Microsoft Australia promoted out of APAC into group of top subsidiaries

Microsoft Australia has been promoted out of the Asia-Pacific region and into its own standalone area along with major countries such as the US, UK, Germany, France and Japan.

The internal reorganisation saw Microsoft exit the APAC region, which includes New Zealand and Singapore, to join the D8 group of the most developed economies.

This tagline for this group, which was previously known as the D7, is internal Microsoft jargon riffing off the acronym for the world's major highly industrialised economies.

Microsoft Australia now has more direct access into the Redmond headquarters rather than reaching into the APAC regional headquarters in Singapore.

Steve Worrall, managing director of Microsoft Australia, said it was an example of the local business "punching above its weight".

The Australian business, which employs 1200 people, was elevated thanks to our "early adoption of technology", Worrall told CRN this week at an event in the build-up to Microsoft Summit.

"We see many of our customers – and you've met many of them here today – rapidly adopting cloud technologies. Microsoft Australia is one of the furthest progressed in the Microsoft network, in the use of cloud technologies in the market.

"You're seeing that show up in the investments we're making here. We've got the two data centres, as you would already know, in Sydney and Melbourne.

"Recently, this year, we announced data centres in Canberra that will mean we end up with four Azure regions in Australia. There are only 42 regions worldwide. So that gives you a sense that, in this new cloud world we find ourself in, Australia is, quite clearly, punching above its weight."

It's not the first time Australia has been singled out on the world stage: Microsoft Australia has been named subsidiary of the year three times – and twice in recent years.

The new reporting structure went live in 1 July as part of the vendor's major global reorganisation that also saw the arrival of the new "One Commercial Partner" model.

Worrall stressed that the new reporting line was an internal restructure only. "We don't talk a lot about it, to the extent that it doesn't have any specific bearing on our customers and partners, who are the primary focus."

However, the reorganisation could bring upside for customer and partners.

"So far as our market, our partners, and our customers are concerned, that direct relationship with corp is going to help us to, we hope, do a better job of bringing the best of Microsoft to them."

Worrall continues to report personally into Ralph Haupter, president of Microsoft Asia. Haupter reports into Jean-Philippe Courtois, executive vice president and president, global Sales, marketing & operations, who reports into chief executive Satya Nadella.

It has been nearly a year since Worrall was appointed Australian country manager, replacing Pip Marlow, who joined Suncorp.

Asked about his highlights since taking the top role, Worrall pointed to a number of community initiatives.

"Locally, I'm really excited about the work we're doing to address indigenous issues. We've launched our reconciliation action plan in Australia, early this year," he said.

"We're one of many companies to do this, by the way. We're just getting started, but it's really great that we're getting started because we feel compelled; we have an obligation to do more to address indigenous inequity.

"We feel great about the work we're doing with Mission Australia. They're a great organisation that address homelessness every day. And we work with a range of other organisations that address social and community issues, because we feel really passionate, I feel really passionate, about the opportunity that I have.

"I'm privileged to be in this job. I want to make sure we use Microsoft as a platform to help us do things that really matter for our community. Working to address imbalances in indigenous communities, working with Mission Australia, that's stuff that's meaningful. I really feel proud about what we're doing there, and excited about what we're going to do in future, as we continue."