An Azure managed-services agreement should describe who operates the environment, how incidents are handled and how the customer retains control of its tenant and data. Compare those responsibilities alongside the provider's credentials.

Verify credentials precisely

Microsoft's Solutions Partner designations use performance, skilling and customer-success criteria. Basic membership, a particular designation and an individual engineer's certification are different forms of evidence. Ask for current verification matching the legal entity and solution area in the proposal. Microsoft Solutions Partner criteria.

The Azure Expert MSP program is also changing. As checked on September 7, 2026, Microsoft states that new enrollments stop on September 15, 2026 and renewals end in January 2027, with existing participants retaining benefits until their anniversary date. Check the current program terms and the provider's status rather than treating the badge as an indefinitely available next step. Microsoft Azure Expert MSP transition guidance.

Neither source establishes BustanTech's own designation or certification status. Request vendor evidence for any credential included in a commercial proposal.

Set the operating boundary

A co-managed arrangement might leave application support and change approval with your team while a provider operates selected infrastructure. A more comprehensive agreement may include those activities, but the wording must make this clear.

Use a responsibility table for identity, networking, subscriptions, backup, patching, monitoring, security alerts, cost management and incident communications. Identify who approves privileged access and production changes. Include work that is excluded as well as work that is included.

Ask how incidents are handled

Do not infer round-the-clock staffing from the term “managed services.” Specify support hours, time zone, severity definitions, response targets and escalation contacts. Distinguish acknowledging an incident from restoring the affected service.

Ask how monitoring generates actionable tickets, who can implement a change outside office hours, and when the customer's own team must participate. Request an example incident report with confidential details removed, if the provider can supply one.

Keep access and cost visible

Agree how administrative access is granted, reviewed and revoked. Retain suitable customer ownership of accounts, billing records and operational documentation.

For cost management, define budget alerts, reporting frequency and approval limits. A savings proposal should identify its assumptions and any commitments, availability changes or support costs behind the calculation. It should not be treated as a guaranteed percentage reduction.

Include an exit plan

Require a handover inventory covering configurations, runbooks, open incidents and recovery information. Define how access is removed and how services transfer to your team or another provider at contract end.

For workloads intended for the announced Saudi region, review the Azure Saudi Arabia East preparation guide before agreeing availability, migration and data-flow assumptions.

BustanTech's Microsoft Azure and managed services pages describe service areas. Request a scoped proposal and assess the documented responsibilities, evidence and commercial terms against this checklist.