Microsoft could lay off ‘thousands’ as it focuses more on cloud services

July 4, 2017 Off By David

Grazed from TheVerge. Author: Nick Statt.

Microsoft reorganized its global sales force today to heighten its focus on selling cloud services instead of standalone pieces of software, according to The Wall Street Journal. The reorganization, just the latest in a series of structural changes the company has undergone since former CEO Steve Ballmer resigned and Satya Nadella took over in 2014, won’t immediately result in layoffs. Yet the WSJ reports that thousands of jobs could be cut down the line as a result of the sales shuffle.

This doesn’t appear like it will have a huge impact on how Microsoft does business on a day-to-day basis. Since the appointment of Nadella, the former head of Microsoft’s cloud division, the company has put more and more resources toward building out its Azure cloud computing platform and selling software subscriptions to businesses…

This is all part of a steady shift away from one-time software licenses for products like Windows and Office. Microsoft is still playing catch up against Amazon, with the massive success of its AWS business, and now trying to stave off competition from Google and its growing cloud division…

Read more from the source @ https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/3/15917040/microsoft-sales-reorganization-azure-cloud-services-layoffs