Enterprise Group Tightens Customer Relationships

A major reorganization of Microsoft’s enterprise sales force is intended to improve Microsoft’s traction with large customers by reducing the number of enterprise accounts and sharpening the company’s focus on each account. The reorganization replaces “virtual teams” of the past, in which experts would be added to an account when necessary, then deployed elsewhere, with experts who are tied more tightly to a particular industry or geography, providing more continuity for customers. The change also reflects a new phase in a long-running campaign to sell more effectively to the enterprise by offering more tailored, vertical solutions.

One Microsoft

One of the more striking results from Microsoft’s ongoing customer satisfaction research is the finding that customers who have a dedicated account manager are more satisfied than those who deal with multiple people at the company. This is particularly evident in the area of technical support: large customers with Premier Support Agreements have access to a named Technical Account Manager (TAM) whose job it is to marshal technical resources at Microsoft to track and solve problems and to provide advice. The research shows that customers with a TAM are markedly more satisfied with their relationship with Microsoft than customers who don’t.