Doug Burgum, senior vice president of Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS) and former CEO of Great Plains, is now reporting directly to Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, moving out from under the head of Microsoft’s information worker unit Jeff Raikes.
Small and mid-market solutions and partner group senior vice president Orlando Ayala will report to Burgum, as chief operating officer for MBS. Ayala is responsible for MBS strategy around sales, services, marketing and operations.
Microsoft said MBS and Ayala’s group have worked closely together during the past 18 months, and the changes would drive further collaboration.
MBS’s elevation comes as Microsoft sees growing interest in its SMB customer base from competitor IBM Corp and even, of late, BEA Systems Inc, looking to leverage their platform products.
IBM has reorganized software sales around vertical markets while also launching a number of Express versions of products, such as DB2 and WebSphere application server, which feature simplified management for organizations with little or no IT support.
BEA during its first fiscal quarter re-organized sales to target SMBs, a unit called General Accounts, whilst also taking steps to better tackle vertical markets with applications based on its WebLogic platform. BEA partners already include Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) vendors like PeopleSoft Corp.
A Microsoft spokesperson denied any connection between the management change and stiffening competition, although, with Burgum reporting directly to Ballmer, she added: This indicates Steve’s commitment to the area, and underscores the importance he’s placing on it.
Microsoft moved into mid-marker ERP with the $1.1bn acquisition of Great Plains in December 2000, a deal that saw CEO Burgum become head of Microsoft’s new business unit and report directly to Raikes. Microsoft followed this deal in May 2002, announcing the acquisition of Navision for $1.3bn.
