An Inside Look: Microsoft

INTRODUCTION:

I couldn't think of a better way than having my dream company on the first slot of this mini-series and to my surprise, many others wanted to see my perspective on Microsoft's current state. In case you didn't know, Microsoft was established in 1975 with years later publicly traded on 1986 in Redmond, Microsoft has changed the game since the tech industry starting booming in the early 80's and is one the most successful tech companies in this current day in age. There are many talking points to discuss and one could argue that Microsoft has many strengths, there are also some current weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Nevertheless, let's take an inside look at how Microsoft continues to evolve within the world today.

STRENGTHS:

Leading Software Company:

Facts are facts, Microsoft is the leading global market leader in software technology which also includes cloud computing. (A big portion of that is thank you to it's current CEO Satya Nadella for revolutionizing the entire company when he took over back in 2014.) It's also the world largest developer of Windows OS and leading cloud player. Keeping that in mind, it's safe to say that Microsoft has a little something for everybody. The products that Microsoft has to offer range from the surface tablet to the newest Xbox Series X (which is due out in the holidays this year). All of these products have generated Microsoft in this fiscal year of 2020 a total net worth of over $44.28 billion dollars which is an impressive increase as compared to the 2019 net worth of $39.24 billion. Microsoft continues to dominate the tech market and will continue to do so within the coming years if they continue to go at the pace they're going.

Brand Reputation:

All of us have heard the phrase, "the customer's always right" and Microsoft makes no exception to that. In 2016, Microsoft had announced that there was a total of 1.2 billion Office users and 60 million Office 365 commercial customers which has all the consumers impressed by how Office has been used more effectively in our day-to-day lives. Now why is brand reputation very important to us? As consumers, if we see a product and trust that the company that we're buying from is going to make it useful, then we'll spend our hard-earned money on it. If the product fails, then we'll most likely never buy from that company ever again no matter how many four or five-star reviews or ratings it has (sorry Google) and that's what creates customer loyalty. Microsoft undoubtedly has the greatest loyal customer base because customers trust the brand and continue to be loyal to it, which even made Microsoft the number 4th ranked most valuable brand with its brand strength & brand equity in the digital industry.

?WEAKENESSES:

Permanent Work From Home Policy:

Next, when Microsoft announced last week that employees would be able to work from home permanently, it took everyone by surprise. Now you might be asking yourself how is this a weakness for Microsoft? It's actually a weakness for the City of Redmond. You see, as of right now there are about 47 million employees at Microsoft but if you think about it, that's troublesome because now all restaurant and hotel owners in Redmond are worried that they'll have to shut down because the majority of their business relies on Microsoft employees. With a construction project of adding many new additions (restaurant's, retail, etc.) at the campus headquarters that'll continue to move forward and be finished by 2025, it remains unclear when and how employees will go back to the headquarters if this new hybrid-model continues into the future.

COVID-19 Cybercrime:

We all had a very different picture in our heads as to how this year was going to turn out, and instead we got COVID-19. Now COVID-19 started to really take its toll in March of this year but one thing that has stood out is the increase in cybersecurity attacks when the pandemic first occurred. According to a blog on Microsoft's website, "Traditional security policies within an organization’s perimeter have become much harder to enforce across a wider network made up of home and other private networks and unmanaged assets in the connectivity path. As organizations continue to move applications to the cloud, we’re seeing cybercriminals increase distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks to disrupt user access and even obfuscate more malicious and harmful infiltrations of an organization’s resources." The interesting part is how the MFA (Multi-factor authentication) will be implemented because of these cybercriminals gaining access to passwords, credentials and breaches to access a restricted or confidential service, but only time will tell.

OPPORTUNITIES:

Project xCloud:

When Microsoft and Sony announced in 2018 that they were going to end the "Xbox vs PlayStation" war by implementing cross-platform gaming, it took the entire gaming community by storm and received a favorable reception. What did take a lot of people by surprise was Project xCloud which is essentially taking games from your Xbox and being able to play them on your phone (assuming you have Xbox Game Pass and a controller). The interesting aspect of this project was that as of this period, it's only available for Android users and not iPhone Users. The issue comes from Apple not letting xCloud be on their platform because of the streaming instability & technical issues that could arise. However, if you think about how Microsoft and Sony were able to come together, negotiate and reach a deal where it favors both parties, it wouldn't be shocking if history repeated itself with Apple on the xCloud and that's where the opportunity to expand xCloud into a bigger spec platform comes into play.

Smartphone Industry:

The Windows 10 mobile was short-lived when Microsoft discontinued the product back in 2017. However, there's a chance that Windows 10 could be revived thanks to Android. As mentioned in the paragraph above to the xCloud being available only to Android, the new Surface Duo Smartphone has made Microsoft an Android phone maker. In broader terms, it's a surface that fits the palms of your hands. Microsoft even had to make a collaborated with Google to make the Surface Duo smartphone what it is today. With the smartphone industry continuing to skyrocket with everyone having some sort of smartphone, Microsoft may have found a way to revive into the market once again.

THREATS:

The Big Four

There's many other threats that Microsoft has on it's hands but I wanted to mainly talk about the other big four threats that Microsoft has and that's Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple. A couple weeks ago, I had finished reading Scott Galloway's book (definitely recommend it if you haven't read it already) which focuses on the hidden DNA of the success of the previous four companies mentioned and I kept wondering why Microsoft was left off the list. Scott mentions the fascination and science behind the four companies success relating to consumers with mind, heart, consumption and sexiness but the one thing I noticed when reading all the factors is Microsoft's lack of innovation. While Microsoft has a vast catalog of hardware of computers and phones (reference the first strength in the article), it's staying in the same technological place whereas the other four are escalating quickly with their own advanced technology.

For example, Amazon is currently in its test run of palm-scanning payment for its Go convenience stores. They're also introducing Amazon One ID which has layers of data security to ensure that others don't have their information stolen which leads to more security protocol's. Nobody would've thought about doing that years ago but what sounds like a science fiction book is slowly becoming a reality. This part really isn't to bash on Microsoft but it's a look at what it's competitors are doing and by that same token, see what they can do to up their game.

CONCLUSION:

After examining the company from an outsiders and insider's perspective, I believe the best takeaway would be for Microsoft to focus on the weaknesses and capitalize on the opportunities it has on its hands. There has to be steps that need to be taken and the first one like anything would be innovate the company altogether and continue to upgrade its software. The next would be build more competitive advantages to compete with its competitors like Google, Amazon, etc. The last one would be to take advantage of the smartphone industry and innovate new phones out of the current one in place. It's Microsoft mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more, and with this concludes the mini- inside look at Microsoft.

REFERENCES:

Microsoft net income 2002-2020. (n.d.). Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/267808/net-income-of-microsoft-since-2002/

1.2 billion office users worldwide. (2016, March 31). Windows Central. https://www.windowscentral.com/there-are-now-12-billion-office-users-60-million-office-365-commercial-customers

Microsoft's work-from-home hybrid model concerns Redmond businesses. (2020, October 10). king5.com. https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/microsoft-to-expand-work-from-home-redmond-businesses-worried/281-717d46d6-b2dd-4eb1-ba47-5397159117f9

Microsoft report shows increasing sophistication of cyber threats. (2020, September 29). Microsoft on the Issues. https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2020/09/29/microsoft-digital-defense-report-cyber-threats/

Dean, G. (2020, September 29). Amazon is letting customers pay for groceries by scanning their palm at its go convenience stores. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-one-palm-scanner-payment-system-trialed-amazon-go-seattle-2020-9