Microsoft looks back on a great business year 2021
The year 2021 was a great financial year for Microsoft. As a direct result of this success, 2021 was also a good year for the company’s customers and partners. Microsoft saw impressive and consistent growth in revenue and net profit. More importantly, Microsoft actively leveraged these resources to further strengthen and expand its position as the global leader of an intelligent cloud platform. With this platform approach, the company has optimally supported its customers in their efforts to achieve a successful digital transformation. These positive results also led to another year of strongly rising share prices. In 2021, the stock increased by 51 per cent, making Microsoft one of the highest valued companies in the world.
The good news for Microsoft’s customers and partners is that the company has decided to reinvest large parts of its growing profits in research and development. It has set itself the goal of further improving its software solutions and services. In fiscal 2021, Microsoft has invested no less than $20.7 billion in research and development. That’s 12 per cent of total revenue. This spending has increased by as much as 8 per cent, or $1.4 billion, over the previous year.
Here is an example that demonstrates the impact of this R&D investment on product innovation. In 2021, the use of Microsoft Teams has increased spectacularly due to the rise of hybrid working. Teams is the only comprehensive solution that supports meetings, calls, chats, collaboration and business process automation in the daily workflow. Microsoft has introduced hundreds of new features, from new presentation modes to new inclusive meeting experiences. Today, more than 250 million people use Teams every month.
Finally, Microsoft has a strong and consistent strategy for its Dynamics 365 ERP and CRM enterprise solutions. The company consistently succeeds in enhancing and continuously improving these products. Importantly, there is ongoing integration with related products in Microsoft’s powerful, intelligent cloud platform, which include Office (productivity), Teams (collaboration), Power BI (reporting and insights) and Power Apps (low-code development). This strategy is the foundation for continued growth in customer numbers and market share.
So if you are planning to upgrade or modernise the IT solutions you currently use in 2022, you should shortlist Microsoft in the process.
