Microsoft provides a unified support infrastructure for all Microsoft Office 365 plans. The support service offers direct support from the technical team at Microsoft and gives you access to Microsoft’s technical resources.
In this post, I am covering three different methods of getting help from Microsoft Office 365 support. Choosing one method over another depends on your organization’s needs, budget, and goals.
Note that this blog post is dedicated to Microsoft 365 administrators as all three methods listed below require access to the Microsoft 365 admin center. If your account doesn’t have admin privileges then you may want to seek another way to get help from Microsoft Office 365 support.
Microsoft 365 Support and Help in the Admin Center
You can file a Microsoft support request directly from the Microsoft 365 admin center dashboard. Following this method, Microsoft helps you find a solution to your problem by offering a list of suggested documents and guides related to your topic or connecting you to the Microsoft 365 technical support team.
The following method of getting Microsoft 365 technical support applies to all Microsoft 365 plans:
1. Go to the Microsoft 365 admin center by following this link https://admin.microsoft.com. On the right-hand side of the dashboard, click Help & Support at the bottom or the ? icon in the title bar. Both options lead to the same page.
2. In the side panel titled How can we help, type your question or problem in the search box.
3. The results that appear under the search box are categorized into two sections.
– View insights: A concise bullet point guide.
– Recommended articles: Links to Microsoft Docs articles based on your search topic.
These may include in-depth guides and Q&A product pages.
Depending on your search query, the results may only show Recommended articles.
4. If the instructions or recommended articles don’t answer your question, click the Contact support at the bottom or the headset icon at the top.
5. On the Contact support page, you can add a detailed description of your issue under Description.
6. Fill in your contact information, which includes your organization’s phone number and your work email address. Next, choose your Preferred contact method.
7. To further illustrate your issue, you can attach files to your support application under Attachments.
8. Click Contact me at the bottom of the page.
The next page lists your request details and confirms that an agent has been assigned to help you with your issue.
Microsoft Office 365 Business Support
For Microsoft 365 Business plans, Microsoft goes a step further by offering a paid Microsoft 365 support service. This particular business-focused service offers you and your co-workers’ personalized support. When you add the Microsoft Office 365 Business support service to your subscription, Microsoft assigns a business specialist to assist you with your daily tasks and walk you through complex matters.
To get started, go to the Microsoft 365 admin center and type business assist in the search box in the title bar. In the search results, click Get help from small business specialists.
A new panel on the right-hand side is now open. Review the details and the cost of the service ($5/month per person added to subscription cost) and click Checkout at the bottom.
Getting Microsoft 365 Support from Certified Partners
Microsoft Certified Partners (MCP) provide direct support for Microsoft products. You can ask for help with any Microsoft 365 related issues by getting in contact with a certified partner.
To find a partner to help you get Microsoft 365 support for your plan, go to the Microsoft 365 admin center and type partner in the search box in the title bar. Now, follow the link for managing partner relationships.
Review the information on the Manage partner relationships page then click on the contact form link.
Choose a location and click Search partners. Now, choose a partner from the list to work with.
Wrapping up
With a Microsoft 365 subscription, your organization has access to admin-level Microsoft 365 technical support to meet its specific needs. Microsoft has also made available a set of useful tools and documents to help you manage your Microsoft 365 environment successfully. However, Microsoft may not be able to help you, for example, recover your files in the event of data loss caused by a ransomware attack. For that, you need a dedicated backup solution like Nakivo backup and replication.
