Microsoft has announced a deep reorganisation of the company that chief executive Steve Ballmer hopes will boost its "speed, efficiency and capability" as it responds to strong threats to its traditional PC software business.
In a lengthy email sent to all employees, and published on the company's press site, Ballmer outlined the corporate reorganisation, and the strategy behind it.
The company will be organised by function: Engineering, Marketing, Business Development and Evangelism, Advanced Strategy and Research, Finance, HR, Legal and COO (the latter of which includes field, support, commercial operations and IT).
"There will be four engineering areas: OS, Apps, Cloud, and Devices," explained Ballmer, in what may be the key change for Microsoft as it strives to make its Windows, Xbox and Windows Phone platforms work more seamlessly together.
One of the key roles in the new structure goes to Julie Larson-Green, who will lead Microsoft's Device and Studios Engineering Group.
She will thus control "all hardware development and supply chain from the smallest to the largest devices we build", as well as overseeing Microsoft's games, music, video and other entertainment operations.
Terry Myerson will head Microsoft's operating systems engineering group, which will "span all our OS work for console, to mobile device, to PC, to back-end systems", according to Ballmer.
Current president of the Microsoft Office division Kurt DelBene is retiring as part of the changes.
"We will plan across the company, so we can better deliver compelling integrated devices and services for the high-value experiences and core technologies around which we organise," explained Ballmer in the email.
Microsoft is far from the only technology company grappling with these challenges.
There are shades of Apple's reorganisation in October 2012, when senior vice president of iOS Software Scott Forstall – reportedly a divisive figure internally – left the company as part of a reorganisation designed to "encourage even more collaboration between the company's world-class hardware, software and services teams".
Microsoft is trying to break out of its own silos, with Ballmer announcing that "process wise, each major initiative of the company (product or high-value scenario) will have a team that spans groups to ensure we succeed against our goals."
Each of those major initiatives will have an individual "champion" reporting directly to Ballmer, who outlined the key pillars of what he hopes will be Microsoft's growth going forward.
"Certainly, succeeding with mobile devices, Windows, Office 365 and Azure will be foundational. Xbox and Bing will also be key future contributors to financial success," he wrote.
"Our focus on high-value activities – serious fun, meetings, tasks, research, information assurance and IT/Dev workloads – also will get top-level championship."
