There’s a palpable sense of excitement that pervades the London office of Microsoft Ltd, the British arm of Bill Gates’ all-conquering software giant.

The location (the building is sandwiched between the refined elegance of Regent Street and the cultural swirl that is Soho) no doubt contributes to the daily thrills, but generating the greatest buzz is the simple fact that there is change afoot at every level within this still growing empire.

The next six months will see the launch of Windows Vista, the newest (and very much delayed) version of the world’s number one computer operating system, and the equally anticipated release of Microsoft Office 2007 – not to mention the difficult challenges to be faced in the search engine, browser, software-on-demand and gaming sectors, to name but a few.

After a quick tour of different departments, I am led to a small, insubstantial room to meet the man who has led the UK arm of Microsoft for the past two years, Alistair Baker.

He is ensconced on one of the three chairs that fill the compact and bijou space and, after exchanging pleasantries, quickly launches into the topics and ideas that occupy him most – how his company is preparing to benefit from the next great turn of the technology cycle, the way to best manage change, the elusive game that is grasping opportunities, and how Microsoft needs to harness the expertise of those at every level.

Early successes
Baker joined Microsoft via a somewhat circuitous route. An IBM graduate trainee, he proceeded to spend nine years at Hewlett Packard before being persuaded to join an upstart venture called Morse Computers, which is now a successful pan-European technology integrator.

He recalls, ‘It was a fascinating time. I spotted an opening in the Scottish market for an open system reseller and integrator and I went to Morse and told them I could help them out. They provided the infrastructure and support and I provided the people and leadership skills. In six months we went from zero to revenues of £16 million.

‘In many respects [Morse] taught me a lot about entrepreneurialism and expansion into difficult markets and that your capabilities can be amplified by your ability to take on managed risk.

‘We made the right call based on our product expertise and by sticking to our guns we were not phased when problems occurred. It was all about an opportunity and getting the right people on board [to exploit it].’

Gates comes calling
In 1996, flush with the Morse success, he says, Microsoft ‘approached me, courted me and finally persuaded me to join’.

His first job was as country manager for Scotland with a brief to establish and extend the business presence.

‘When I joined, Microsoft was still only really about the desktop. It wanted more – to be in the business server, LAN, WAN, government markets,’ and no doubt much else besides.

He remembers the challenge of driving public relations, brand identity and the overall market for the products within his sphere in Scotland, and is rightly lauded by the company for his role in the successful outcome of several strategic projects ‘in the enterprise and public sectors, including the IT programme to support the formation of the Scottish Parliament’.

His keen understanding of how to launch into new markets and manage scale (a key skill in his business world view) landed him back in England as the UK group director of Microsoft Services Organisation.

Under his guidance, this division grew from 100 people to 550 and its revenues lifted from £10 million to £65 million. Growth has continued since – in all its different guises this arm ensures over 700 businesses and partners ‘fully exploit Microsoft's enterprise server technologies’. The Government’s Gateway project – the ambitious online venture that enables individuals, organisations and businesses to register for government services – is one of the notable developments Baker led.

In 2002 he made the move to general manager of Small and Mid-market Solutions and Partners (SMS&P), where again he worked his magic to ensure the mighty Microsoft was able to reach the four million-odd SMEs in the UK.

‘This department had always been the second class citizen to the ‘business’ side of the group,’ he says, ‘but we just did our thing, breaking into new areas by carefully considering our marketing strategy and thinking hard. When we came in, it was all about licensing. But licensing is actually the end state. Of more importance is to understand who you’re working with to ensure you sell a solution and a strategy that supports the growth and efficiency of that end user.’