Microsoft appoints software plus service director

Microsoft has appointed Peter Watson as its first director of platform strategy to drive its software plus services initiative in Australia.

“There are a couple of elements [to the role] – one is looking at how we get the message out to the market around what software plus services is because, like any new area, there’s a level of awareness and education that we need to undertake,” Watson said. “The second focus is on how we showcase what the solutions and capabilities are.”

Watson will also oversee channel engagement opportunities with service providers, ISP and hosting companies.

He said Microsoft planned to work with a number of key ISVs to take solutions that had been developed on the Microsoft platform into the software plus services era.

“We’ll look at opportunities for the channel and what roles they can play in providing software plus service solutions either as an aggregator, or being someone that’s already providing the infrastructure and solutions around it,” Watson said. “We’ll be working with service partners to get them up to speed on what it means from an architectural and a business process re-engineering point of view.”

Watson said he planned to launch to a couple of key channel programs in Australia in the next few months.

He also retains his existing duties as chief security advisor but will now be assisted by strategic security advisor, Stuart Strathdee. Scott Deacon also comes on-board as government security advisor. Both Strathdee and Deacon previously held security roles within Microsoft.

“My role has been split into two. That was done to maintain the momentum of what we’ve been doing in the security space for the last couple of years, but also to increase our level of engagement,” Watson said.