Pondering Microsoft and TLA bandwagons

Wednesday, June 22, 2005 by admin

Over lunch last week with an industry analyst relations manager, we got on to a discussion of TLAs. It suddenly struck me that Microsoft is far less prone to jumping on to these bandwagons. Whilst it is not immune, the likes of BAM, BPM, EDA and SOA are far less prominent in its messaging. With Microsoft being the archetypal product company it seems counterintuitive that it chooses not to use these ‘convenient’ labels. The response of my fellow diners suggested there was something in this, which got me pondering why that should be the case.

Is it a factor of its size and market strength? But what about HP, IBM and SAP? No, that doesn’t seem to explain it. So, is it that Microsoft is not a customer of the analysts that create these new market segments? No … it’s not that either. I think it might come down to ‘Integrated Innovation’. Microsoft’s strategy is – and always has been – driven by Windows. The emergence of Windows Server System as an over-arching ‘brand’ for its range of server infrastructure products, including BizTalk, SQL Server, and the System Center management products is a case in point. Whilst the individual products deliver the revenue and it competes on the basis of features and functions, its value proposition is about using the products in combination. Perhaps it fears that this message will be weakened by the use of TLAs and the creation of ‘stovepipes’?

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