Looking back and looking ahead: Role experiences within Microsoft Support & Consulting Services (Part 1)

After >5 exciting years as a Technical Account Manager ("TAM") within Microsoft's Premier/Unified Support organization, I was recently blessed to start a new chapter as an Account Delivery Executive ("ADE") within the Microsoft Consulting Services organization. With such a change (in role, team, and business unit) I thought it would be a fun opportunity to share my learnings through a 2-part post in the LinkedIn community.

My hope is that this provides some interesting experiential insights to others - beyond the published job profiles - regarding these two vital roles and their respective organizations. More selfishly however, I find that writing the insights down (especially in a public forum!) is a great way to intentionally reflect on my gratitude for the past experience as well as ambitions for the new experience.

For the first post I decided to capture a couple indelible takeaways from my time as a Microsoft TAM (side-note the TAM role was recently renamed to "Customer Success Account Manager")…

It's not a cliché; People & Process really are the mainstays of cloud transformation

Looking back at the maturation of the Microsoft Premier/Unified Support organization, I feel that the most pertinent change wasn't the evolutionary shift from reactive to proactive support, nor the evolutionary shift from transactional to program-based field engagement, but rather the revolutionary shift from technology-centric deliveries to much more people- and process-centric deliveries. This includes for example Microsoft's massive array of Premier/Unified proactive services and programs around Adoption & Change Management, DevOps strategy, and Modern Service Management.

Not only have those delivery areas been the most enjoyable ones that I planned & oversaw as a TAM; they were also the ones that propelled our customers forward in the most considerable leaps on their cloud journey. This experience held true through my work with both private & public sector, and with organizations both small and large.

Suggestion: The famous "People-Process-Technology-Data" Venn diagram needs to be weighted by "investment priority", with 'People' and 'Process' as the top priority!

Traditional RACIs must be re-architected with empathy, not just re-factored as a paper exercise

The accelerating demand for Digital Transformation - and the disruptive advances brought about by cloud - have created or otherwise supercharged the need for responsibility shifts in a number of contexts including:

• Shared responsibility model between customer and cloud provider (or providerS if multicloud)
• Shifting left and extending right in the DevSecOps paradigm
• Empowering citizen development through low-code and no-code platforms

As the Microsoft Premier/Unified team works with organizations on the people- and process- elements of cloud transformation, I found that the assessments/discussions/planning around roles & responsibilities (a subset of all three of the previously mentioned program areas) were by far the most intricate. In fact I'd say it's the only Premier/Unified engagement area (well, other than when reviewing the results of a cybersecurity assessment ;) ) that generates profound emotion among customer stakeholders. Not altogether surprising as role & responsibility re-architecting evokes perceptions & misperceptions regarding individual impact/value/career paths, loss of control, and trust.

That said, when done properly - with top-down leadership and a "growth mindset" culture around Adoption & Change Management - the role & responsibility activities have IMHO been the biggest cloud journey "unblockers" for organizations.

It's not easy, but it's an area that both our Premier/Unified and Microsoft Consulting Services teams are really (really) strong at. Just saying...

Five enriching years 

I have countless other amazing takeaways and memories from my role as a TAM, including world-class colleagues & managers in Ottawa & across Canada (shaping my own personal growth), an inspiring amount of drive from all customers that I had the good fortune to work with (the often unsung heroes across the IT spectrum), and some pretty awesome customer outcomes powered by Microsoft's three clouds (Yes - Canada is picking up the pace!!).

I'm grateful for my experience as a Microsoft TAM, I'd highly recommend the role for those seeking career opportunities, I'd highly recommend customer organizations establish a Premier/Unified partnership to maximize the business value of their technology investment, and I'm excited to continue closely partnering with the Premier/Unified organization in my new role.

On that note, my Part-2 post will outline a few insights that I've picked up thus far during my ramp-up as a newbie within the Microsoft Consulting Services organization.