It is one of the most often asked questions when we engage with a new client - "Doesn't my Microsoft subscription come with support?"
The short answer - yes.
The longer (more accurate) answer - it depends on what you mean by "support".
The Limitations of Vendor Support:
Vendor support addresses technical issues and software bugs and provides general guidance. Microsoft's support services are comprehensive and designed to assist users in resolving many problems. However, it is crucial to recognise that this support's inherent focus ensures that the Microsoft 365 platform works as expected. There is minimal opportunity for vendors, such as Microsoft, to understand how you use their platform, what particular settings and customisations may be in place, and what underlying infrastructure you rely on.
Think of it like our transport network - governments (state/local) supply and maintain the roads, and you supply (and are responsible for) your vehicle. You can refer issues with how the road impacts your vehicle to the relevant authority (please fill this pothole, add an extra lane to the motorway). Still, issues with your car (flat tyre, no fuel) are your responsibility.
The MSP Value Proposition:
In the same way people engage an automotive mechanic to help with vehicle issues, IT Managed Service Providers (MSPs) are the go-to people for addressing the inherent gap between vendor support and your business expectations. MSPs invest in tools, training and systems to understand your needs, how these can be achieved and what controls need to be in place to keep things rolling. Areas that we find are critical to most business M365 deployments include:
1. Licensing & Cost Management: Within the Microsoft 365 suite, numerous products deliver similar outcomes; knowing which is most suited is often not obvious. This is where the nuanced understanding of an MSP can provide significant value in ensuring that you are only paying for what you need when you need it.
MSPs with Microsoft Partner status can access additional license options not immediately available through the Microsoft retail channel. Also, MSPs can offer a degree of commercial flexibility not available directly from Microsoft.
2. User On/Off-boarding: The management of adding and removing user accounts within the M365 environment, whilst a simple task, is a distraction for most businesses. MSPs have policy-based automated processes for these tasks that can be executed on a forward schedule or ad hoc as required.
Additionally, these processes will handle tasks such as mailbox retention, auto-forwards and license returns, allowing you to focus on your core business requirements and not the Microsoft 365 admin interface.
3. Baseline Security Management: The Microsoft 365 environment includes many security policies that can be implemented at the Organisation, Group and User levels. Knowing the most appropriate setting, the impact of conflicting policy settings, and what happens without a set is a specialised area.
While Microsoft provides these tools to all subscribers, the knowledge and skills to use them effectively require significant training, domain knowledge, and experience. Accredited MSP partners can also access specialised services that provide real-time, proactive monitoring and alerting of potential issues.
Again, the knowledge and skills required to effectively interpret these alerts and understand the most appropriate action are often not immediately apparent and can undoubtedly result in significant loss of time or an overload of ignored signs.
4. Cyber-risk analysis: Microsoft provides each 365 environment with a security "score" - generally, the higher this score, the lower the Cyber risk to the environment. However, not all settings that contribute to the score are relevant to all organisations, and in fact, enabling some settings will result in the loss of crucial business functionality for some organisations.
Determining the appropriate is a core benefit of working with an MSP partner. Also, your MSP partner can help you with additional areas such as awareness training, data backups, incident response planning and threat detection.
5. Environment Customisation: Vendor support requires standardised deployments to be effective. MSPs specialise in tailoring Microsoft 365 environments to unique business requirements. For example, a manufacturing company might need specific document management workflows beyond out-of-the-box features. An MSP can develop and implement custom solutions to align Microsoft 365 with the intricacies of the business, fostering efficiency and agility.
6. Integration with 3rd party Systems: Many businesses leverage third-party tools that complement Microsoft 365. While the third-party software vendor will provide instructions for the integration, they generally assume familiarity with the M365 management console and don't consider customisations or other integrations.
An MSP can rapidly identify incompatibilities, configuration settings that may need alteration, or security risk points that a 3rd party system can introduce. Once these details are worked through, they will be able to facilitate the seamless integration of these tools into your environment.
7. Data Protection and Backups: Businesses must understand that the Microsoft 365 platform is provided under the shared responsibility model - Microsoft is responsible for infrastructure and platform security. At the same time, users are responsible for their data and configurations within the environment.
MSP guidance is essential in this area as the configuration of appropriate policies related to data security, protection, and resilience are non-trivial. In contrast, the consequences of incorrect configuration options can lead to catastrophic data loss or, worse still, the release of private information in public forums.
8. Reporting and Planning: Knowing how effectively your business can utilise services such as Microsoft 365 can be a crucial driver of investment decisions. Access to regular reports covering areas such as licensing, user account usage, breach attempts, and capacity utilisation will facilitate informed decision-making and prioritisation of investment decisions - they can also provide an early warning of issues such as user accounts that are either no longer needed or not in use.
An effective MSP will assist clients in understanding such reports and their use in key business activities such as cyber security reviews and financial budget preparation.
Bridging the Gap: Unleashing the Full Potential of Microsoft 365 with your MSP
Returning to the original question - "Doesn't my Microsoft subscription come with support?" - the answer is yes, but probably not the support you can use. If you want to maximise the value your investment delivers in the Microsoft 365 environment, partnering with an MSP is necessary.
If you are curious about what can help you maximise value from your Microsoft 365 environment, please feel free to reach out for a conversation.
