Frequently Asked Questions

Onshore Unified Support is an alternative to Microsoft Unified Support that offers the same comprehensive coverage across Microsoft products—Azure, M365, Dynamics, and more—but at a lower cost and with a more flexible, consumption-based model. Unlike Microsoft’s “all-you-can-eat” percentage-based pricing, Onshore charges only for the actual hours you use. We also provide dedicated, US-based support and faster response times, delivering higher value and personalized attention.

We estimate your likely usage of support hours for the year and bill at a flat $125/hr. If you do not use all your allotted hours, 50% of the unused hours roll over to the next contract period. This means you never lose half of your prepaid hours—unlike Microsoft’s model where there is no carryover and you simply pay whether you use the service or not.

Onshore’s team works from rural American delivery centers, such as our Microsoft Center of Excellence in Glennville, GA. The lower cost of living in these areas lets us pay competitive wages to skilled IT professionals yet keep overhead expenses down. We pass those savings on to customers through our lower hourly rate and flexible contracts. You get U.S.-based, highly trained support at a cost closer to offshore rates.

Yes, we provide 24x7x365 support coverage. Our standard SLA typically guarantees a 15-minute initial response for critical issues, and we often respond faster in practice. Unlike Microsoft, which may take up to an hour or more for critical tickets, our rural-based helpdesk is on-call around the clock to ensure immediate attention when you need it most.

We are a long-standing Microsoft Partner with deep product knowledge and access to partner resources. In the rare case that a confirmed product bug needs Microsoft’s internal fix, we can escalate on your behalf. In most situations, however, our in-house experts resolve issues directly, leveraging our Microsoft Center of Excellence and AI-enhanced problem-solving capabilities.

DUSTy AI (Deep Unified Solution Troubleshooter) is Onshore’s proprietary AI platform integrated with our ServiceNow system. It instantly searches a massive knowledge base of Microsoft issues, past tickets, and relevant product documentation, suggesting rapid solutions to our engineers. This cuts troubleshooting time, improves accuracy, and prevents repeat issues. DUSTy effectively acts as an “AI co-pilot,” making our support professionals even more efficient.

Our support delivery occurs entirely in the U.S., staffed by U.S. citizens in secure facilities that can meet HIPAA, ITAR, FedRAMP, and other standards. We have extensive experience serving government, healthcare, financial services, and other regulated verticals that demand data sovereignty and strict access controls. Our rural outsourcing model is inherently designed to maintain compliance without the concerns introduced by offshore teams.

With Onshore, you can expect cost savings of 50-75% compared to Microsoft Unified Support. We often also undercut other third-party alternatives by leveraging our rural labor cost advantage, AI efficiencies, and flexible contracts. The exact savings vary by organization, so we recommend using our Savings Calculator (https://www.onshoreunifiedsupport.com/calculator)or requesting a custom assessment.

In the rare scenario where we identify a code-level bug or a platform-wide issue, we will manage the escalation process with Microsoft on your behalf. Because we’re a Microsoft Partner, we have channels to escalate critical issues. However, we typically solve 85%+ of incidents internally, thanks to our experts’ deep product knowledge and DUSTy AI.

We start with a brief onboarding to understand your environment, capture details on your Microsoft usage, and plan your estimated support hours. This includes setting up your ServiceNow portal, introducing your assigned support team, and integrating your systems with our AI (if needed). Most customers can fully transition to Onshore Unified Support within 1–2 weeks, and some do so even faster, ensuring there’s no coverage gap during the handover.