Microsoft offers its services to people from all sectors of the market. From simple document-making to PowerPoints to extensive and on hands support to people managing businesses and in the information technology sectors. Microsoft Unified Support and Microsoft Premier Support are two such apps for these purposes.
Microsoft Unified Support vs Premier Support
The main difference between Microsoft Unified Support and Premier Support is that they differ in their core services provided to the customers with Microsoft Unified Support provided more personalized and intensive support than the Premier version of the app due to today, Microsoft Unified Support is the only app available in the market.
Microsoft Unified Support is an app launched by Microsoft with three variants to provide support plans and customer service to people handling cloud businesses and for people in the IT sector to help, manage their domain as well as to prevent any mishaps before it happens with all-around security.
Premier Support was an app launched by Microsoft as well to help in similar circumstances. Today, however, the services of Microsoft Premier Support is no longer available, and hence all the features of this app have been integrated into the three versions of the Microsoft Unified Support variants.
Comparison Table Between Microsoft Unified Support and Premier Support
| Parameters of Comparison | Microsoft Unified Support | Premier Support |
| Variants | Microsoft Unified Support has three variants. | Premier Support was a standalone app however it is no longer functional. |
| Account Manager, | Various people are allocated to manage your Microsoft account in the three variants. | A technical manager is shared or dedicated for your Microsoft Premier account. |
| Proactive Support | Unlimited proactive support is found in Microsoft Unified Support. | Proactive support is found only in assistance hours in Unified Support. |
| Price | Different rates are fixed in the different versions of the app. | Price is based on the amount of usage. |
| Response Time | is lower in Microsoft Unified Support. | Response time is higher in Premier Support. |
What is Microsoft Unified Support?
Microsoft unified support is a great support system that is designed to make it easier for customers to get help for Microsoft products. Microsoft unified support combines a variety of different resources to make it easy for customers to get help for their needs. This includes, but is not limited to, online support forums, community-based help, and a knowledge base.
Customers can get help from a variety of people, from other customers to Microsoft employees. All of this combined makes Microsoft unified support a great way for customers to get the help they need. Microsoft Unified Support means that support is available on a 24 x 7 basis from a single point of contact.
The advantages of this are that there is the chance of faster response from the advanced team of technicians and being able to have a complete overview of the customer’s IT environment. You can also have a single point of contact that will be responsible for all of the issues that occur – whether it be a product issue or a hardware issue – and there is a high level of integration between the teams of the various products.
Microsoft Unified has the Core, Advanced and Performance variants, each of which has different pricing and account manager, with Core being the cheapest and Performance being the costliest. Also, the minimum contract for these apps increases accordingly.
What is Premier Support?
Microsoft premier support is the best way to get help from Microsoft for all kinds of issues that you might be facing with your Windows or Microsoft office. So, if you are facing problems with installing, activating, downloading, installing, connecting, printing, installing updates, etc., then you can directly contact the Microsoft premier support team without wasting your time.
Now, if you are looking for any remote assistance or personal assistance which can be attained anytime, anywhere, then you can make use of the Microsoft premier support number, which is available 24 × 7 for your assistance. Microsoft premier support is a good way for you to get help with your Microsoft products.
It offers access to a professional team of experts that are dedicated to helping customers with technical issues. They are familiar with all the latest features of Microsoft Office, Windows, Internet Explorer, Exchange, Exchange Online, SQL Server, Green IT, SharePoint, Lync, Office 365, Windows Server, System Center, Windows Azure, etc.
The advantages of this application are that it has usage-based pricing and had fairly good response time and proactive and reactive support as well. The only downfall was that the support was available only during their assigned assistance hours.
Main Differences Between Microsoft Unified Support and Premier Support
- The price of using Microsoft Unified Support is stated as 6% of Office 365 usage in the core, 8% in advanced and 10% in performance, while in premier support, it was based on the consumption entirely.
- The account manager in Microsoft Unified Support is a delivery team or technical advocate, while in Premier Support, it is a technical manager.
- Microsoft Unified Support has unlimited proactive support, while in Premier Support, it is limited to assistance hours. Also, in Microsoft Unified Support, this proactive support can be used for advanced options as well with extra charges which were not applicable in Premier Support.
- The minimum contract is fixed in Microsoft Unified Support for each of its variants while it is not applicable in Premier Support.
- Microsoft Unified Support also provides unlimited reactive support to its clients, while Premier Support assists their customers only during PRS hours.
Conclusion
Microsoft Unified Support is a support service offered by Microsoft that combines technical support and software updates into a single support offering for customers with Software Assurance. With Microsoft Unified Support, Software Assurance customers will get access to technical support, product support and product updates.
For premier support, the best place to get assistance was through Microsoft Premier Support Services, an enterprise support offering available to Enterprise Agreements customers. Microsoft Premier Support Services provided expert support engineers who could help you to troubleshoot and solve complex issues.
References
- https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/7411190/
- https://repository.tudelft.nl/islandora/object/uuid:4ab050a8-f19e-42a4-964a-4ded19d669b8