Hitachi Solutions Earns Microsoft’s Support Services Designation

We’re proud to announce that Hitachi Solutions has earned Microsoft’s Support Services designation — a recognition reserved for partners who meet Microsoft’s highest standards for customer support delivery.

For an organization built entirely around the Microsoft cloud, this designation isn’t a plaque for the wall. It’s a promise about the part of your technology investment that matters most: what happens after go-live — when the workload has to perform, the escalation can’t wait, and support is the difference between momentum and a stall.

Here’s what the designation means, and what it means for you.

What the Designation Actually Is

The Support Services designation is a recognition within the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program reserved for partners who meet Microsoft’s most rigorous standards for customer support delivery. It isn’t a logo you buy or a box you check. Partners have to clear five sequential gates before Microsoft will stand behind them: Prerequisites, a Performance Assessment, a Customer Success Survey, a Capability Assessment, and formal Enrollment.

Translation: a partner can’t earn this on marketing spend. They earn it on evidence.

The Bar Microsoft Sets (and Why It’s High)

Before a partner is even eligible, they must already hold an active Solutions Partner designation, be an enrolled Cloud Solution Provider, and carry an eligible enterprise support plan — Advanced, Premier, or Unified Support for Partners. Those are table stakes, not the finish line.

From there, Microsoft measures the things that are hard to fake:

Performance metrics — a calculated case rate tied to real support volume against real billed revenue, measured on a trailing 12-month basis. [learn.microsoft.com]

Verified customer satisfaction — Microsoft surveys your customers on response time, technical expertise, problem resolution, and whether they’d recommend the partner.

Capability assessment — proof of the technical knowledge, support processes, case-management tooling, and quality controls that keep service consistent at scale.

In short: the partner’s customers, not the partner’s brochure, decide whether the standard is met.

What It Means for You

Hitachi Solutions is 100% dedicated to Microsoft — a premier Global Systems Integrator with five top Solutions Partner designations, 17 advanced specializations, and more than two decades of delivery behind us. The Support Services designation adds a specific, customer-facing promise on top of that pedigree.

Support quality that’s independently validated. You’re not taking our word for it. Microsoft measured it — against our own customers’ experiences.

A faster line to resolution. The designation is built on a higher Microsoft support tier, which means quicker escalation and closer collaboration with Microsoft’s own support teams when a problem needs them in the room.

Consistency you can plan around. The capability standards Microsoft assesses — documented processes, quality monitoring, certified teams — are the same things that keep your operations steady long after the project team rolls off.

The Bottom Line

Most partners talk about support as an afterthought — a cost line, a warranty, a phone number. We think it’s where the return on your technology investment is either protected or quietly eroded.

The Support Services designation is Microsoft’s way of saying we’re built to protect it. And because Microsoft rebuilds this bar every year through ongoing performance review, it’s not a trophy we set on a shelf — it’s a standard we have to keep earning. [learn.microsoft.com]

When your Microsoft estate has to just work, that’s the difference between a vendor and a partner.

Support isn’t just an afterthought – it’s where your ROI is protected. Let’s talk about what this looks like for your organization.