Dynamics Introspective: Experts Reflect on Challenges, Opportunities of Microsoft's Organizational Shakeup

Microsoft's organizational reset announced earlier this week updates CEO Satya Nadella's executive team and shuffles control over several key products, including Dynamics ERP and CRM. While the departure of top personnel like MBS president Kirill Tatarinov and device group leader Stephen Elop, as well as Eric Rudder and Mark Penn, grabbed early headlines, the real discussion points, at least in the Dynamics ERP and CRM communities, have focused squarely on the future.

The good news since the announcement is the broad confidence that Dynamics professionals have voiced in the idea of mainstreaming the products. They have voiced the support for executive vice president Scott Guthrie and his Cloud and Enterprise (C+E) organization as stewards of ERP and CRM at Microsoft. Few have openly questioned the politics of the move, instead viewing the changes as a sign of Dynamics' maturity and success.

But there are also notes  of caution worth listening to. How well will personalities mesh? Will the SMB market lose out? Can R&D, marketing, sales, and partner teams under different leaders work together effectively?  

Bridging the product development gap

With Dynamics R&D under C+E and marketing under CMO Chris Capossela, product management and marketing for Dynamics will have new organizational paths to navigate. Previously, both the product marketing team under Wayne Morris and product development teams under Bob Stutz and Mike Ehrenberg reported to Kirill Tatarinov. Now they reside in separate organizations and potentially at different levels in those organizations. Microsoft confirmed that Stutz and Ehrenberg report to Scott Guthrie, but Microsoft has not confirmed precisely where Wayne Morris will fit into the marketing org tree.

One industry analyst told us ...