Microsoft Mea Culpa: ‘Employee Didn’t Follow’ Process In Direct Sales, Vows To ‘Bolster’ Training ‘We’ve taken steps to reinforce our protocols and bolster on-boarding training and oversight to avoid situations like this from happening in the future,’ Microsoft says in a statement. By O’Ryan Johnson January 28, 2021, 09:30 AM EST Microsoft is blaming a rogue employee who failed to follow protocols for emails that sidestepped solution providers of record and launched a sales pitch directly to their customers, angering several partners in recent weeks. “We have an internal process in place for reps to confirm whether or not a customer is already engaged with a partner,” according to a statement provided by a Microsoft spokesperson. “Unfortunately, a new Stores employee didn’t follow this process. We’ve taken steps to reinforce our protocols and bolster on-boarding training and oversight to avoid situations like this from happening in the future.”