CRN Interview: Rick Devenuti, Microsoft

Rick Devenuti became vice president at Microsoft worldwide services, which includes Microsoft Services, last November. In his first press interview since then, Devenuti, who retains the title of Microsoft CIO, spoke with Industry Editor Barbara Darrow about Microsoft Services' relationship with the channel.

CRN: Will Microsoft Services be a profit-and-loss center going forward?

DEVENUTI: We're making no changes to our financial reporting. Microsoft's core revenue-generating business is still software, and the role of Microsoft Services is to help drive adoption, deployment and management of Microsoft's products and technologies for its customers and partners. Therefore, customer and partner satisfaction,not revenue or profitability,are Microsoft Services' main business objectives.

CRN: How do you plan to keep Microsoft Services and its partners collaborating,and not competing,going forward, especially as the pressure for Microsoft to sell more software and services escalates?

DEVENUTI: We're not changing our fundamental delivery model, which depends on partners to ensure that we reach and serve customers across the spectrum and around the globe. We are committed to our partners and to continuing to build on our partnership model for delivering Microsoft solutions and services to customers worldwide.

However, I think we can improve on our partner relations. We are looking to provide a better experience for our partners by more closely integrating the many partner touch points and functions across Microsoft and by developing programs that provide a clearer value proposition for them. I think what you'll see in the coming months is closer integration between Microsoft Services and other parts of the Microsoft organization that manage our partner programs and relationships. For our partners, this will result in clearer and improved communication and processes.

CRN: How do you see the relationship between Microsoft Services and its channel partners evolving?

DEVENUTI: We are a services organization within a software company, and partners are a crucial part of our delivery model. One of my priorities in this job is to further strengthen our partner relationships. I've been meeting with my associates on various strategic and global teams to help integrate our partnering efforts and make sure that our partners feel they are part of the overall Microsoft partner program. During my first 45 days on the job, I've spoken with some partners, and I want to get out and meet with many more partners and customers in the months ahead.

CRN: What do partners need to know about and do to make money over the next five years? Where should solution providers concentrate to grow business?

DEVENUTI: We need to be very clear about our role and define how partners and customers can get the best advantage in working with us. Microsoft Services should have the best knowledge about its products, since we only focus on our products. We get involved early in our product life cycle with the work that the IT organization does, and the services organization will be deeply embedded in that work going forward. So we should be leaders in early adoption and work alongside partners to share the knowledge that we have on these new products.

We are best used by customers and partners early in the project cycle, where our deep technology skill set and architectural skills can help define the right solution. We can be involved throughout the project, providing critical product knowledge to the partner team if needed and transferring best practices and lessons learned from the many other projects we engage in. Our projects are much smaller on average than the industry norm because of our unique business model. Partners have a great opportunity over the next five years in helping customers drive cost out and productivity up. We'll be there to help them do this on the Microsoft platform.