Microsoft Reorganization Reportedly Puts Thousands Of Sales Jobs At Risk
It could end up being a tough summer for some Microsoft employees, depending on how things shake out. It is being reported that Microsoft is planning an internal reorganization that could see the Redmond outfit laying off employees. While details are rather scarce at the moment, it is said that layoffs could occur early this week, possibly starting with today, one day before America at large celebrates Independence Day.
According to Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet, Microsoft's sales team is likely to be the hardest hit by the layoffs. That is due in part to Microsoft focusing its reorganization effort on improving the way it sells its cloud software and services, such as Azure. Like many companies, Microsoft sees a lot of potential in the cloud, which seems to be where the market is trending these days—streaming services and online collaboration have become the norm, and the Internet of Things (IoT) sector continues to grow.
Microsoft has been fiddling with its internal structure for some time now. At the beginning of the year, Microsoft made a series of organizational moves that saw parts of its sales and marketing teams moved under Judston Althoff, head of Microsoft's Worldwide Commercial Business Group. Althoff has been pushing the company's sales teams to focus on Azure and other cloud services. At the same time, Microsoft has also put a priority on selling support services to customers.
There is conflicting information floating around about the reorganization and how it will affect jobs within Microsoft. Some reports suggest that heavy layoffs are looming, but according to Foley, the job cuts might not be all that significant. Furthermore, Microsoft may try to reassign employees who will ultimately be dismissed from the company's sales and marketing teams.
Either way, the timing here is a tad awkward. In just a few days, Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference (now called Microsoft Inspire) will kick off in Washington, D.C., followed by its Solution Specialist Sales Summit (S4) in Las Vegas later this month.
According to Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet, Microsoft's sales team is likely to be the hardest hit by the layoffs. That is due in part to Microsoft focusing its reorganization effort on improving the way it sells its cloud software and services, such as Azure. Like many companies, Microsoft sees a lot of potential in the cloud, which seems to be where the market is trending these days—streaming services and online collaboration have become the norm, and the Internet of Things (IoT) sector continues to grow.
Microsoft has been fiddling with its internal structure for some time now. At the beginning of the year, Microsoft made a series of organizational moves that saw parts of its sales and marketing teams moved under Judston Althoff, head of Microsoft's Worldwide Commercial Business Group. Althoff has been pushing the company's sales teams to focus on Azure and other cloud services. At the same time, Microsoft has also put a priority on selling support services to customers.
There is conflicting information floating around about the reorganization and how it will affect jobs within Microsoft. Some reports suggest that heavy layoffs are looming, but according to Foley, the job cuts might not be all that significant. Furthermore, Microsoft may try to reassign employees who will ultimately be dismissed from the company's sales and marketing teams.
Either way, the timing here is a tad awkward. In just a few days, Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference (now called Microsoft Inspire) will kick off in Washington, D.C., followed by its Solution Specialist Sales Summit (S4) in Las Vegas later this month.
