The heavy layoffs expected as part of a #Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) reorganization could make the software company more fleet as it chases cloud leader #Amazon (AMZN) and tries to extend its lead over #Alphabet 's (GOOGL) #Google and others. Details of just what CEO Satya Nadella has in store are not yet available, though reports suggest he will refocus Microsoft's sales staff on its cloud efforts. Shares of Microsoft were up 1.3% to $69.09 by Wednesday's close. Gartner analyst Ed Anderson said that having a modern sales force is critical for Microsoft to succeed in the cloud era. "Most of Microsoft's sales teams have been trained and organized to sell traditional software products," Anderson said. "Microsoft has done a lot of retraining, and built new incentive and compensation to drive cloud sales, but it's hard to move a huge organization that was really built on the model of traditional software sales."
Microsoft has used its leverage in products such as its Office software suite to lure corporate cloud customers. The shift in the sales force would fit with Microsoft global commercial business head's Judson Althoff cloud-first strategy, Anderson suggested.
"With regards to [Amazon's] AWS and Google, Microsoft is already competing pretty well there. If this reorg really gets the sales teams more focused on the cloud businesses, then it will only make Microsoft even more competitive, which I'm sure is Microsoft's desired outcome," he said.
Amazon.com Inc.'s Amazon Web Services was the clear leader at the end of the first quarter, with 33% of the market for public cloud, private cloud and hybrid services that the combine the two, according to Synergy Research Group. Microsoft was second with 10%, IBM Corp. (IBM) had 8% and Alphabet Inc.'s Google Cloud Platform had 5%.
No comments:
Post a Comment