Paperwork delays - What is happening at Microsoft?
Topics in this blog
The reason – outsourcing paperwork
Back when we used to work for Microsoft, as Licensing Specialists/ Commercial Executives, we completed all the contractual paperwork ourselves with the help of our internal resources. However, now all the paperwork is outsourced, leading to long waiting times within Microsoft.
Effect of delayed paperwork?
Microsoft pushes clients to approve a proposal, otherwise the paperwork will not be done in time. It can take them up to 2-3 weeks to complete the paperwork after a verbal agreement has been reached. This is way too long for a professional organization like Microsoft.
In business cases with a low commercial return for Microsoft, the waiting time is even longer. This is due to the way that Microsoft has organized their Operations Centres, which is where the contracts need to be processed in their systems.
In our opinion, Microsoft should be able to provide the documentation on the same working day, or next day at the latest, especially when it concerns a multimillion-euro negotiation.
This has been on Microsoft’s internal roadmap for years and they promise to have this ready for when a new contract is in place that will allow them to replace the Enterprise Agreement. However, this was discussed and discussed throughout our years working at Microsoft, but it has still just never happened!
Invest in transparency
For Microsoft clients the process is untransparent, lacks communication and leads to frustration. The long waiting times can also lead to difficult situations for customers, especially towards the end of the fiscal year. Another sore spot for us is this, when the paperwork does come back it is often full of mistakes and needs to be reworked again and again.
With all the innovations and improvements to Microsoft’s technology, we would hope they would also invest in improving their contractual backend. To bring it from the Middle Ages into 2023. Let’s wait and see if Microsoft will finally make certain next steps in the near future.
Continue reading our series on top changes in FY22: Decreasing discounts.
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