Microsoft announced the appointment of Satya Nadella as the new CEO, this is the 3rd time in 38 years that a new person takes the helm of arguably the largest software company in the globe. The background of Satya is a telling one for what this means for Microsoft, he comes from the cloud area of Microsoft and one that is rapidly growing. As we are seeing in our customer requirements the historic model of IT is shifting to a pay on demand model and one that Azure platform has excelled at. The other recent changes in Microsoft with the production of the Surface and the acquisition of Nokia all points towards one reality.
The modern workplace is changing flexible working and being productive in all areas is key. The experience of starting a piece of work at your desktop to continuing that document on your commute on your Windows mobile and then finishing off on your windows tablet is now a reality. The Office 365 suite is making this a reality with Sky Drive and Sky Drive pro (Soon to be One Drive). So I can see this move towards productivity continuing. It will be interesting to see how products like Lync which are key in the flexible work style continue to evolve since already customers are embracing the familiar windows experience in Unified Communications.
Another telling factor will be how the new Windows continues to develop and what will happen with Consumer products like X Box One under the new focus. One exciting thing coming out of Microsoft is the Windows mobile, with the decline of Blackberry and the expense of I Phones is there going to be a move to the business choice of mobile to be a Nokia? It will be interesting to see, but one thing is for certain there is going to be some big changes at Microsoft to continue the journey that was started 38 years ago, to make the business place somewhere which users can be more productive and people can have the flexibility to be productive anywhere, of course we can all hope the next Windows isn’t going to be vista repeat.
Richard Bowes - Director of Microsoft Solutions, Cisilion.