Representatives from both companies said the state and local markethas grown to a point where focused attention is necessary to address themarket's unique needs and increased use of electronic government applications. In the past, we've treated the state and local marketvery opportunistically. Now, we have dedicated people to that market insteadof as part of other business units. State and local government accounts at Microsoft were divided among18 nationwide sales districts, said Frank Giebutowski, who leads Microsoft'sunit. Over the past two years, resources to the state and local market increasedby 300 percent, but that happened because of independent decisions by thedistricts' general managers.
Government is the team's only focus.
Both Giebutowski and Gumport said governments operate differently fromcommercial clients because of legal constraints, budgeting processes andprocurement rules. Both companies structured their state and local teamsin a similar fashion. Microsoft has teams of seven to 11 people in four geographic regions,while HP has three geographic regions with eight to 10 people. Both companiesincreased technical expertise and other support services for the state andlocal sector and both companies developed partnerships with other companiesas a way to penetrate the market. For example, he said HP is partneringwith a Utah company called Kiva that creates automated permit and inspectionsystems.