As expected, Microsoft announced a reorganization of its business units, consolidating down to three major business groups that mimic its new direction as a supplier of devices and services. This had been rumored for some time and was not surprise to anyone in the Microsoft channel.
Under the new structure, Microsoft now consists of four main engineering groups: Operating Systems, Devices and Studios, Applications and Services, and Cloud and Enterprise, plus a separate Dynamics group that requires “special focus.” That last part was what we were most interested in and made us feel pretty good because they are right, and it confirms their focus and commitment.
The four groups break down more specifically as follows:
OS Engineering Group: This group will cover all of Microsoft’s operating systems work for consoles, mobile devices, PCs, and back-end systems. The core cloud services for the OS will be in this group.
Devices and Studios Engineering Group: This group will be responsible for hardware development as well as games, music, video, and other entertainment.
Applications and Services Engineering Group: This group will focusing on applications and core technologies in productivity, communication, search, and other information categories including Microsoft Office.
Cloud and Enterprise Engineering Group: This group will focus on back-end technologies like data center, database, and various solutions for enterprise IT and development tools.
Additionally, there are other smaller groups that consolidate all strategy and research, marketing, and centralized finance and human resources.
Because they have said very little about the Dynamics group, we expect no changes strategy wise – a good thing. Time will tell how well these changes will impact customers, and the ability for Microsoft partners like us to service our customers but overall we are cautiously optimistic and secretly excited that a more streamlined Microsoft will better for all of us.
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