14 DAY TRIAL // Former cloud boss and currently CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella said in a conference call with investors after Redmond revealed its Q3 2014 financial results that the company is going all-in on cloud services, as delivering “cloud for everyone, on every device” is now a priority.
The time when Windows was the key focus of the company has passed, so cloud has replaced the operating system to become the main project that's supposed to push Microsoft towards the devices and services approach that it struggles to embrace so much.
But Satya Nadella explained that offering a mobile-first, cloud-first world to customers across the world is the right path towards this goal, so this strategy will from now on represent the key focus for every device and service launch.
“When we say mobile first, we really mean mobility first,” Nadella pointed out. “It's about offering users a great experience across devices, some ours, some not ours, that we we can power uniquely.”
Nadella suggested that Windows needs to be offered on many other devices, so the company's “Windows everywhere” strategy is actually supposed to help do that. Windows is already available on PCs, laptops, tablets, and smartphones, but word is that Microsoft is working to expand this to smaller devices and wearables.
“We're starting to think of it as one family, which wasn't true before,” Nadella said.
The CEO hasn't provided too many details on what's next for the Redmond-based tech giant, but he has mentioned that it's very important for the company to stick to the initial plan and change it accordingly as new challenges appear. He also talked about this tenure at the helm of the company, pointing out that he's trying to permanently evaluate the business and review the weak points.
“You can only succeed if you plan all the time and are able to change the plan as it needs to be changed. As a leadership team, I feel we have picked up the pace of asking the hard questions so that we can realistically evaluate our business,” Nadella said.
Satya Nadella needs to continue the road to devices and services started by former CEO Steve Ballmer last year in July with the One Microsoft reorganization plan. Nadella obviously puts the emphasis on cloud services, as he was already in charge of the cloud unit within the company, and claims that such products, including the Office 365 productivity suite, are pushing forward the firm's transition beyond software.