Following the recent closure of the $26.2 billion Microsoft acquisition of LinkedIn, the CEOs at both companies have been sharing early plans for integration across product lines.
The largest deal in 41 years of Microsoft history is predicted to combine the largest professional cloud network with the world’s leading professional network. Both companies are now sharing a goal to transform the way that people work and connect. In coming months, the companies have said that they will be integrating new products, especially in locations where the scale of Microsoft can be an asset. Some of the areas that are planned to be pursued instantly include:
- LinkedIn Network and Identity in the Office and Microsoft Outlook suite
- LinkedIn notifications in the action centre for windows
- Giving members a chance to draft resumes in Word that can be uploaded to LinkedIn, and discover more jobs in LinkedIn
- Extending the reach of sponsored content in Microsoft Properties
- Redefining social selling solutions with Dynamic 365 and Sales Navigator
- LinkedIn Learning options available across Office 365 and the Windows system
- Enterprise Lookup for LinkedIn powered by Office 365 and active directory
All of the announced integrations seem sensible enough, representing a logical solution for integrating both companies. Many of these options are very simple and may take place quite quickly, whereas others are more long-term projects. There is some speculation that more work may be done around the LinkedIn social component, particularly as it relates to communication and business collaboration.
The LinkedIn Acquisition
Some experts suggest that the most compelling reason behind the LinkedIn acquisition was the integration of the Microsoft CRM and LinkedIn Sales Navigator tool. The progression of a business desk for news is somewhat of a shock – but it should help to extend the Microsoft reach for sponsored content across LinkedIn. What’s more, many expect that Microsoft will be further embedding access to LinkedIn data in order to provide richer context for user engagement across a range of applications. Microsoft has been very vocal about AI and machine learning this year, and how these things will support the ways that employees get work done. A crucial aspect in this is providing the context for the right tasks and activities, and LinkedIn can provide a wealth of information here.
The combination between Microsoft and LinkedIn is going to be particularly valuable for people who use both companies. The idea is to drive interest to both LinkedIn and Microsoft memberships among those that don’t have one or the other, but both platforms have a huge reach.
Teams from LinkedIn and Microsoft have been meeting regularly over the last six months to prioritise the opportunities coming. Innovation is on its way, and while day-to-day LinkedIn operations may remain unchanged in regards to missions and standards, there’s sure to be plenty of benefits ahead for both companies.
UC Today Opinion
We might not be seeing much from Microsoft in LinkedIn yet, however we’re likely to see more the other way around in the short term.
Will Skype for Business and Office 365 make an appearance in LinkedIn this year we wonder too.
On a lighter note, the new LinkedIn interface launched this week looks very similar to Microsoft’s latest look and feel, but according to Wired its a Facebook rip off…
