Muglia Touts 'People-Ready Business' as Microsoft Makes You Four Promises

Published: June 14, 2006

by Alex Woodie

You may have seen the dinosaur ads that Microsoft runs in trade magazines. Apparently, that doesn't really have much to do with Microsoft's idea of a People-Ready Business. It could have more to do with Office. In any event, Bob Muglia, senior vice president of Microsoft's Server and Tools Business, this week announced Microsoft's vision for the People-Ready Business, and discussed its significance as "our very essence as a company."

"It says that people are at the heart of business success and that when given the right software, they can do phenomenal things," Muglia says. "This vision extends to all employees in an organization. IT pros and developers are the key people who make IT work and ultimately enable an organization to unleash the power of its employees."

With the People-Ready Business theme (not the dinosaurs) in mind, consider these Four Customer Promises the company made on Monday. Pay close attention, as you will be tested on them later:

1. "Advance the business with IT solutions." This has to do with trust, a scalable foundation, empowerment, maximizing opportunity, driving efficiencies, and delivering value-added services for growth. (Please enter your own marketing buzzword here_____.)
2. "Manage complexity, achieve agility." This one has to do with reducing complexity and getting a better total cost of ownership to deliver new business value. Reptiles: bad. Mammals: good.
3. "Protect information, control access." This is the part about security, and addressing the ever-changing landscape of threats and compliance. Think SOX, not meteors.
4. "Amplify the impact of your people." Okay, this is where the humans start playing a role, and also addresses mobility and collaborative solutions. (Yes, but does your amp go to 11?)

Seriously though, this People-Ready Business is no funny business. The company is absolutely committed to improving its products by listening to you, the customer. As the company communicated in a press announcement, "Learn to listen, listen to learn." Okay, now we're listening.

To learn more about Microsoft's People-Ready Business thing, go to www.microsoft.com/business/peopleready/default.mspx. A transcript of Muglia's speech at Tech Ed can be found here.