A recent letter from the new Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to all employees underlines the exciting journey ahead for the company. In addition to providing enterprise and consumer software solutions and platforms, Microsoft is planning to undergo a journey of self-discovery to find their soul, from which they can then launch bold ambitions.
While the actual essence of the soul is yet to be defined, pending the discovery phase, Mr. Nadella hinted at a few possibilities where that journey might take them. “Mobile-first” and “Cloud-first” is poised to be the new mantra of the company, promoting mobile devices, mobile operating systems, the Internet of Things, cloud computing, and big data.
On the enterprise side, data analytics, identity services, and media services will help enable developers to build next-generation applications. Microsoft is also planning interesting innovations on the consumer front, with natural language interfaces and improved interfaces. Devices such as the Xbox and Surface tablet also received an honorable notion, so they will likely not go away anytime soon.
Missing from the address were PCs, improved business application development tools, the Windows Store / app marketplace, and embedded devices.
Given Mr. Nadella’s background as the VP of Cloud, the focus on mobile platforms and cloud software is in-line with expectations. Under his leadership, Microsoft built an excellent cloud platform, with its combination of public, private, and hybrid cloud offerings. The public cloud is provided through Microsoft Azure, a competitor to Amazon Web Services, while private clouds are provided through Windows Server. Applications developed on one platform can easily scale and migrate to the other for optimal deployment.
The next moves the company takes remain to be seen. Despite repeated, enthusiastic forays into both Cloud and Mobile, Microsoft has not achieved great success either front. Microsoft’s mobile devices have had a lackluster reception, and Amazon is still ahead of Microsoft in the cloud. With Microsoft’s new Nokia acquisition, perhaps the tides will turn. Either way, the next month of soul-searching will be an exciting one for Microsoft and the new executive team.
Written by Andrew Palczewski
About the Author
Andrew Palczewski is CEO of apHarmony, a Chicago software development company. He holds a Master's degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and has over ten years' experience in managing development of software projects.
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Thank you for a nice article. I was not aware of Nokia will use Microsoft to work with big data.