A small AWS managed service provider I'm considering claims that its customers receive Enterprise Support at no additional cost through the provider's arrangement with AWS. Someone at the company privately admitted they aren't sure why the benefit exists, since the person who originally configured it left years ago. Could this be a legitimate partner or reseller arrangement, or is the provider likely offering a different support model that routes requests through its own team?
2 Answers
It probably isn’t truly free Enterprise Support. The MSP may be a reseller or partner that includes its own support service and handles first-line troubleshooting before escalating eligible issues to AWS. In that setup, you generally wouldn’t be a direct Enterprise Support customer, so AWS cases and calls could have to go through the MSP. That can be perfectly workable if their process is solid, but it may become frustrating if you need direct access to AWS or eventually outgrow the provider.
The exact arrangement depends on how the AWS account and billing relationship are structured. Ask the MSP to explain who holds the support subscription, what level of AWS access you receive, whether you can open cases directly, and what happens if you leave the MSP. If they can’t clearly document those details, I’d treat “free Enterprise Support” as marketing shorthand for bundled or mediated support rather than a transferable Enterprise Support plan.
That makes sense. I’ll ask whether support cases have to go through them and what happens if we move the account elsewhere.