

Business support targets business applications, typically purchased through volume purchase channels. Business customers get support in multiple ways, including the following:

• By purchasing support directly through one of several fee-based support plans which cover all Microsoft software that the customer owns
• By purchasing Software Assurance (SA) with new software licenses; SA includes upgrade rights and a variety of support options, which vary by the type of software and apply only to the software for which SA has been purchased
• By participating in Microsoft partner programs, which offer technical support to partners that can be supplemented with additional fee-based support.

Unmanaged vs. Managed Support

The relationship between business customers and Microsoft support personnel is another distinguishing factor in support.

Unmanaged support is "transactional" in nature. A paying customer calls a general support number at Microsoft and receives assistance from a Support Engineer in CSS. Customers may be paying on an hourly or per-incident basis, depending on the type of service plan they have purchased and the type of problem the customer presents.

Managed support offers customers an ongoing relationship with specific Microsoft personnel. This generally takes the form of a Technical Account Manager (TAM), a Microsoft contact who typically maintains a profile of the customer's software infrastructure and key IT issues that it faces, and ensures that problems get resolved. The TAM also proactively alerts the customer to applicable patches, upgrades, workshops, and other opportunities. The TAM is the customer’s advocate within Microsoft. Depending on the support program, the customer’s size, and the fees paid, the customer may share a TAM with several other customers or may have a dedicated TAM. The largest customers may have more than one TAM, and some TAMs work full-time at the customer’s place of business.

Other Support Parameters

Customers typically choose a support plan based on many factors, and several support plans offer a configurable set of services that customers can customize to suit their requirements. Key options include the following:

• Response time, which can range from on-site support within a few hours to an e-mail response within 24 hours
• Hours of availability, ranging from standard business hours (within the customer’s geographic region) to 24x7
• The balance between advisory services (which provide guidance and advice on using Microsoft software) vs. problem resolution (intended to solve a specific customer problem)
• Payment options (one-time or annual) and the term of the support agreement(one to three years)
• The number of incidents or hours of advisory support offered or available. (Note that incidents must generally be used within one year of purchase, but customers are not charged for an incident if the fault can be traced to a defect in their Microsoft software.)

In general, Microsoft does not modify the basic services offered in a particular support package—it won’t include a TAM if the support package does not normally include a TAM, for example. However, Microsoft frequently adjusts the quantity of each service in a particular customer's support package. For example, advisory services are very valuable for corporate developers, ISVs, and system integrators, who may seek advice from Microsoft when designing software or integrating systems, but corporate customers are more likely to value problem resolution services that can identify why a server’s performance is below par or why an application fails under particular circumstances.

Some services are available through a support package, but require additional fees. For example, some fee-based support plans offer a team of dedicated support professionals—CSS engineers who are particularly expert in a specific product. For instance, a customer undertaking a major migration from Lotus Notes to Exchange 2003 can hire dedicated Exchange support engineers to assist in planning the migration and resolve any incidents that crop up. (This contrasts with Microsoft Consulting Services, which is more likely to be called in for leading-edge solutions with which Microsoft has less prior experience.) However, the actual availability of such a team can vary by geography, and since many customers may never require such a team, it is an option that, if exercised, will involve additional fees for the customer.

Additive Offerings

Large customers are likely to have more than one support package. A large IT consulting firm, for example, might pay a substantial fee for a Microsoft support contract, but may also be a Microsoft partner, and thereby eligible for additional support through the Microsoft Partner Program. If the same firm has also purchased SA on some of its software licenses, it is eligible for additional support through SA.

In such circumstances, the support benefits are summed where reasonable: support incidents available through one package may be able to be added to the count of support incidents in another package if a customer has both packages, for example.

Specific Business Support Packages

Microsoft's major business-oriented support packages fall into three major categories: fee-based support available to any Microsoft customer, support offered to Microsoft partners, and support benefits in volume licensing.

Fee-Based Support for All Customers

Fee-based support includes both unmanaged and managed support packages that cover all of a customer’s Microsoft software.

Professional Support offers unmanaged problem resolution and advisory support for businesses and developers. Customers can purchase telephone support for US$245 per incident, support through e-mail for US$99 per incident, or a five-pack of telephone support incidents for US$1,225. (Incidents expire a year from their original purchase.) Advisory services are US$210 an hour.

Essential Support is a managed-support package that includes access to a non-dedicated technical account specialist. In addition to account management it includes the other three support components—problem resolution services, consulting and proactive services, and information services—and requires a formal contract with Microsoft. Prices in the United States range from about US$8,500 to US$33,000, depending on the actual services, number of incidents, and other components that the customer selects.

Premier Support is a managed support package frequently purchased by large customers. It offers a more flexible and comprehensive set of the services available in Essential Support. Premier Support offers the widest range of customization, and includes the most in-depth customer support options, such as Rapid Onsite Service engineers who will, if necessary, travel on short notice to the customer’s site to aid in resolving a problem. Prices in the United States start at about US$50,000.

Partner Support Packages

With the launch of a substantially revised partner program at the start of 2004, Microsoft built technical support benefits into its partnership program.

The technical support available through the partner program depends on which tier—Registered, Certified, or Gold Certified—the partner is in. Partners get a certain degree of technical support simply by being a partner; they can supplement that support with Microsoft Services Partner Advantage (MSPA) support package, available in Standard and Plus versions.

Support available to partners in the various tiers does not reach the level of paid packages but is nevertheless significant. The support offered even at the lowest tier, Registered partner, includes business critical phone support—free 24x7technical support for a partner’s customers during critical LAN outages or "business-down" situations. In addition, partners in all tiers have access to Microsoft Managed newsgroups where a Partner can post a technical questions and receive a response from a Microsoft support engineer within 24 hours. Given the fact that becoming a Registered partner costs nothing, this support benefit makes becoming a Registered partner an obvious bare-minimum choice.

Certified partners, who must pay a modest fee and who must meet other criteria, get five support incidents per year, presales telephone support, and access to online assistance from Microsoft.

Gold Certified partners, who must meet higher certification, expertise, and customer satisfaction requirements, get an additional 40 hours of proactive and reactive support delivered by a Technical Service Coordinator from Microsoft.

The MSPA Standard and Plus packages offer partner support that roughly parallels the support available in Essential and Premier support respectively, but with less comprehensive offerings that result in lower prices. MSPA Standard is a fixed set of the four basic support offerings. The Plus package is more comprehensive and flexible. In addition, special versions of MSPA are available for ISVs and system integrators, while "multidimensional partners," who are both ISVs and integrators, can put together custom MSPA packages to meet their particular requirements.

Support Through Software Assurance

When Microsoft first introduced its new software upgrade rights program, Software Assurance (SA), in 2001, its only significant benefit was giving volume licensing customers access to future upgrades. The company has since added other benefits for customers who have SA, including software discounts for employees, training, and support for products covered by SA.

Support offered through SA is limited to a customer’s Microsoft licenses that are actually covered by SA. Having SA on either desktop or server software qualifies the customer for information services, such as TechNet. In addition, server software covered by SA merits problem resolution services. Note that to be eligible for problem resolution support under SA, customers must have SA on not only the server software but also on any Client Access Licenses (CALs) that the server requires.

The problem resolution services actually available depend on which server editions customers purchase—standard editions (e.g., SQL Standard) are eligible for Web and e-mail based support, while more expensive enterprise editions are eligible for telephone support. In addition, these benefits rise with the type of volume licensing plan. Customers who use the low-volume Open Value plan receive two Web-based support incidents per SA-licensed server over a three-year period, while customers who purchase under the higher-volume Select and Enterprise Agreements get unlimited support incidents. (Incidents in SA expire at the end of the volume licensing agreement in which SA was purchased.)

Support through SA can be valuable, but customers need to evaluate their options before they decide to go down this path. In some cases, purchasing SA for a server product (and any CALs) will be the most cost-effective way to get some support. For example, a small company with a few servers might elect to purchase SA on those servers and CALs to provide a basic level of support. Alternatively, a small company could engage a Microsoft partner to provide their support (the partner would be able to access partner support benefits), although most partners would require a maintenance contract or other payments for such support services. Finally, a small company may find it preferable to purchase Professional Support incidents, or even an Essential Support package because it provides more incidents and covers all of the company’s Microsoft products, regardless of whether they are covered with SA or not.

Larger firms that purchase server software through Select and Enterprise Agreements may be able to reduce the scale of a Premier agreement (for example, purchase fewer support incidents) by purchasing SA on some products and taking advantage of the support that comes with SA rather than purchasing it through Premier. These customers would gain the added benefit of access to future upgrades of their server products.

Resources

Microsoft’s support organization is described in "Understanding Microsoft’s Worldwide Support Organization" on page 31 of the Oct. 2004 Update.

The starting point for learning more about Microsoft support services is support.microsoft.com.

A description of Software Assurance support benefits appeared in "Software Assurance Improved" on page 24 of the July 2003 Update.

Partner support packages are described in "Partner Program Adds New Support Services" on page 31 of the Sept. 2004 Update.

Support for Microsoft Business Solutions is described at www.microsoft.com/BusinessSolutions/support_options.aspx.