Small Business, Partner Groups Linked

Small business initiatives will be brought under the wing of Vice President Allison Watson, the chief of Microsoft’s partner channel, as the result of a reorganization within the Small and Midmarket Solutions and Partners (SMS&P) group in Oct. 2005. The change is not expected to have major consequences for either partner or small business programs but could ensure that a hard-fought effort to bring consistency to Microsoft’s partner programs remains on track.

Partner, Small Business Linked

The change was precipitated primarily by the departure of Steven Guggenheimer, who formerly headed the company’s small business marketing group, to the Server and Tools division.

Both the small business marketing group under Guggenheimer and the partner group under Watson were part of SMS&P, so the change shifts responsibility for small business marketing to one of Guggenheimer’s former peers.

The two units are already closely linked, since most members of the Microsoft Partner Program are small partners who deal with small business. However, the partner program does include many partners who focus on enterprises and midmarket companies, and it provides some services to Microsoft’s enterprise partners. Those relationships will continue under the new organization, and midmarket marketing will continue as a separate unit (within SMS&P) headed by Vice President John Lauer.