The birth of MAL

MAL was a crucial concept within Microsoft’s business framework, and was particularly relevant for businesses dealing with many business-to-business customers. It aimed to segment customers, focusing primarily on the most valuable ones.

This list was a hierarchy consisting of parent accounts and child accounts, with each geographical area initially developing its own list to emphasize important local customers. These local lists gradually evolved into a more global approach.

MAL served as a powerful tool for Microsoft’s sales and marketing teams. It helped them concentrate their effort on the most valuable accounts and track various activities related to them, including marketing campaigns, sales promotions, and significant deals.

From a data management perspective, a significant challenge was maintaining the connections between branches (child accounts) and well-established top (parent) accounts. Ensuring that child accounts were correctly related...