Get support for Microsoft 365 for business
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Need to speak to someone right away? Admins, have your account details ready when you call Support.
Important
You must be an admin for a business subscription to use these support methods. Find out more about admin roles for the Microsoft 365 admin center. If you're not a business admin, please use this support page.
Start by checking the current health of your services. You can view detailed information about current and past issues on the Service health dashboard. If you're experiencing an issue that isn't listed, you can get support in one of the following ways:
Online support
Save time by starting your service request online. We can help you find a solution or connect you to technical support.
Important
You must have bought at least one subscription through Microsoft to access Microsoft support. If you bought all your subscriptions through a partner, contact your partner for support.
- Go to the admin center at https://admin.cloud.microsoft. If you get a message that says you don't have permission to access this page or perform this action, you aren't an admin. For more information, see Who has admin permissions in my business?.
- On the bottom right side of the page, select Help & support.
- Type a question or keyword into the text box. If you get a drop-down list, select the one closest to your question, or continue typing your question, then press Enter.
- If the results don't help, at the bottom, select Contact Support.
- Enter a description of your issue, confirm your contact number and email address, select your preferred contact method, and then select Contact me. The expected wait time is indicated in the Contact support pane.
Phone support
In most countries/regions, billing support for Microsoft 365 for business products and services is provided in English from 9 AM-5 PM, Monday through Friday. Local language support varies by country/region.
Technical support is provided in English 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and in some cases, in local languages as noted.
Admins, have your account details ready when you call.
Note
To better protect your organization, we added a PIN-based verification step to our existing phone-based verification process. If you contact us from a number that isn't registered with your organization profile, the Microsoft support representative sends a verification code to the registered email or phone number in your Microsoft 365 admin center profile. You must provide this code to the support representative to grant them access to your organization's account.
Small business support with Business Assist
Get the most out of your subscription with expert advice from small business specialists.
Business Assist for Microsoft 365 is designed for small businesses to give you and your employees around-the-clock access to small business specialists as you grow your business, from onboarding to everyday use. To learn more, see Business Assist.
With every subscription of Microsoft 365 operated by 21Vianet, 21Vianet support provides technical, pre-sales, billing and subscription support. Support is available both online through the Microsoft 365 operated by 21Vianet portal, and by telephone for both paid and trial subscriptions.
Authorized administrators can use the Microsoft 365 operated by 21Vianet portal to submit service requests online and access support telephone numbers. For instructions, see Contact support.
The Microsoft 365 operated by 21Vianet technical support team troubleshoots only those issues that are related to Microsoft 365 operated by 21Vianet. Issues that originate in customer networks fall outside of the Microsoft 365 support boundaries, and in these cases, customers must work with their networking team for assistance.
Community and self-service support options
Self-service support is available for all Microsoft 365 operated by 21Vianet users, and includes troubleshooting tools and videos, help articles and videos, as well as forums and wikis in the Microsoft 365 community. For more self-help resources, see Microsoft 365 operated by 21Vianet.
Pre-sales support
Pre-sales support for Microsoft 365 operated by 21Vianet provides assistance on subscription features and benefits, plan comparisons, pricing and licensing, and helps to identify the right solution to meet your business needs. In addition, pre-sales support can help you find a Partner, and purchase and sign up for a trial. You can call during local business hours, Monday through Friday. Pre-sales support can be accessed using the same phone number as with technical support. For instructions, see Contact support.
Billing and subscription management support
Assistance for billing and subscription management issues is available online or by telephone during China business hours (Beijing Time), Monday through Friday. Billing and subscription management support can be accessed using the same phone number and online service request process as with technical support. The support telephone number can be found on the Microsoft 365 operated by 21Vianet portal. For instructions, see Contact support.
Here are some examples of billing and subscription management issues:
- Signing up for a trial or purchasing a subscription
- Converting from a trial subscription to a paid subscription
- Understanding the bill
- Renewing a subscription
- Adding or removing licenses
- Canceling a paid subscription
Technical support
Technical support for Microsoft 365 operated by 21Vianet subscriptions provides assistance with basic installation, setup, and general technical usage. Some examples of these issues are listed in the following table.
| Support category | Examples |
|---|---|
| Installation and setup | Exchange Online
SharePoint Online
Skype for Business Online
Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise
|
| Configuration | Service configuration issues
|
Note
You can learn how to contact technical support here: Contact support. Technical support does not include troubleshooting third-party services or add-ins. Learn about finding answers from other customers in the Community.
Technical support case handling
21Vianet assigns a severity level to a case when it is opened, based on an assessment of the issue type and customer impact. Examples of issue types and severity levels are shown in the following table.
| Severity level | Operations and support description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Sev A (Critical) | One or more services aren't accessible or are unusable. Production, operations, or deployment deadlines are severely affected, or there will be a severe impact on production or profitability. Multiple users or services are affected. |
|
| Sev B (High) | The service is usable but in an impaired fashion. The situation has moderate business impact and can be dealt with during business hours. A single user, customer, or service is partially affected. |
|
| Sev C (Non-critical) | The situation has minimal business impact. The issue is important but does not have a significant current service or productivity impact for the customer. A single user is experiencing partial disruption, but an acceptable workaround exists. |
|
Technical support initial response times
Initial response time is based on the severity levels described above. 21Vianet customer service team follows up with investigation and customer communication in reasonable rhythm according to severity levels. 21Vianet also expect customer to collaborate at reasonable level accordingly.
| Security level 1 | 21Vianet customer support team Initial response | Customer responsibility |
|---|---|---|
| Sev A 2 (Critical) | Initial Response: 1 hour or less. Follow up: continues effort until problem resolution. |
Provide solid business impact statement (see the severity A description and examples above); Allocate resource to ensure continues collaboration with 21Vianet customer support agent for the joint investigation and necessary communication; Provide accurate contact information and ensure reliable communication throughout the service request lifecycle. |
| Sev B (High) | Initial Response: 1 business day or less. | Provide accurate contact information and ensure reliable communication throughout the service request lifecycle. |
| Sev C (Medium) | Initial Response: 3 business day or less. | Provide accurate contact information and ensure reliable communication throughout the service request lifecycle. |
1 If the customer cannot provide required resource or make response for collaboration with 21Vianet customer support agent investigation in reasonable time, 21Vianet support team may lower down the severity level of a service request.
2 Severity A is only available to customers who had signed an advanced online service agreement with 21Vianet through a sales account manager. Severity A is available only for technical support. For billing and subscription management support, the highest severity level is B.
Technical support working hours
Severity A: 24*7 continuous service
Severity B/C: 9:00 ~24:00 (Beijing Time) a day, 365 days.
Contact support
Note
Assisted support options are for admins of Microsoft 365 subscribed organizations only. If you use Microsoft 365 but you're not an admin, you can still get support in the community forums, or by contacting your admin.
Open an online request
Save time by starting your service request online. Go to the Microsoft 365 admin center, choose Support > New service request.
Call support
Call support. If you encounter any problem with online request, phone support is available at (86) 400-089-0365.
Shared support responsibilities
21Vianet understands that receiving timely technical support from qualified professionals is a key aspect of cloud services. Equally important is the critical role that the customer's IT department plays in the support of its users.
Administrator roles and responsibilities
People with administrator roles are the only ones in the customer's organization authorized to access the Admin section of the Microsoft 365 operated by 21Vianet portal and to communicate directly with 21Vianet about Microsoft 365 service requests.
With Microsoft 365 you can designate several types of administrators who serve different functions. This service description uses the generic title administrator to refer to all categories of administrators. For more information about the types of administrator roles, see Assign admin roles in Microsoft 365 for business.
The administrator is:
- Responsible for service administration and account maintenance.
- The primary contact that sets up and supports each service user.
- Authorized to submit service requests to 21Vianet.
The administrator's role is to:
- Provide user account setup and configuration to allow users access to the services.
- Address client connectivity, client software, and mobility installation issues.
- Address service availability issues within the customer's organizational span of control.
- Use self-service support resources to resolve support issues.
The administrator is expected to provide initial assistance for the customer's users. However, if the administrator is unable to resolve issues with the help of self-service support resources, he or she should Contact support.
21Vianet support role
21Vianet's support role is to:
- Troubleshoot and provide technical guidance for customer issues and escalations.
- Gather and validate information related to specific service requests.
- Provide issue coordination and resolution management.
- Maintain communication with the administrators to help ensure that issues are addressed on an ongoing basis.
- Provide assistance with licensing, invoicing, and subscription inquiries.
- Provide assistance with purchasing and trial inquiries.
- Continually gather customer feedback on how to improve the service through surveys.
Feature availability
To view feature availability across Microsoft 365 plans, see Microsoft 365 Service Description.
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