Exec Connect - Kurt DelBene

Inside the digital transformation of Microsoft

By Kurt DelBene

I was excited to learn of the opportunity to connect with fellow Microsoft alumni, and to share some of our plans for our internal digital transformation strategy. First, I want to explain why I say, “fellow Microsoft alumni.” I originally joined Microsoft in 1992 as an engineer and served in multiple capacities before moving to leadership roles, including president of Office from 2010 to 2013. 

After about 20 years at Microsoft, a unique opportunity was presented to me to help President Obama repair Healthcare.gov. I felt compelled to use my skills to serve our country, and I encourage others to do the same through our civic leave program. This program is available to current employees and enables them to use their skills to serve their country, while offering a way to bring fresh perspective back to Microsoft. Through programs like these, and an alumni network like this, there is a path back home to Microsoft. For me, that path back was in early 2015 when Satya asked me to come back and join his leadership team.

I originally came back as head of Corporate Strategy, a role that expanded into overseeing IT and operations—now known as Core Services Engineering and Operations (CSEO). Microsoft did a remarkable job transforming what we sell and how we sell it, but this is only two thirds of a business transformation. The other component is modern internal operations, which is the responsibility of CSEO.

We knew that there was still work to be done to sustain this successful transformation. For example, we knew that our products were just as good as some of our born-in-the-cloud competitors, but their ability to execute often surpassed ours given the process complexity and legacy systems. When Satya asked me to take on this role, I tapped my learnings from my days in Office and at Healthcare.gov in order plan our internal transformation.

My initial step was to map out the core and enabling functions at Microsoft that required modernization. We landed on 16, which spanned from core functions like sales and support, to enabling functions like HR and finance. Being a product guy myself, I approached the transformation of these functions similarly: articulated the current state, defined a “north star,” created a roadmap for getting there, and assigned metrics. Like any product, we continue to iterate on all these areas. 

During this time, we also planned the reorganization of Microsoft IT and Operations to what is now CSEO in an effort to better reflect our purpose going forward. The mandate of this new organization is to boldly lead the digital transformation of Microsoft so our customers can achieve more. 

When we look at CSEO’s priorities to deliver on our mandate, they are purposefully aligned to the four outcomes of digital transformation that we speak about with customers (engage customers, empower employees, optimize operations, and transform products). Our six priorities are:

  1.  Customer 360: We give our sellers a comprehensive view of the customer so that they can better meet customer’s needs, and we enable a “One Microsoft” experience for customers and partners
  2. Employee experience: We make it easier and more satisfying to work and collaborate
  3. End-to-end process digitization: We relentlessly automate and simplify our processes and policies
  4. Speed to value: We bring products and services to maker with continuous delivery
  5. Modern architecture: We run our business on flexible, secure, and shared modern systems
  6. Data and intelligence: We use data and AI as core currency to drive competitive advantage

Underlying these priorities is culture. Digital transformation starts with our employees and our culture. At Microsoft, we aspire to a culture with a growth mindset, insatiable curiosity about our customers’ needs, and a drive to find new market-making opportunities. Our culture is an enabler of our transformation, accelerating and supporting it.

Although we are in the early stages of our internal transformation journey, we’ve made some incredible progress. There is a lot of challenging work ahead, but I am excited to be back at Microsoft to take this on. I look forward to connecting with all our alumni again to update you on our journey.

Kurt DelBene is Microsoft’s chief digital officer and executive vice president, corporate strategy, core services engineering and operations. He leads the company’s cross-engineering and cross-business strategy, execution and planning initiatives.