Amazon, Google, Microsoft and other companies that have product development cycles typically work off a release schedule.
Microsoft, which historically released products in the United States first, this week at its monthly virtual meeting told search marketers it plans to “augment” its development cycles to be more inclusive of those outside of the United States.
Historically, Microsoft Advertising has released new products in the United States first. Now when the advertising group builds and releases a new feature, it will roll out to a much wider audience, said John Lee, head of evangelism at Microsoft Advertising.
“We’ll say, hey here’s a product in beta and we’ll go to general availability soon in these markets,” he said.
The goal, for Microsoft Advertising, will be to provide a full list of the markets, when and where, the products will be released. For example, everywhere Microsoft Advertising offers Shopping today, the feature will become available.
The news, sparse but definitive, could become good news for search marketers trying to keep up with all the development changes across Microsoft and Google.
Separating the roll out “complicates things and frustrates clients,” Lee said. “It’s a big thing to fix.”