Why Sundar Pichai is the ultimate outsider dark horse for Microsoft CEO role

While it’s great to hear that the Microsoft Board is now considering two Indians for the Microsoft CEO, the differences in what they have worked on is as stark as chalk and cheese and largely driven by the approaches of the two technology giants. Microsoft excels in a closed environment with high margins, while Google is all about open, with the product often being free but funnelling traffic to its search business and other areas where it sees immense possibilities in the future. Sundar Pichai, currently senior vice president at Google, where he oversees Android, Chrome and Google Apps is now considered a dark horse for the Microsoft CEO position according to some reports. And experts who think he could be a perfect fit for Microsoft believe he can take forward the great work he has done at Google. “Microsoft could really move the ball down the field with Sundar Pichai in creating a new open operating system model for cloud, mobile, and social,” chief analyst at Wikibon Dave Vellante told Silicon Angle, which first broke the story of Pichai being considered for Microsoft CEO.

Let’s consider Microsoft’s products against Android, Chrome and Google Apps. Windows Phone is far, far behind Android but finally is showing signs of respectable growth and in Europe has already captured 10 percent of marketshare. According to Strategy Analytics executive director Neil Mawston , while 2013 was the year of Android and Windows Phone growth was far poorer, Android’s annual growth rate slowed to 62 percent in 2013, its lowest level in the platform’s history.

Strategy Analytics expects Android’s growth to slow further in 2014 due to market saturation, which an aggressive Microsoft with its piles of cash can target now that Windows Phone is looking like it can compete in the market.Chrome has become a winner in an area where once Microsoft held absolute sway after crushing Netscape, but Microsoft remains a strong No 2. And in Office 365, and other cloud offerings, Microsoft has done very well in its latest quarterly results with enterprise cloud subscriptions for Office 365, Azure and Dynamics CRM seats all posting growth of 100 percent or more and bringing in profits.

But the larger issue could be ideological. The two companies have completely different corporate cultures and while Pichai now heads open source platforms such as Chrome and Android, if Microsoft chooses him and if indeed he chooses to move to Redmond, he would be heading up closed platforms like Windows, Office and Windows Phone. Sure, Pichai could completely turn Microsoft around transform it by going the open route, but in a company the size of Microsoft and one ingrained in closed systems, that’s easier said than done.

[caption id=“attachment_54486” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Google’s Sundar Pichai could be Microsoft’s next chief. Reuters.[/caption]

Satya Nadella, a Microsoft veteran had a hard enough time getting the company to move to the cloud. In a September 2013 interview with The Economic Times, Forrester Research analyst James Staten talked about the massive culture change Nadella brought in. He explained that Nadella pledged to move heaven and earth to get the staid Microsoft Server and Tools Group to move to the Cloud development model, working to break down the silos within the software technology group and other product groups. He pushed them all to get onto Azure to see Azure as their and their client’s development platform and to push for simultaneous release of features for the Azure version and the on premise. And encouraged them to release new features and capabilities to the Azure version first.

Now imagine the enormity of the challenge if Sundar Pichai was to try and replicate an open OS strategy in a company like Microsoft. Ford Motor CEO Alan Mulally who was also reportedly in the running is an outsider to the tech industry but though Pichai is from the technology industry Microsoft and Google’s approaches are so different that Pichai may be even more of an outsider than Mulally was.

Also, business buyers, an arena where Microsoft is now a strong player, don’t get swayed by just the free argument and have no sympathy for ideological arguments about open source versus closed platforms either. Business buyers look at the Total Cost of Ownership, which can be higher for open systems in some cases. And in an era where security, risk and business continuity is key and even CEOs are worried thanks to tougher regulatory mandates, businesses prefer vendors who can offer complete support.

Sundar Pichai may indeed be the dark horse for Microsoft’s next CEO search, but if he is chosen, both he and Microsoft will have the toughest battle of their lives on their hands and to some extent it may just be against each other.