Tom Keane has been with Microsoft for more than two decades but has recently announced that he is leaving the company. He most recently served as a technology executive, overseeing 600 engineers who worked on countless products.

Tom Keane Started With Microsoft Office 365

Keane's first major project with the company was Office 365, which was Microsoft's first foray into commercial cloud services. He was on the Office 365 team from its inception. It was largely under his leadership that the cloud service quickly grew from around 80,000 customers to 110 million end users.

Tom Keane Later Worked With Microsoft Azure

His success with Microsoft Office 365 positioned Tom Keane for a leadership role within Microsoft Azure. Azure brought cloud computing, the internet of things, and artificial intelligence together in what was then groundbreaking new ways. It gave birth to what Keane saw as "the world's computer" -- a computer in which the world was completely connected.

Azure has, of course, grown to be one of Microsoft's most important products/services. Keane helped in this endeavor by leading the following initiatives:

• Creating Africa's first hyper-scale cloud service

• Creating China's first hyper-scale cloud service

• Adding on Azure Space

• Adding on Azure Government Cloud

• Developing solutions for financial services clients

• Establishing Microsoft Vanguard engineering process

Microsoft Vanguard is an initiative that gathered 15,000 engineers to solve some of Microsoft's largest problems. For instance, the initiative helped Microsoft navigate the General Data Protection Regulation.

Azure rapidly expanded to 35 countries during Keane's tenure with the service, including countries in Africa and Asia where there weren't yet cloud services for corporations.

Microsoft's cloud computing revenue increased by 50% in Q1 2022, a reflection of Keane's work with Azure in 2021. WashingtonExec also named him a Cloud Industry Executive during this time.

Continuing Work on "The World's Computer"

As Tom Keane departs from Microsoft, he will continue his work in the cloud, internet of things, and artificial intelligence spaces. He has publicly stated that the next step is a continuation of expanding and improving the world's computer, so it becomes even more capable. Keane's leadership and expertise certainly position him well, once again, for another major project where these three disciplines intersect.

About Tom Keane

Tom Keane joined Microsoft Consulting Services in May 2001 and moved into engineering management in August 2003. He's been a corporate vice president with Microsoft since November 2012. Prior to joining Microsoft, Keane was a software engineer with Intec Consulting Group in Australia. He attended Prince Alfred College and the University of South Australia.

Follow Tom Keane on Twitter to see his next moves.

About Microsoft

Microsoft is one of the largest computer and cloud services companies in the world. The company was started in 1975, and today serves individual, corporate, and government clients across numerous countries.