Salesforce.com, Inc. has just recruited a former executive from Microsoft Corporation. The ex-top gun used to run Microsoft Dynamics – which competes with Salesforce’s top product. Mr. Bob Stutz managed Microsoft Dynamics for three and a half years. The former MSFT exec now works at Salesforce as its new Chief Analytics Offer.
Salesforce.com gains Microsoft Exec
“I want to thank my great team at MSFT & the ecosystem for a great 3.5 yrs!” Stutz tweeted. “Now to travel the world for a long overdue break,” he added before promising his return. “I will be back.”
The news of Stutz’s departure was first revealed by Jason Gumpert form MSDynamics World on Monday. Mr. Stutz’s tweet may sound as though he is going on holiday. In reality, the Microsoft executive was poached by a top competitor. According to Scott Guthrie from Microsoft, the firm’s Dynamics division will now be run by a long-standing team member and crucial member of the team, Jujhar Singh.
Salesforce.com has confirmed Bob Stutz’s new status at its firm. As its Chief Analytics Officer, Stutz now reports to Alex Dayon, Salesforce’s president of products.
“We’re thrilled that Bob Stutz will be joining Salesforce as Chief Analytics Officer,” says Dayon. “Bob not only has deep enterprise software experience. He’s also a proven leader who’ll drive the vision and execution of the Analytics Cloud as we build it into a billion dollar business for Salesforce.”
One of Salesforce’s new top products is its Analytics Cloud. Hiring Stutz to oversee its development and progress is seen as a great move. Salesforce also managed to snatch another Microsoft worker, an engineer who now assists in infrastructure. According to Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, the acquired engineer was willingly given over as a gesture of good faith.
Microsoft and Salesforce publicly appear to have a great relationship despite their rivalry in enterprise software. After Satya Nadella took his seat as CEO, their ties appeared to strengthen.
Earlier this year, Microsoft had an interest in acquiring Salesforce. Stutz was still the head of the firm’s Dynamics division at the time. The deal didn’t follow through, though. This is reported to be because Salesforce kept bumping up the price, up to $70 billion at one point.
However, after the buyout failed, Microsoft upped its competition against Saleforce.com. It would now appear as though the two firms are behaving like true competitors.
