Executives Clarify Managed Services Strategy

A controversial Microsoft services engagement for Energizer Holdings, revealed in spring 2005, set many partners on edge, but Microsoft executives told attendees at the company’s annual partner conference in July 2005 that the engagement will be used to develop new services that both Microsoft and partners can offer. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Worldwide Services Vice President Rick Devenuti said the company wants to respond to customer concerns about the manageability and performance of Microsoft products and has no intention of launching a major services business.

The Microsoft Way

The Energizer engagement, in which Energizer Holdings outsourced management of many of its computer systems to Microsoft, came as a surprise to some of Microsoft’s best and largest partners, who perform such services for many of their own clients. The engagement was not announced publicly, but was revealed by stories in the media, and Microsoft’s subsequent explanations did not dispel all the partners’ concerns. Microsoft said it planned to provide similar services to several other customers, without setting clear limits on how many customers it would seek or why it would pursue a services business with only a few customers.