TrustedTech has earned the new Microsoft Support Services designation, becoming one of the first partners globally to achieve this distinction. This news highlights TrustedTech’s world-class capability in providing independent Microsoft support, signaling to customers that our team meets Microsoft’s highest standards for service quality and reliability. The Microsoft Support Services designation serves as a professional seal of approval – much like an industry certification but focused specifically on excellence in Microsoft support.
TrustedTech’s Achievement and Commitment to Excellence
For TrustedTech, earning the Microsoft Support Services designation is a major milestone and a validation of our long-standing commitment to exceptional customer support. We underwent the full rigorous audit process and met Microsoft’s stringent criteria across capability, scale, and quality to become one of the early awardees of this designation. In fact, TrustedTech joins a select group of global technology leaders as one of the first partners worldwide to earn this recognition for world-class support.
This achievement signifies that TrustedTech’s support organization has been independently verified as one of the best in the industry. Our clients can trust that our support processes, team, and performance have passed Microsoft’s highest bar. We have proven that we can handle the toughest issues in-house, at any time of day, while keeping customer satisfaction at the forefront. Moving forward, the Microsoft Support Services designation will further empower TrustedTech to serve our customers even better. With the exclusive resources and deeper Microsoft collaboration that comes with the designation, we will continue to enhance our support capabilities. Clients will see ongoing improvements in response times, technical expertise, and proactive service as we leverage these new tools and incentives.
Bottom line: The Microsoft Support Services designation makes support excellence a measurable, marketable, and financially rewarded capability. TrustedTech’s new status as a designated support partner is not just an honor, it’s a promise to our customers and industry peers. It signals that TrustedTech is dedicated to delivering the highest standard of Microsoft support in the market, turning our support services into a truly competitive advantage for our customers.
We thank our team and customers for helping us reach this milestone. As an officially designated support partner, TrustedTech looks forward to continuing to lead by example in support quality, providing all our clients with the outstanding service they deserve.
What is the Microsoft Support Services Designation?
The Microsoft Support Services designation is a new partner recognition introduced under the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program as a specialized Solutions Partner designation focused on support services. In essence, it is Microsoft’s formal endorsement of a partner’s ability to deliver top-tier customer support for Microsoft products. Earning this designation means a partner has strong, mature, and high-quality support practices that meet or exceed Microsoft’s own standards.
Key characteristics of the Support Services designation include:
- A Seal of Support Excellence: Microsoft designed this designation to differentiate partners based on their actual support capabilities, not just sales or technical certifications. It serves as a visible, customer-facing badge of quality, akin to an ISO certification but specific to support. A designated partner is one who can handle critical support issues independently without needing to escalate every problem to Microsoft.
- Part of the Solutions Partner Program: This designation is part of Microsoft’s AI Cloud Partner Program, highlighting partners who provide top-tier support services to customers. It complements other solution area designations by focusing on support quality as a core competency.
- Rewarding Independent Support Success: The program’s goal is to recognize and reward partners who resolve the majority of customer support cases independently, without escalation to Microsoft. By doing so, Microsoft promotes a higher standard of first-line support and recognizes its partners with financial incentives and increased visibility.
In summary, the Support Services designation is Microsoft’s stamp of approval for excellence in support. It formally signals to customers that a partner has been vetted for outstanding support capabilities and is trusted to provide a premium support experience for Microsoft solutions.
Why Did Microsoft Introduce This Designation?
Microsoft introduced the Support Services designation to address a strategic gap and strengthen the overall customer experience in the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) ecosystem. Several key drivers led to the creation of this new designation:
Closing the Recognition Gap
Partners perform a large portion of frontline customer support but have historically not been formally recognized or rewarded for excelling in this area. Microsoft identified that many partners had developed robust support practices; however, there was no official program to acknowledge this strength. This designation fills that gap by highlighting support capabilities.
Customer Confidence in Support
Microsoft and its partners learned that support quality is the #1 reason customers might leave a CSP partner. Customers want assurance that if things go wrong (even in a “3:00 a.m. outage” scenario), their partner can handle it. By creating a designation specifically for support excellence, Microsoft gives customers a way to identify partners they can trust for mission-critical support.
Reducing Escalations to Microsoft
From Microsoft’s perspective, if partners can solve issues directly, it improves the customer experience and eases the burden on Microsoft’s own support channels. The designation incentivizes partners to build skills and processes to minimize escalations and resolve issues at the partner level. Fewer escalations mean faster resolution for customers and a more scalable support model for Microsoft.
Partner Demand for Incentives
Partners themselves had been asking for more than just a pat on the back for their support investments. They sought tangible recognition and financial incentives for maintaining high standards of support. Microsoft responded by not only offering a badge but also tying the designation to concrete benefits (which we detail below).
Overall, Microsoft introduced the Support Services designation to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty by elevating support quality across its partner network. It aligns Microsoft’s partner program with the reality that support is as critical as sales and deployment. In short, this new designation validates a partner’s support strength, benefiting customers, partners, and Microsoft alike with better service and trust.
How to Earn the Designation: Three Core Pillars of Evaluation
Earning the Microsoft Support Services designation is not automatic; partners must undergo a rigorous evaluation and auditing process to demonstrate their ability to provide exceptional support at scale. Microsoft assesses candidates for the designation across three core pillars of support competency:
1) Capability, Scale, and Quality.
Each pillar addresses a crucial question about the partner’s support operation: Capability – “Can you do it?” This pillar checks whether the partner has the fundamental infrastructure and processes in place to deliver reliable support. Microsoft verifies that the partner uses a formal ticketing or IT Service Management (ITSM) system, has clear escalation processes for handling complex issues, and offers 24/7 (round-the-clock) support coverage for critical needs. It also looks for established Service Level Agreements (SLAs), documented operational procedures, and a well-trained support staff equipped with the right tools. In short, the Capability audit ensures the partner’s support organization is professionally run and always available to help customers.
2) Scale – “Can you do it at scale?”
This pillar evaluates the partner’s ability to support a large and growing customer base efficiently. Microsoft analyzes whether the partner’s support volume capacity matches their customer footprint and cloud business (for example, by examining the partner’s CSP revenue relative to the expected support caseload). A key metric here is the case deflection rate – i.e., the percentage of customer issues that the partner resolves without needing to escalate them to Microsoft. A high deflection rate indicates the partner can solve most problems independently. Microsoft also verifies that the partner can handle surges in support tickets and consistently act as the primary point of contact for customers, even during peak times or high volumes. This proves the partner’s support model is scalable and robust.
3) Quality – “Can you do it well?”
The final pillar measures the effectiveness and customer satisfaction of the partner’s support. It’s not enough to be capable and scalable; support must also delight customers. Microsoft reviews customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores and surveys associated with the partner’s support services, targeting high ratings (aiming for around 4.6 to 4.8 out of 5). They also require evidence that the partner takes ownership of issues from start to finish, meaning support cases are managed to full resolution with accountability. Additionally, Microsoft relies on independent auditing of support outcomes to verify quality claims. This external audit ensures the partner’s performance data is credible and that they truly deliver excellent results, not just promise it.
In practice, a partner seeking the Support Services designation must pass all three pillars. This involves submitting to an independent audit (the program description notes audits by ISSI – International Solutions for Software Innovations) where auditors scrutinize the partner’s support operations, performance metrics, and customer feedback. Only those partners that demonstrate strong capability, the ability to scale, and consistently high quality will earn the designation.
Microsoft’s thorough approach here means that when a customer sees the Support Services designation badge, they can trust that the partner has been vetted across people, process, and performance. It’s truly a high bar, ensuring that the title “designated support partner” must be earned through proven excellence rather than purchased or claimed.
Benefits of the Designation for Partners
Achieving the Support Services designation brings substantial advantages for partners. These include increased market differentiation through a reputed customer-facing badge, potential to win more RFPs or contracts due to recognized support excellence, and access to enhanced financial and program incentives from Microsoft. Partners can leverage this designation to build confidence with customers and reinforce their reputation for premium support.
Market Differentiation
The most immediate benefit is a customer-facing badge that sets the partner apart in the marketplace. In competitive deals or RFPs (Requests for Proposals), Microsoft’s endorsement for support excellence can be a decisive factor. It instantly answers a critical customer question: “Can this partner help me when things break?”. By proudly displaying the Support Services designation, partners can demonstrate credibility and win trust more easily, potentially helping win new contracts where top-notch support is a requirement.
Access to Exclusive Microsoft Resources
Designated partners gain enhanced access to Microsoft’s internal support knowledge and channels. For example, partners receive access to Microsoft's internal knowledge bases, support documentation, and troubleshooting guides that are not available to ordinary partners. This privileged access enables the partner’s support engineers to find answers and resolve issues more quickly, thereby improving first-contact resolution rates. In addition, Microsoft may provide direct communications links or collaborative support opportunities to these partners, effectively treating them as an extension of Microsoft’s support team. This insider knowledge and connection is a huge advantage in solving complex problems swiftly.
Financial Incentives and Rewards
Microsoft has tied tangible financial benefits to the designation. Partners who consistently deliver high support performance may be eligible for financial rewards, rebates, or incentives as part of Microsoft’s support programs. In other words, there is a monetary upside to delivering excellent support, transforming what was traditionally a cost center into a potentially revenue-generating achievement. This could include rebates on support contract revenues, funds for expanding support capabilities, or better margins in the Cloud Solution Provider program. The designation thus directly contributes to a partner’s profitability when they continue to excel.
Greater Visibility and Co-Sell Opportunities
Microsoft actively helps customers find Support Services designated partners. These partners enjoy enhanced visibility in Microsoft’s partner catalogues and marketplaces, making them more discoverable to customers who are specifically looking for top-tier support providers. Microsoft and other partners are also more likely to refer or co-sell with a designated support partner, because the designation gives confidence that customers will be well taken care of. This can open new business through referrals and collaborations that might not happen for non-designated partners.
In combination, these benefits mean that the Support Services designation not only recognizes a partner’s hard work in support but also accelerates their business growth. It transforms support excellence into a competitive advantage and marketing point. Designated partners can leverage the badge to attract customers who value superior support, use Microsoft’s resources to deliver even better service, and reap financial rewards for their high performance.
Microsoft’s early data show that partners in the program experience faster resolution times and consistently high customer satisfaction, which further enhances their reputation. In short, it pays off in various ways to be a Support Services designated partner.
Benefits for Customers
While the designation clearly offers advantages to partners, it’s equally important to highlight the benefits this brings to customers who work with those partners. The creation of the Support Services designation was ultimately driven by customer needs, and clients stand to gain a better support experience. Here’s how customers benefit:
Greater Trust and Peace of Mind
When a customer chooses a partner that has the Microsoft Support Services designation, they can have confidence that their IT issues will be handled expertly and promptly. Microsoft’s endorsement serves as an assurance that the partner has been tested in real-world support scenarios and proven capable of resolving complex problems. This reduces the risk for customers, especially for critical environments where downtime or unresolved issues can be very costly. Essentially, customers know they are in safe hands with a designated partner, even in crisis situations.
Higher Quality Support Experience
Designated partners deliver a better support experience, marked by faster response and resolution times, as well as access to top expertise. Microsoft’s requirements (like 24/7 coverage, deep product knowledge, and high customer satisfaction scores) mean that these partners have built their support desks to an elite standard. Customers of a designated partner can expect quick initial response to issues, around-the-clock availability, and support engineers who are highly knowledgeable and certified on Microsoft technologies. Because the partner also has back-channel access to Microsoft’s own support knowledge base, customers indirectly benefit from these complex issues being resolved more quickly, as the partner can tap into Microsoft’s internal resources as needed. All of this leads to minimized downtime and more effective troubleshooting for the customer.
Proactive and End-to-End Service
Given the rigorous audits on quality and ownership, customers working with these partners often experience a more proactive support approach and thorough case management. A designated partner is likely to not only fix issues but also provide insights to prevent future problems (as they are invested in maintaining high satisfaction). And when issues do occur, those partners will manage the incident from start to finish without dropping the ball. This end-to-end accountability means customers don’t have to chase multiple support providers or worry about issues being bounced around; their partner will see it through to resolution. In the rare event an escalation to Microsoft is needed, a designated partner knows how to navigate that quickly on the customer’s behalf, ensuring continuity of service.
Alignment with Best Practices
Because the designation requires partners to maintain certain processes and tools (such as ITSM systems and SLAs), customers of these partners typically benefit from more organized and transparent support. You can expect features such as well-defined support ticket tracking, clear escalation paths, and regular status updates when working with a designated partner, which can often lead to a smoother experience compared to a non-designated provider.
In summary, customers who choose a Microsoft Support Services designated partner are selecting a provider that has been vetted for excellence in support. They will likely enjoy faster issue resolution, higher reliability in support delivery, and confidence that their partner has direct lines to Microsoft if needed. This results in less downtime and stress for customer IT teams, as well as increased value from their relationship with the partner. It’s a win-win: customers receive top-quality service, and partners are incentivized to continue delivering that excellence.
