????微軟成為大型企業(yè)市場最大的技術供應商之一的過程中，鮑爾默同樣起到了關鍵作用。如今，微軟已經(jīng)擁有200億美元的企業(yè)業(yè)務。而之前并不總是這樣，微軟最早是一家以消費者為中心的公司。

????紐約專門研究微軟的分析公司Blue Badge Insights創(chuàng)始人安德魯?布拉斯特表示：“人們認為微軟憑借Windows和Office在企業(yè)級軟件市場占有一席之地。不過事實并非如此。事實上，Exchange、Windows Server、SQL Server、SharePoint、System Center和Dynamics CRM都面臨過激烈的競爭。但微軟不屈不撓。如今，這些產(chǎn)品都已經(jīng)成為了各領域的重要競爭者，有些甚至處于統(tǒng)治地位。這是微軟公司成為企業(yè)市場主宰的來源，是在鮑爾默的關注之下緩慢而穩(wěn)定地建立起來的?！?/p>

????鮑爾默表示，轉(zhuǎn)變公眾的看法花了許多年時間。“五六年前，人們才開始真正認為我們有能力投身企業(yè)市場?，F(xiàn)在人們說我們就像是‘天生就是為企業(yè)市場而生的’。不過我要說，就在2007還是2008年，仍然有人認為我們根本就不是一家企業(yè)服務提供商。”

????這一點尤其令人驚訝，因為1988年蓋茨領導下的微軟聘用了VMS微型電腦操作系統(tǒng)之父戴夫?卡特勒，來幫助編寫全新的企業(yè)操作系統(tǒng)Windows NT。

????鮑爾默認為，在這段時期，公司開始逐漸將網(wǎng)絡和數(shù)據(jù)庫領域納入業(yè)務范圍中，這對他日后管理微軟的企業(yè)業(yè)務提供了重要的指導。他說，在那期間，他獲得了顧客對于價格和產(chǎn)品授權的需求與期望的第一手信息。同時，他還與熟悉向企業(yè)推銷產(chǎn)品的經(jīng)銷伙伴建立了緊密聯(lián)系。因此，在就任首席執(zhí)行官后，鮑爾默將技術支持和服務上的投資作為了重點。

????鮑爾默說：“我們只是用一種積極的方式拉絲保持拼勁和決心，借此來來證明我們能夠進入企業(yè)市場。”而“這（個領域）讓我覺得有特別的贊助價值。我為曾經(jīng)推動過這個進程感到非常高興。”??

????Ballmer also played a significant role in building Microsoft to become one of the largest technology providers to big businesses. Today, Microsoft maintains a $20 billion enterprise business. This wasn't always the case; Microsoft began as a consumer-hobbyist company.

????"People think of Microsoft as having inherited its enterprise software company chops by virtue of Windows and Office," says Andrew Brust, founder of Blue Badge Insights, a Microsoft-focused analyst firm in New York City. "That's revisionist, though. The truth is that Exchange, Windows Server, SQL Server, SharePoint, System Center, and Dynamics CRM each faced an uphill battle. Microsoft persevered, and now each of these products is either a major player in its category or dominates it altogether. That's the genesis of Microsoft's enterprise juggernaut, and it was built slowly and steadily on Ballmer's watch."

????Ballmer says that it took many years to shift public perception of the company. "It's really only the last five or six years that people say we're right for the enterprise," he says. "Now people say we're like, 'born for the enterprise.' But I would say as recently as about 2007 or 2008, we'd still have people who would say we weren't an enterprise supplier at all."

????That's particularly surprising since, in 1988 under Gates, Microsoft hired Dave Cutler, the celebrated father of the VMS minicomputer operating system, to help write a brand-new operating system for businesses: Windows NT.

????Ballmer cites this period, when the company gradually added networking and database field expertise to its repertoire, as important in informing his later management of Microsoft's enterprise businesses. It's when he gained firsthand exposure to customers' requirements and expectations around pricing and licensing, he says. It's when he forged relationships with reseller partners who knew how to sell to the enterprise. And it's why, as CEO, he made it a priority to invest more in support and services.

????"We just kept hell-bent and determined -- in a good way, in a positive way -- to prove that we could be enterprise-worthy," Ballmer says. And "that's one [area] that I feel particular unique sponsorship for. I feel particularly good about having pushed that."?