“Our business is changing because the world around us is changing,” she writes. “Companies can’t choose whether their industry changes. They can only decide whether they change with it.”
Customer needs and the business models that meet them are shifting, says Coleman. Therefore, providers would have to adapt resources and roles in order to be able to best support their customers.
“Whenever possible, our priority is to place employees in new roles that correspond to the company’s most important priorities and greatest opportunities,” emphasizes the manager. And that priority is currently: AI.
Finally, she explains that Microsoft will “carefully” further develop structures and priorities across the company. “We are working on alternatives to job cuts and will continue to invest in the further training of our employees – including in the area of AI.”
What customers can expect
Microsoft isn’t the only major tech company cutting staff amid the AI boom. While the industry is investing billions in AI and forming strategic partnerships with leading AI labs, some of this spending must be offset by savings as the economic benefits of many investments are not yet clearly demonstrated.
Amazon, for example, has cut 30,000 jobs since last fall. Google is rumored to be laying off employees in its cloud division. Meta cut around 8,000 jobs in May alone – around ten percent of its total workforce – and Oracle recently reduced its workforce by 21,000 employees.
