CRN Interview: Mike Sinneck, Microsoft

Senior Writer Paula Rooney and Editor/News Steven Burke spoke with Microsoft Corporate Vice President of Worldwide Services Mike Sinneck, a 32-year IBM Global Services veteran who joined the software giant in January, about Microsoft Consulting Services' efforts to partner with solution providers. The following are excerpts from the interview:

CRN: What did you see when you came into the Microsoft job with regard to the amount of partnering that was going on between Microsoft Consulting Services (MCS) and partners, and what is different now?

Sinneck: When I first came into the job, it was sort of like stepping into a tornado. Orlando [Ayala, Microsoft's group vice president of worldwide sales, marketing and services had just returned from sabbatical, and he had been visiting customers and partners around the world. He was picking up a very significant partner concern about MCS competing with them. I think it was particularly acute in the case of some partners, less so in others. But the bottom line was he went back and did a little facts-based analysis before I got here and he concluded we were, in fact, competing too broadly with our partners. Literally, I got here and his first marching order to me was, 'This is an emergency we have got to fix. This is your top priority. Get closer to this.'

I figured out why the behavior was happening and [found that fundamentally, it was largely driven out of two issues: One, we had too many people, and they were chasing a profit. So we said to them, 'Look, we are going to change the financial plans you are accountable for and radically reduce your financial plan. We want you to be clear in that this is not about profits. This is about partner satisfaction and customer satisfaction.' So we are taking the pressure off the numbers [to stop competing with partners. Six weeks after I got here, I concluded what the strategy elements ought to be and they are now codified in the financial plan. But at that point in time we said to our MCS people, 'Look, bring partners into every engagement. Don't prime. And just start changing your behavior. Change your approach. It is not about money. It is about satisfaction.' And we have been consistent in that message all along.

By and large, I am pretty convinced we are on the right track. And the partners are starting to tell us that, which is good. . . . The pressure has gone out of the system. Our clear mantra is 'No priming. Always pull the partners in.' And I think the rhetoric is starting to stick.

CRN: What has been the response from enterprise customers that are getting the message that MCS is pulling back?

Sinneck: You can put skin in the game, be accountable and guarantee service levels and not be prime simultaneously. What we have been telling our customers is [that we'll be accountable even when we have to hold the contract, but [we aren't the primary service provider. We'll guarantee service levels. We'll do that whether or not we work under a partner banner. We are putting on a new face in the marketplace.

CRN: You made a dramatic change in the field regarding how these consultants will be compensated. Can you go into more detail on how you will execute that?

Sinneck: First, we re-engineered all of the sales plans for services. There are only three of them now: a plan for people whose primary role is to sell services, a plan for those whose primary role is to deliver, and a plan for people whose primary role is support infrastructure that surrounds the go-to-market guys. Each of those sales plans has very discreet management by objectives [MBOs that we put in place that say [what we expect them to accomplish with respect to partner satisfaction, how they are going to [be measured and [their goals. [And it is tied right into the sales plan.