Focused Services - FAQ

gdhand — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 08:54:31 GMT

General Overview

What is Focused Services?

Focused Services is an account-level entitlement providing personalized "white-glove" support management . It is designed for large organizations with complex, multi-product deployments who require a designated advocate to coordinate resources across the Palo Alto Networks portfolio .

How does Focused Services differ from Platinum Support?

Platinum Support is a product-level entitlement focused on expedited technical response times (e.g., 15-minute response for Severity 1) .
Focused Services is an account-level service focused on personalized advocacy, proactive guidance, and account technical health .
They are complementary: Focused Services provides the personalized strategy, while Platinum ensures the fastest tactical response .

Is Focused Services limited to Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFW)?

No. Focused Services is multi-product by design. It covers your entire Palo Alto Networks infrastructure, including Prisma Access, Prisma Cloud, and Cortex .

Roles and Responsibilities

What is the role of a Support Account Manager (SAM)?

Your SAM is your designated customer advocate and single point of contact for support escalations . They actively track your support cases, coordinate with internal technical teams (TAC, Engineering), and host recurring meetings to ensure your security goals remain on track .

What does a Designated Engineer (DE) provide?

Available in Plus and Elite tiers, the DE provides deep technical expertise and is familiar with your specific network environment . They assist with complex troubleshooting, provide technical guidance, and lead activities like Tailored Release Strategies .

What is a Service Delivery Leader (SDL)?

For very large or global deployments (typically Elite or Plus Tier 3), an SDL is assigned to orchestrate all services—including Support, Focused Services, and Professional Services—to ensure unified global delivery .

Service Deliverables

What are the primary deliverables included in the tiers?

All tiers receive personalized support management, but higher tiers unlock advanced proactive features :

Personalized Support: Recurring case reviews, Root Cause Analysis (RCA) for critical issues, and escalation management .
Product Guidance: Tailored release reviews, best practice assessments (BPA), and proactive threat notifications .
Advanced Proactive Services (Plus/Elite): Includes annual SecOps Optimization (traffic analysis and policy tuning) and Proactive Performance Sweeps (hardware/dataplane diagnostic reviews) .

How do I access Focused Services Webinars?

As a customer, you have exclusive access to on-demand technical deep-dives and live webinars . These sessions focus on high-level diagnostic workflows and architectural best practices . You will need to login into Live Community as a customer/partner to be able to access the webinar recordings.

Support Workflow

How should I open a case for the best experience?

Open online first: Always open your case via the Customer Support Portal. This allows you to set the initial priority and upload Technical Support Files (TSF) immediately .
Call for Critical issues: For Severity 1 cases, open the case online and then call the support line to be routed faster to an engineer .
Notify your SAM: Your SAM is automatically notified of high/critical cases and will assist in driving them toward resolution .

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