Update on SA 24×7 Problem Resolution Support benefit

Microsoft announce that they will fully retire the 24×7 Problem Resolution Support SA benefit effective 1 February, 2023. Previously, the plan had been to retire the benefit and replace it with as-needed support for customers with SA spend of more than £250,000, but now customers will need a Unified Support contract or pay for supports on a per-incident basis via Microsoft Professional Support.

Find the announcement, and some links to learn more about the different support options, here: https://bit.ly/3EsEc93.

Software Assurance benefit changes

Microsoft announce upcoming changes to three Software Assurance benefits. Here’s the summary and key dates:

Planning Services

  • 1 February 2020: cloud services offerings will be retired
  • 1 January 2022: last day to redeem Planning Services vouchers for all offerings

Training Vouchers

  • 1 February 2020: Azure training courses will be retired
  • 1 January 2022: last day to redeem Training Vouchers for all courses

24 x 7 Problem Resolution Support

  • 1 February 2021: incident-based support will be replaced with as-needed support and credit towards Unified Support

And the reason for these changes? There’s a useful “Software Assurance changes overview” document which you can find in the “Volume Licensing Programs” section of our Licensing Guides emporium here: http://bit.ly/MSLicensingGuides.

In this document you’ll find that customers are encouraged to move to FastTrack for deployment services, that Microsoft Learn provides some excellent Azure training courses – although new training and certification offerings are in development, and that Microsoft’s future overall support strategy focuses on the Unified Support model.

The Software Assurance website is also updated with this news here: http://bit.ly/2kXtbbA.