Microsoft announced a major sales and marketing organization this week, aimed at increasing AI and cloud-based business for both commercial and consumer audiences.
As numerous outlets such as Bloomberg reported, commercial sales will be split into two segments, one targeting its largest customers and the other targeting small to medium companies. The software sales focus will be on four categories—modern workplace, business applications, apps and infrastructure, and data and AI.
According to a memo Microsoft distributed to employees, the company wants to “create desire for the same creativity tools” people use at work, such as Surface, Office 365 and Windows devices. The increase in gaming is also fueling the strategy, Bloomberg noted.
Microsoft’s sales and marketing force reportedly numbers in the 50,000 range. Thousands of layoffs are expected.
The goal, ZDNet reported, is to create a “single sales engine,” that speaks to customers, partners and employees with one voice. Metrics will also be shared between commercial and consumer deployments.
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