Doug Burgum, the former CEO of Great Plains Software, mingles Tuesday before a reception at Microsoft’s Fargo campus to celebrate its acquisition of Great Plains Software 10 years ago. Michael Vosburg / Forum Photo Editor
Kevin Turner said it in English; the slide behind him carried the message in a few dozen other languages, all directed at the architects and employees of Microsoft Fargo: Thank you.
“Microsoft is so proud of the 10 years here in Fargo,” the company’s chief operating officer said.
Turner’s remarks came at a company reception Tuesday to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Microsoft’s acquisition of Great Plains Software, a $1.1 billion deal that gave the technology giant a major presence here. About 200 business leaders, elected officials and other guests were on hand for the event.
In addition to his praise for the Fargo campus, Turner also spoke at length on trends in technology – touch screens, social computing, the need to cultivate more high-tech talent – and made a bit of a sales pitch for the company’s cloud computing services.
He was joined by Kirill Tatarinov, the head of Microsoft Business Solutions, a division formed in the aftermath of the Great Plains acquisition. Tatarinov succeeded Doug Burgum as a corporate vice president after the longtime Great Plains chief executive stepped down in 2007.
He credited the 400-plus Great Plains employees who’ve stayed with the company through the decade following the acquisition with fostering a tight-knit culture here – and ultimately pushing values like teamwork and empathy into other parts of Microsoft.
“It is fair to say that with that merger that happened 10 years ago, Microsoft has changed,” he said. “Great Plains brought some very important, very exciting values to the greater Microsoft community.”
North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple and U.S. Rep. Rick Berg also spoke at the reception. Both praised Burgum for bringing jobs to the state, and upheld Great Plains and Microsoft as an example of the state’s economic success.
Dalrymple, who’s known Burgum since Burgum was a young man managing honeybee hives for Interstate Seed Co., echoed other speakers in praising the caliber of Great Plains and Microsoft employees.
“(Burgum) had a great theory that if you get really great people and you get them all together and you give them a mission, they might just get it done,” he said.
Don Morton, the site leader for Microsoft Fargo, presided over the reception. The former North Dakota State University football coach joined Great Plains in 1999 as Burgum’s chief of staff.
Don Morton, the site leader for the Microsoft campus in Fargo, speaks Tuesday during a reception to honor the 10 years Microsoft has been in Fargo. Michael Vosburg / Forum Photo Editor
“We’re proud to celebrate a decade of making a difference,” he said. “We want to show proper respect for the past with great focus on the present as we build an extremely bright future.”
The afternoon events were a prelude to a private party in the evening. The company arranged a swanky affair to rival the famed Great Plains parties, complete with beer and wine tasting, live music, and fireworks. Employees donned their evening finery – the only time many of them may ever have the occasion to wear something remotely formal on site – to dine, dance and celebrate.
From the lawn, one stoic guest oversaw the proceedings. It’s a stone pillar buried deep in the earth and fashioned after the antiquated mile markers that run along the North Dakota-South Dakota border – and also after the similarly inspired rivalry trophy held by the winner of the annual North Dakota State-South Dakota State football game.
It’s a nod to both the sense of history and the alma mater of the man for whom the marker was made, a parting gift for the Great Plains patriarch who now lends his name to the stretch of campus over which the marker presides: Burgum Field.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Marino Eccher at (701) 241-5502
Marino Eccher failed to ask tough question about Microsoft’s long term intentions for Fargo. It is too bad this is the final installment. Part 8 might visit Volt, and anonymously interview any of the many hundreds of disposable contractors that MS has hired.
The biggest and most important lingering unanaswered question in this series remains unanswered: why so many disposable “contractors”?
Many of these so-called “contractors” are employees of the agency Volt. They do not have the benefits or security that MS empoyees have. Sure, its nice to have any job in this bad economy, but what does that say about MS’s commitment to Fargo? Its sad that MS thinks of Fargo as a place to “source” cheap labor. The pepole in this are have built great things, and can do so again for any company that gives them the tools and commitment.
All major companies use vendors to help fill in tech support roles. If you call cheap labor getting paid anywhere from 15-21$ an hour for a starting tech support job then your expectations are pretty high considering the cost of living in fargo. You can’t blame MS for how vendors treat their employees as its not their company and they dont have a say. They just provide them money to fill the roles needed and its up to the vendor on what benifits and pay they provide their employees. Another reason to use vendors? You can hire a lot of vendors for same operational costs as internal employees which means a lot more job opportunities.
The overrall goal of working for Volt/VMC or any of the vendor companies is to get a foot in the door to start working at Microsoft later down the road. During that time you can develop your technical and communication skills working those frontline cases so that someday you can do the more technical level support or something more managerial that you want to do. That is what I did as I worked for the vendor for several years before getting hired into Microsoft.
There are a ton of job openings at MS currently so they are definitely commited to staying in Fargo and are looking to eventually increase the campus to hold another 1k employees. Don’t bash MS because you worked for a vendor and gave up.
V- has a point, Current MS. There was no report on the different roles of contractors who work on the MS campus. Vendors make up about half of the work body on the campus, and yet only the FTE’s were addressed. There have been a lot of vendors who have worked on the MS campus for 10+ plus and chosen NOT to become an FTE intentionally. An FTE position is not as highly coveted as you would think, for a multitude of reasons.
Well said Current MS. I too worked for Volt/VMC for several years before getting hired on with MS. Just about everyone I started with that was driven and motivated now works for MS. In my experience, the vendor team is a proving ground where the best a brought up and the rest are not. I’m guessing Former V- was either “the rest” or gave up.
Well said Current MS ….set your sights on something and go get it! the possibilites are ENDLESS
This may not be the time or the place but I want to complain about the celebration aspect that the company just put on. I understand the reasons to celebrate and the joy of wanting to share that emotion with your employees. However, I am a resident of South Fargo that is NOT an employee and was severly disappointed in the time frame chosen to send off fireworks. 11:00pm on a Tuesday evening is not an appropriate time to send off fireworks within city limits. This event could have been postponed to Friday or Saturday night, or perhaps held a little earlier in the evening. Just disappointed in the unprofessional choices that were made by the company.
Thank you!
I’m sure they had a permit and all that stuff, but that’s a good point. To be fair, though, the fireworks were completely finished around 10:45 PM.
Well, I live in north Fargo, and this tends to happen a lot more frequently with the RedHawks than once every few years. I am not a RedHawks employee, and the timeframe around their activities can get into the same time frame. I guess to each his own.
Yes but Red Hawks games do not usually go until 11pm. Thanks though!
additionally, Red Hawks’ fireworks are on Fridays
11 PM Fargo time is 9 PM Seattle time…maybe they forgot to reset their watch.
In response to “Current MS ” ” If you call cheap labor getting paid anywhere from 15-21$ an hour for a starting tech support job then your expectations are pretty high considering the cost of living in fargo.” . As a vendor for MS I can definetly tell you they do not start at $15-21. Other then that I think it’s a great place to work with alot of awesome ppl and I’m not complaining. It’s way better than flipping burgers at MCDONALDS
unfortunately current_ms …former v- represents a more realistic picture of how outsourced help is handled at Microsoft. This is one of the reasons I left working at Microsoft as clients/vendors are not handled as they would have been in the “great plains” days.
What really should be known about the vendor/microsoft relationship is that some Full Time Employees of Microsoft treat the vendors like second class citizens. They look down on them and give them a higher workload instead of dividing up the load evenly. It can be said that some FTE’s can make the work experiance for the vendors so horrible that the vendor feels like they are taken complete advantage of and leave before given a chance to really shine at what they do.
I also worked as a V- for years. What this person says about how FTE MS employees abusing the vendors is 100% correct. I even have FTE of MS refer to me as “you venders”. That doesn’t exactly build confidence. The treatment of the vender staff is downright abusive, that is why the turnover is so incredibly high. Also it is common knowledge that the vendor staff start out at $11hr and fear being layed off at a moments notice at all time, trust me I was one of them that was layed off with no notice and given 30 mins to pack my desk. The difference between the vendor staff and the Full time Microsoft employees is polar opposite in both pay and company respect and attitude. All common knowledge one you “get your foot in the door” . . . .
Current MS-
“You can’t blame MS for how vendors treat their employees ” — absolutely you can. Volt will do exactly what MS says. Besides, if we are spending there time on the MS campus, I can also “blame” MS for how they treat them.
“Another reason to use vendors? You can hire a lot of vendors for same operational costs as internal employees” — I think you just made the point of Former V-. Cheap, disposable, temporary labor.
“Don’t bash MS because you worked for a vendor and gave up” — don’t look now, but your ‘We’re Microsoft and you’re just a failure’ big company attitude is showing.
I see lots of defenders of MS because of this thread, but few or none who seem to be V-. Perhaps it wouldn’t hurt MS to reassess how they treat V- employees, and it may even help. You can start by looking at your own attitude.
how about it, Forum? Where is week 8?
I worked out at MS as an intern when it was M(GP)BS. I had a great experience but unfortunately there were no FT positions available after I graduated. I actually tried to get back in a few different times but the opportunities just weren’t there or I didn’t think I would be happy in a position where I would just be talking on the phone the whole day. I do think it’s unfortunate how so many vendor staff are viewed as “disposable.” I have also known people who chose to leave FT positions at MS because they didn’t like the corporate move away from the old GP culture.
But in my current position I am able to make a large impact on a small company versus a small impact on a large company, so it’s nice to have job security!
My husband is a Former V-, now A-, hoping to be MS someday. His position is not customer service, and his position is not as ‘disposable’ as you would like to think. Yet it boss has to bust is rear to convince hiss bosses in Redmond that hiring him would be a good idea. I can tell you that after 2 1/2 years of BS with Volt, and now more BS with another company, the non-existent starting pay of 15-21 is even worth it when your insurance is so ridiculous because both companies have awful coverage.
I think MS is a great company, and we are patiently waiting for his opportunity to be hired in his position, full time. But your attitude of saying that someone isn’t trying hard enough to get hired on is comepletely wrong and shows that you clearly have no clue. I know someone who had a four year degree, worked for MS for 4 years as a contractor, and was so fed up he was ready to quit. Then he, luckily, got hired on. MS is losing, and will continue to lose, intelligent people who can do a lot for the company, simply because of this ‘cheap, disposable labor’ attitude.
I cannot say I am surprised by The Forum’s one sided journalism, but I am severely disappointed.
I am a former V-. My starting pay was $19.50/hr. So I would like to say that those wages do exist. I’ve moved on to bigger and better things in my career. When I did work there I was treat fine. You got some of the perks and taste of the Microsoft culture. The other employees had this entitlement attitude of being there by X years means that you get auto hired. This is the real world. Have some passion and pride in your work. I just didn’t see it the ones that stayed or quit as V-.
Working there was some of the best experiences I’ve had.