Microsoft tearing down its own silos

Microsoft is looking to promote itself as one total brand, bringing together business and consumer products across its client, mobile and internet areas.

With a recently-launched $300 million advertising campaign in mind, representatives from the tech giant laid told IT PRO at a briefing with Dennis Publishing journalists that Microsoft was looking to bring its products together under one brand in the minds of consumers, rather than market them separately.

“It’s a little bit of a different philosophy than we’ve had before,” said John Curran, director of the Windows Client Group at Microsoft UK. "In the past our story has been more or less siloed... We need to make sure everyone's getting the total Windows message."

“It’s more than just a marketing campaign… it’s change within Microsoft,” explained James McCarthy, head of mobile business communications, saying that management has be reorganised and even seating arrangements reconsidered to try to remove silos.

The new marketing campaign was kicked off with an odd advert featuring comedian Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates, which confused some and bemused others – not least because it didn’t mention a single product, not even Vista. But it got people talking, Windows Live commercial product manager Ian Moulster said: “That a lot of people are talking about the campaign is the whole point, really.”

Getting across the idea that Microsoft has all the digital answers is important not just from a marketing perspective, but because of the blurring lines between business and consumer tech, Curran added. “There’s a growing consumerisation on the commercial side, and demand for consumer tech is permeating into [the] enterprise space,” he said.

That carries over to mobile products, especially. “It’s fair to say when using a Microsoft Windows device, it’s pretty business centric... we’re looking to expand that,” said McCarthy. That echoes what Microsoft said at Mobile World Congress earlier this year, launching its first Sony Ericsson handset featuring the Windows Mobile operating system.

Previously, Windows-based handsets have been seen as business hardware with business software, McCarthy said. Microsoft is now looking to bridge the gap between consumer and enterprise handsets by making it easier for OEMs to customise the OS for handsets – so Office applications might be removed on a consumer-style phone, but left on for smartphones. “We will be continuing to allow people [OEMs] to customise the user experience... to provide what businesses need and consumers need,” McCarthy said. “It’s not just one flavour and that’s it.”

“We’re not abandoning the business side and becoming trendy and cool,” he added.

That said, there will be just one Windows Mobile OS, and the Standard and Pro versions will eventually be merged together, McCarthy said, stressing there’s just three differences between the systems now.

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