Effective July 1, 2024, Microsoft ended its free Azure Standard Support offer for customers using Enterprise Agreements (EA) or Microsoft Customer Agreements (MCA-E). Only subscription management and billing support remain free.
Azure Support Plan Offer No Longer Available
Microsoft’s Support Plan which provided free Azure Standard Support, is no longer available as of June 30, 2024. This offer was available to customers who purchased Azure services under specific agreements, including the Enterprise Agreement (EA), Enrollment for Education Solutions (EES), Server Cloud Enrollment (SCE), or Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA).
Why the change?
Starting July 1, 2024, Microsoft wants EA and MCA-E customers to pay for their technical support coverage. Microsoft argues that this change also aligns with common industry practices where paid support is the norm.
What now?
Starting July 1, 2024, if you were using the free Azure Standard Support, you will need to switch to a paid support plan to keep getting technical help. Here is what you should do:
- Assess Your Needs: Think about what kind of support your organization needs. This includes, for example, estimated number of support cases per month, case severity coverage, response time requirements, hourly availability per day, cost optimization, advisory services.
- Check Out Support Plans: Look at “What is the right support plan for me?” (below) to compare different support plans and see which one fits your needs and budget.
- Buy a Support Plan: Get in touch with SCHNEIDER IT MANAGEMENT to buy a support plan.
What is the right support plan for me?
Microsoft is eliminating free support plans (Azure Standard Support), eliminating support plan options (Premier Support for customers) and increases prices for new Unified Support contracts.
This is why SCHNEIDER IT MANAGEMENT offers a choice of Support Plans with Microsoft Premier Support. We offer you support for Microsoft Online Services, Azure and On-premises software at competitive conditions. With a SCHNEIDER IT MANAGEMENT Support Plan, your support requests get resolved by Microsoft Premier Support engineers.
Find more info on SCHNEIDER IT MANAGEMENT Support Plans here: https://www.schneider.im/schneider-it-management-microsoft-premier-support-plans/.
More information
Find the announcement here: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/Azure-Support-Plan-Discontinued.
For more on Microsoft licensing, visit our Microsoft vendor page at: https://www.schneider.im/software/microsoft/.
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