Microsoft Realigns Its Focus On Devices, Web Services
Microsoft today announced a realignment of the company in order to be able to deliver to deliver devices and services faster and more efficiently.
"Going forward, our strategy will focus on creating a family of devices and services for individuals and businesses that empower people around the globe at home, at work and on the go, for the activities they value most, " Microsoft chief executive officer Steve Ballmer wrote in an internal email to Microsoft's employees.
Microsoft will center its work on the following:
- A business model based on partner and first-party devices with both consumer and enterprise services
- Optimization for activities people value most
- A family of devices powered by a service-enabled shell
- Design for enterprise extensibility and enterprise needs
Balmer said that Microsoft will be rallying behind a single strategy as one company - not a collection of divisional strategies.
Microsoft will be organized by function: Engineering (including supply chain and datacenters), Marketing, Business Development and Evangelism, Advanced Strategy and Research, Finance, HR, Legal, and COO (including field, support, commercial operations and IT).
There will be four engineering areas: OS, Apps, Cloud, and Devices. Microsoft will keep Dynamics separate as "it continues to need special focus and represents significant opportunity," according to Ballmer.
Microsoft will also increase focus on its engineering systems, processes, and tools to improve the productivity of every engineer and to facilitate engineering collaboration and contribution across the company.
Microsoft's family will include phones, tablets, PCs, 2-in-1s, TV-attached devices and other devices to be imagined and developed.
Specifically, Microsoft's teams will be these:
- Operating Systems Engineering Group. Terry Myerson will lead this group, and it will span all our OS work for console, to mobile device, to PC, to back-end systems. The core cloud services for the operating system will be in this group.
- Devices and Studios Engineering Group. Julie Larson-Green will lead this group and will have all hardware development and supply chain from all the devices. Julie will also take responsibility for our studios experiences including all games, music, video and other entertainment.
- Applications and Services Engineering Group. Qi Lu will lead broad applications and services core technologies in productivity, communication, search and other information categories.
- Cloud and Enterprise Engineering Group. Satya Nadella will lead development of our back-end technologies like datacenter, database and our specific technologies for enterprise IT scenarios and development tools.
- Dynamics. Kirill Tatarinov will continue to run Dynamics as is, but his product leaders will dotted line report to Qi Lu, his marketing leader will dotted line report to Tami Reller and his sales leader will dotted line report to the COO group.
- Advanced Strategy and Research Group. Eric Rudder will lead Research, Trustworthy Computing, teams focused on the intersection of technology and policy, and will drive our cross-company looks at key new technology trends.
- Marketing Group. Tami Reller will lead all marketing with the field relationship as is today.
- COO. Kevin Turner will continue leading Microsoft's worldwide sales, field marketing, services, support, and stores as well as IT, licensing and commercial operations.
- Business Development and Evangelism Group. Tony Bates will focus on Microsoft' partnerships (OEMs, silicon vendors, key developers, Yahoo, Nokia, etc.) and the company's developer outreach.
- Finance Group. Amy Hood will centralize all product group finance organizations.
- Legal and Corporate Affairs Group. Brad Smith will continue as General Counsel with responsibility for the company's legal and corporate affairs and will map his team to the new organization.
- HR Group. Lisa Brummel will lead Human Resources and map her team to the new organization.
As part of these changes, Kurt DelBene will be retiring from Microsoft, Craig Mundie will be stepping off the SLT to devote 100% of his time to a special project for Steve Ballmer through the end of this calendar year. Also at this time, Rick Rashid will step away from running Microsoft Research and move into a new role driving core OS innovation in Microsoft's operating systems group.
Microsoft will center its work on the following:
- A business model based on partner and first-party devices with both consumer and enterprise services
- Optimization for activities people value most
- A family of devices powered by a service-enabled shell
- Design for enterprise extensibility and enterprise needs
Balmer said that Microsoft will be rallying behind a single strategy as one company - not a collection of divisional strategies.
Microsoft will be organized by function: Engineering (including supply chain and datacenters), Marketing, Business Development and Evangelism, Advanced Strategy and Research, Finance, HR, Legal, and COO (including field, support, commercial operations and IT).
There will be four engineering areas: OS, Apps, Cloud, and Devices. Microsoft will keep Dynamics separate as "it continues to need special focus and represents significant opportunity," according to Ballmer.
Microsoft will also increase focus on its engineering systems, processes, and tools to improve the productivity of every engineer and to facilitate engineering collaboration and contribution across the company.
Microsoft's family will include phones, tablets, PCs, 2-in-1s, TV-attached devices and other devices to be imagined and developed.
Specifically, Microsoft's teams will be these:
- Operating Systems Engineering Group. Terry Myerson will lead this group, and it will span all our OS work for console, to mobile device, to PC, to back-end systems. The core cloud services for the operating system will be in this group.
- Devices and Studios Engineering Group. Julie Larson-Green will lead this group and will have all hardware development and supply chain from all the devices. Julie will also take responsibility for our studios experiences including all games, music, video and other entertainment.
- Applications and Services Engineering Group. Qi Lu will lead broad applications and services core technologies in productivity, communication, search and other information categories.
- Cloud and Enterprise Engineering Group. Satya Nadella will lead development of our back-end technologies like datacenter, database and our specific technologies for enterprise IT scenarios and development tools.
- Dynamics. Kirill Tatarinov will continue to run Dynamics as is, but his product leaders will dotted line report to Qi Lu, his marketing leader will dotted line report to Tami Reller and his sales leader will dotted line report to the COO group.
- Advanced Strategy and Research Group. Eric Rudder will lead Research, Trustworthy Computing, teams focused on the intersection of technology and policy, and will drive our cross-company looks at key new technology trends.
- Marketing Group. Tami Reller will lead all marketing with the field relationship as is today.
- COO. Kevin Turner will continue leading Microsoft's worldwide sales, field marketing, services, support, and stores as well as IT, licensing and commercial operations.
- Business Development and Evangelism Group. Tony Bates will focus on Microsoft' partnerships (OEMs, silicon vendors, key developers, Yahoo, Nokia, etc.) and the company's developer outreach.
- Finance Group. Amy Hood will centralize all product group finance organizations.
- Legal and Corporate Affairs Group. Brad Smith will continue as General Counsel with responsibility for the company's legal and corporate affairs and will map his team to the new organization.
- HR Group. Lisa Brummel will lead Human Resources and map her team to the new organization.
As part of these changes, Kurt DelBene will be retiring from Microsoft, Craig Mundie will be stepping off the SLT to devote 100% of his time to a special project for Steve Ballmer through the end of this calendar year. Also at this time, Rick Rashid will step away from running Microsoft Research and move into a new role driving core OS innovation in Microsoft's operating systems group.
