Actually, it was a brilliant move on Microsoft’s part, when they announced Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s pending retirement (last week) on a slow news day--a Friday in late August. Better yet–the Ballmer news competed with the Windows 8.1 Release To Manufacturing (RTM) rumor, so it was diluted. It’s right out of the Washington DC political playbook: Release bad news on a Friday in late August!
A look back at the Ballmer era reveals to me that his love for SMB peaked during the 2003-2005 time frame. The acclaimed SBS 2003 product had shipped in October 2003 at the Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans and was the “focus.” If you recall that era, SMB was mentioned consistently in keynotes, workshops and even the closing party. Furthermore, the marketing director for SBS, Katy Hunter, went on to become Ballmer’s speech writer, giving SMB IT Pros instant access to the top.
Fast-forward the Ballmer movie 10 years, and SMB is rarely mentioned anymore. Now it’s all about big data, cloud, hybrid, devices and services. I understand that yes, times change, but with all due respect, so do people occupying the corner office.
Being Seattle-based, I’ll continue to monitor this situation closely over the next few months. Although Ballmer is saying he’ll take up to 12 months to leave his post until a suitable successor is named, MarketWatch today reports that Ballmer’s last day could be sooner. That’s not a big surprise as organizations such as Microsoft tends to make your departure announcement date your last day on the job. Just ask anyone who was RIFed in Redmond in June and received a 60-day paycheck on their way out the door.
My hope and desire is that Microsoft doesn’t transform into Amazon (translation: a highly efficient direct model with little room for the partner). However, I still do believe that an SMB IT Pro is touching nearly every IT transaction as very few SMBs are truly Do-It-Yourself (DIY).
While there is much speculation as to who will land Ballmer’s job, it is my hope that the position goes to a channel-friendly outsider, rather than someone internal like Kevin Turner, Microsoft’s current COO. For the record, and at the request of Lars Andersson, a long-time reader, I’ve already submitted my resume…LOL!
PS – Steve: If you are reading this, I hope you focus on bringing an NBA basketball team back to Seattle!
PPS – Thank you for your stewardship over the years at Microsoft. Take a bow….
. I would really like the real answer as to why SBS was assassinated. I have worked on both sides of the fence (e.g. Vendor/Partner) and understand the challenges of maintaining a solid Partner Program but in my opinion Microsoft (Ballmer) blew the Small Business Partner totally out of the water! I still believe killing SBS was a huge mistake. Microsoft has lost it's luster, they are late to market on many of their recent product releases and the 900lb Gorilla has lost a lot of weight. The Surface release and strategy is a bust, The cross platform strategy of Windows Phone, Tablet, Workstation and Server failed. People aren't drinking the Kool Aid the way we used to. His successor has a huge job ahead of them. And I hope they remember us little guys. It's not too late to revive SBS!