Have you ever noticed that the Microsoft logo is a window? Needless to say, the Windows operating system has always been the tech giant’s prized possession, and its name is a significant part of its identity.

But recently, the 7th most valuable brand in the world revealed an overhaul to its organizational structure, a move described by one of its employees as “Probably one of the most, if not the most, significant reorgs in the company’s history with a new executive vice president owning multi-billion dollar businesses and breaking up the largest legacy businesses.”

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s goal for this transformation is to fuel the growth of cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions by leveraging Microsoft’s strongest assets: Azure and Office 365. Here’s everything we know so far.

A shift to the Windows Platform Team

The Windows Platform Team is responsible for all the development efforts related to Windows. However, this team will soon report to the cloud and Azure enterprise team, along with several AI initiatives. This new team will focus on driving platform coherence and use Azure to further integrate Windows with cloud services.

This change will lead to cloud-centric Windows bundles that aim to improve security and mobility. As a result, Windows will likely move away from one-time sales offerings to recurring subscriptions just like Office business.

Birth of the Experiences & Devices team

Computing experiences are no longer bound to one device and are evolving to include multiple senses, as evidenced by advancements in AR and VR technology. This means businesses will soon require new ways to manage their mobile devices and interact with their computers.

Microsoft’s answer to this lies in the Experiences & Devices team, a cloud powerhouse dedicated to bringing together Windows, Office, as well as third-party applications and devices into Microsoft 365, the cloud bundle that combines Windows 10, Office 365, and several other solutions into a pay-as-you-go service.

The Experiences & Devices team will also focus on the expansion of Office software into more connected home devices. To do this, Microsoft will continue to improve Windows server and their mixed reality technology, including their augmented-reality (AR) headset and smart glasses.

More integrated cloud offerings than ever

In the past quarter, Azure’s sales grew 98% while Office 365 grew by 41%. This comes as no surprise why Microsoft plans to offer more products like Azure public cloud and Microsoft 365. But even deeper than that, the company wants tobuild a more robust architecture across its entire digital estate. That means improving Microsoft cloud’s operational consistency as well as security that spans their product range, from Windows 10 and Azure to Dynamics 365 and more.

As Microsoft mentioned last year, “Hybrid is not a transfer point -- it’s a strategic destination,” and the company continues to emphasize its dedication to hybrid cloud technology. Despite already providing a distributed hybrid cloud model, it plans to take things even further with AI and IoT integrations.

New key AI unit

Don’t feel surprised if AI pops up in this article more times than you expect. Microsoft believes that AI is going to be the heart of competitive advantage, and has been helping developers streamline AI progress with Azure Machine Learning Studio. They’ve just taken things up a notch with this reorg.

Nadella introduced a new unit dubbed AI and Ethics in Engineering and Research (AETHER) to evaluate AI developments and establish rules to ensure responsible use of the technology.

While Windows will remain part of the company’s offerings, Microsoft’s efforts and resources will be allocated to cloud applications and AI research and development. So what can you expect from Microsoft in the near future? Better integration within Microsoft 365, more options for connecting Office to household devices, and a wider range of Azure products, to say the least.

Are you a small- or medium-sized business interested in one or multiple Microsoft products? Are you looking to streamline your operations while enhancing everyday collaboration? Just talk to the SimplyClouds team today. We know the cloud like the back of our hands.