Brooke York: Managing big accounts in the Biggest Littlest City in the World

*Note: This is a guest article by Brooke York for the Spotlight on MACH series. The writing is entirely her own. No edits, other than formatting, have been made.

Are you passionate about technology and being a part of an organization that impacts businesses and people around the world? Are you interested in how a global business fulfills, invoices, and collects payment for products in which are sold? Do you enjoy problem-solving and cross group collaboration? Do you enjoy process improvement and creating faster and more efficient ways to do things? Do you enjoy figuring out how to simplify procedures in a complex environment? Can you handle ambiguity and rapid change? If you answered, “yes” to at least two of these questions then Microsoft Licensing may be just the place for you!

My name is Brooke York and I am an Operations Account Manager at Microsoft Licensing (MSLI). I am a Native Nevadan, born and raised in the Biggest Littlest City in the World: Reno. I have always loved Reno for the great outdoors, close proximity to the ever famous Lake Tahoe and nearness to the superb shopping of Sacramento. With my love for Reno I decided to stay in state for college so I attended the University of Nevada, Reno. During my Senior year of college is when “real life” opportunities really started opening up for me. I was informed of an internship program at Microsoft Licensing in Reno, of all places! I eagerly attended informationals, searched the web to learn more about Microsoft Licensing and submitted my resume. The rest is history.

What is Commercial Operations?

Commercial Operations supports the fulfillment and revenue processing of Microsoft’s $25+ billion Commercial Business. Microsoft Operations supports a vast amount of businesses including Original Equipment Manufacturers, Volume Licensing, Online Advertising, XBOX and Dynamics.

What is Microsoft Licensing?

Microsoft Licensing enables Companies to administer, distribute and acquire all of the different products, software, hardware and services Microsoft offers. Microsoft does this through multiple avenues including; Microsoft Direct, Large Account Resellers, Distributors and Online Portals (the Web).

What does an Operations Account Manager (OAM) do?

As an Operations Account Manager I am responsible for supporting three of our Large Account Resellers. This includes Hewlett Packard, PC Connection and PC Mall. These Large Account Resellers partner with Microsoft in order to sell and/or transact Microsoft products, software and/or services. By doing so they receive fees and incentives from Microsoft.  As an OAM, I am responsible for managing my Partner accounts to ensure they are remaining satisfied with their relationship with Microsoft Operations Center and meeting their bottom line as a business. This includes supporting my partners conditions of satisfaction, ensuring they are hitting all of their metrics, managing their end to end business processes and pro-actively addressing and simplifying complex licensing issues.

What do I like most about the OAM role?

One of my favorite aspects of the OAM role is that I’m continually learning. We offer so many amazing products and sell these products through many different programs, which means there isn’t a day that goes by where I’m not learning something new! I also like that my field is very dynamic in the fact that I have the opportunity to engage with our various Large Account Resellers, the Microsoft Sales force and of course the many teams who sit in Operations, including; Tax, Credit & Collections, Program Managers, IT, Project Managers, Compliance, Processing and many more. You can think of the OAM team as the gatekeepers into Operations. We are on the frontline ensuring our Partners & Sales teams are ready to sell and transact for Microsoft.

If you have any questions about Microsoft Operations or the OAM role please do not hesitate to reach out to me <Brooke York> byork2000@hotmail.com.