Go the distance for federal customers
A conversation with Curt Kolcun, vice president of Microsoft Federal.
Probably the biggest transformationfor us is our focus and investment on thedelivery of capabilities through our productsrather than just being a product supplier.That has manifested itself in the growth ofour services business and providing architectureand, in some cases, doing sole-sourceagreements where we deliver on a capabilityto a customer. That's where we demonstrateour belief that our technology can bring aboutsignificant change. And in order todemonstrate that, we've stepped upand done that work ourselves. Our work with the Air Force is oneexample that led to a standard desktop configuration.We partnered with the Air Forceand worked across government. It has manifesteditself in the Federal Desktop CoreConfiguration.Our efforts to put Microsoft resources onthe ground in a war zone is another demonstrationof a commercial company recognizingthat it has to do business differently tosupport the mission and customers. In thearea of government health care, we'vedemonstrated the value of what technologycan bring to bear relative to the clinical systemsand the welfare of veterans. Seven or eight years ago, we wouldhave done a great job in partnering with thecustomer and selling the value of the technology,and then the customer would have takenresponsibility for the deployment and theimplementation. We had a large team of Microsoftconsultants on the ground with the Air Force,partnering with them as we worked throughall these configurations.We also helped reduce their security vulnerability relativeto the disparate systems they had andimplemented the Microsoft environment inan enterprise fashion across their 500,000systems. Besides selling throughresellers, over the past four years,we have brought in five key systemsintegrators: LockheedMartin Corp., NorthropGrumman Corp., Raytheon Co.,General Dynamics Corp. andBAE Systems Inc.We are making sure they aresatisfied with using Microsofttechnology internally. But also, we're lookingat that business from the perspective of howwe partner and go to market. And throughtheir input and the input of the broader governmentaudience, we have started an organizationcalled the Institute of AdvancedTechnology in Government, which reports toour chief research officer.The purpose is to look at how we use themore than $7 billion we spend annually inresearch and development to address thechallenges government faces.
About a decade ago, Microsoft Corp.'s work with the federal government focused
on desktop PCs. The company emphasized all things Windows and Microsoft
Office, with some Windows Server mixed in for file and print functions. Now the
company has a renewed federal focus that relies on relationships with systems
integrators. Whether forming partnerships with integrators or sharing knowledge
with other technology companies, officials at Microsoft Federal say they
believe working together can benefit the entire information technology community.
Curt Kolcun, vice president of Microsoft Federal, recently spoke with staff
writer Doug Beizer about Microsoft's position in the Washington IT scene.
Q: How has Microsoft's approach to the government
market evolved in the past few
years?
Kolcun:
Q: Do you have an example of how
you've done that?
Kolcun:
Q: What would have been Microsoft's traditional
role on something like the Air Force
project?
Kolcun:
Q: So what is Microsoft's role today?
Kolcun:
Q: What kind of relationship
does Microsoft have with systems
integrators?
Kolcun:
on desktop PCs. The company emphasized all things Windows and Microsoft
Office, with some Windows Server mixed in for file and print functions. Now the
company has a renewed federal focus that relies on relationships with systems
integrators. Whether forming partnerships with integrators or sharing knowledge
with other technology companies, officials at Microsoft Federal say they
believe working together can benefit the entire information technology community.
Curt Kolcun, vice president of Microsoft Federal, recently spoke with staff
writer Doug Beizer about Microsoft's position in the Washington IT scene.
Q: How has Microsoft's approach to the government
market evolved in the past few
years?
Kolcun:
Q: Do you have an example of how
you've done that?
Kolcun:
Q: What would have been Microsoft's traditional
role on something like the Air Force
project?
Kolcun:
Q: So what is Microsoft's role today?
Kolcun:
Q: What kind of relationship
does Microsoft have with systems
integrators?
Kolcun:
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