By David MacDonald I t seems a little too Orwellian when a computer giant like Microsoft eliminates 3,000 jobs to better focus on depart- ments like Artificial Intelligence (AI), cloud services, and creative tools. It’s part of an on-going effort by the Redmond, Washing- ton-based multinational technology company to persuade an Apple hungry consumer culture that their sales staff has “greater technical and industry- specific expertise,” accord- ing to Bloomberg. “Today, we are taking steps to notify some employees that their jobs are under consideration or that their positions will be eliminated,” a spokesperson for Microsoft told CNBC. “Microsoft is implementing changes to better serve our customers and partners. Like all companies, we evaluate our business on a regular basis. This can result in increased investment in some places and, from time-to- time, re- deployment in others.” For the remaining 118, 567 Microsoft employees, only those who focus on commercial sales will experience the thrust of the company’s sudden move.
further split into four sales categories: data and AI, apps and infr structure, business applications, and the modern workplace. For Microsoft’s purposes, the modern workplace encom- passes six chief industries: manufacturing, financial services, retail, health, education, and government. According to Bloomberg and CNBC, Amazon and Alphabet have been successfully targeting customers in the chief industries who are looking for a trustworthy way to take workplace applications and data on- the-go via the cloud. And despite a recent 15 percent revenue increase for server and cloud products and services, Microsoft’s efforts are set to expand. “In addition, gaming is growing rapidly across all device types and is evolving to new scenarios like eSports, game broadcasting, and mixed reality content and we will drive growth in this category as well,” said Microsoft’s chief mar- keting officer, Chris Capossela in an email obtained by Bloomberg. “There is an enormous $4.5 trillion market opportunity across our Commercial and Consumer business,” the email detailed. Source: Bloomberg, CNBC
Sales will be streamlined into two distinct efforts that pursue large and then small to medium clients.
Within those two streams, Microsoft associates will be
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AUGUST 2017 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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