Premier Support Overview for Enterprises

Microsoft’s support organization works with partners to form a worldwide support network that complements the company’s mission of selling software and hosted services. Microsoft provides customers and partners with an array of support services, ranging from free Web-based help to direct interaction with product development groups. By understanding Microsoft’s offerings, customers and partners can make better purchasing decisions when faced with the plethora of support options and programs. This report focuses on Premier Support, the option aimed at large enterprises.

What Is Premier Support?

Premier Support fits in with other Microsoft support options for consumers, businesses, developers, and partners. (See the illustration “Microsoft’s Support Offerings“.) Premier is aimed at large organizations, typically those with hundreds or thousands of PCs, and provides several levels of service depending on the organization’s needs. There are specific Premier programs for enterprise and global customers, for midmarket customers, for partners, and for developers. Each has differing objectives and offers different services as a result. 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$30,000 per year.