The outsourcing solutions results in Microsoft's improved capability to grow top-line revenue and achieve significant bottom-line savings in operational costs.
Read the full article: "Growing the Business to Drive Value"—Outsourcing Journal, August 2008
After years of expansion, Microsoft found itself with a fragmented finance function that did not support the company’s continuing drive to dominate the markets in which it operates. Microsoft’s chief financial officer, Chris Liddell, outlined a vision for a global, integrated finance and procurement organization, thus beginning a process of rigorous assessment that culminated in the decision to outsource the function in its entirety to Accenture.
Both companies have worked hard to create a relationship that is truly collaborative and based on trust—and that, most importantly, supports Microsoft’s business goals. Within just a few months, Microsoft had already begun to experience benefits such as improved internal controls, the ability to scale more easily as growth occurs, predictable operational costs and a reduction in run rate of 35 percent. The depth of the relationship and its impact on Microsoft’s continued success prompted Outsourcing Center to award Microsoft and Accenture the Most Strategic award in its 2008 Outsourcing Excellence Awards.