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Watson To Run the Microsoft U.S. SMC Business

A big part of the major sales and marketing reorganization at Microsoft earlier this month involved splitting the business into an enterprise operating unit (EOU) and a small medium and corporate (SMC) customers unit.

For years there was an Enterprise & Partner Group (EPG) and a Small and Midsize Solutions & Partners (SMS&P) organization. Broadly speaking, enterprise customers were handled through EPG, while corporate account managed (CAM), corporate territory managed (CTM) and SMB & Distribution (SMB&D) customers went through SMS&P. Now enterprise and CAM accounts are being moved up into the vertically organized EOU, and the rest are heading into SMC.

As details emerge, it looks like the new worldwide structure will be reflected in the U.S. subsidiary, as well, with a One Commercial Partner organization at both the worldwide level and in the U.S. subsidiary, and the SMC also having a counterpart in the United States.

More on Microsoft's Reorg

• Major Microsoft Reorg Comes into Focus

• Microsoft's Pre-Inspire Reorg Raises 7 Big Questions for Partners

• Layoffs Under Way at Microsoft

• Partner-Facing Roles Shuffled in Microsoft Reorg

Longtime Microsoft partners will have a familiar face running the SMC business in the United States. Corporate Vice President Allison Watson, a former long-serving leader of the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group who has been running Marketing and Operations for the U.S. subsidiary, will, according to a Microsoft spokesperson, "expand her responsibilities to also lead the US SMC business."

The spokesperson also confirmed previous RCP reporting on the U.S. organization that another former Microsoft worldwide channel chief, Phil Sorgen, is corporate vice president for Enterprise-Commercial in the U.S. subsidiary, and that Corporate Vice President David Willis is leading the U.S. One Commercial Partner organization.

All of those U.S.-based executives will have a new boss on Sept. 8. Microsoft announced earlier this week that Kate Johnson, currently the chief commercial officer and executive vice president of GE Digital, will be the corporate vice president of Microsoft's U.S. operations. Earlier organizational charts had Jean-Philippe Courtois, executive vice president and president of Microsoft Global Sales, Marketing and Operations, serving as acting president of Microsoft's U.S. subsidiary in lieu of a U.S. boss.

Posted by Scott Bekker on July 19, 2017


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