Microsoft certainly seems to be on the right track. Its successful innovation in fields like cloud and AI over the last five years has made it the most admired tech firm around.
Among top UK channel executives, at least.
This was revealed in a poll of executives, with CRN A-list putting it on a pedestal ahead of other technology companies. Redmond faced stiff competition from Apple, Amazon and Softcat, though HP, Google and Dell EMC were far away midtable.
The chart below shows the rankings:
A-listers praised the transformation Microsoft has gone under CEO Satya Nadella.
His tenure has seen the market value of the Redmond based software giant treble since 2014, and for good reason too. The firm has reengineered both itself and its channel rather remarkably since the dark days of at the start of the decade.
And that it did so by reinventing itself as a cloud-first business is even more impressive — facing some tough competition from the likes of Amazon, Google and IBM along the way.
Others selected Microsoft more on ethical grounds, with many highlighting how the company bankrolls the philanthropy pursued by Bill Gates.
Running Redmond a close second was, unsurprisingly, Apple, which was lauded for the design and user experience of its technology. While Amazon and Softcat also finished among the top ranks in this interesting little survey.
You can view the PDF here, while individual profiles can be found here.
