LinkedIn acquisition fuels Microsoft's expansion by introducing natively integrated social, analytics, and more
Just last week, Microsoft announced they would be acquiring professional social network LinkedIn for $26.2 billion, the largest acquisition in the company's history.
Under the terms of the acquisition — and with the reported full support of their respective boards — LinkedIn will "retain its distinct brand, culture and independence" and Jeff Weiner will remain CEO, reporting to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
Both Microsoft and LinkedIn stand to gain through this advantageous deal. LinkedIn will have access to Microsoft's Skype for Business property and Microsoft will doubtless see a big boost in their analytics capabilities.
As Facebook has become known for leveraging its user data to gain maximum insights, which it then uses to fine tune its advertising algorithm to deliver the most relevant content, LinkedIn plans to follow suit with the help of Microsoft.
Microsoft will likewise leverage the user-provided data available on LinkedIn to help companies using the Dynamics CRM platform to maintain cleaner and more up-to-date list build, as well as phone and email records.
Microsoft and LinkedIn appear poised to apply similar capabilities to B2B networks and social data. This is not only great news for job hunters, but for nonprofit cloud CRM users as well.
LinkedIn and Nonprofits
In the past, Microsoft has permitted integrations between LinkedIn and the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform. However, this new acquisition means that going forward, Microsoft will be able to natively embed LinkedIn directly within the entire Microsoft product suite.
This development is a game changer that holds countless positive implications for nonprofits, but especially for those nonprofits using the StratusLIVE Enterprise CRM product suite.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner discuss Microsoft's acquisition of LinkedIn
And because StratusLIVE is built on the commercial Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform, StratusLIVE's nonprofit clients gain a strategic technology solution for their futures. The prospect of having LinkedIn natively embedded within the same platform opens up a new horizon of possibilities.
As we know, data is king and LinkedIn rules the kingdom of B2B data. In the future, nonprofit staff using StratusLIVE software would be able to view their constituents’ professional data in one central location, securely accessible from anywhere, on any device, and at any time.
Fundraisers will be able to view a donor’s LinkedIn profile information including: education, work history, professional groups, certifications, interests, associations, professional connections, etc. Nonprofits will potentially be able to see when a constituent updates their LinkedIn profile almost in real time from within their StratusLIVE for Fundraisers CRM interface.
In addition, Microsoft's Social Engagement service already offers leading-edge innovative tools such as social listening, sentiment analysis, visualizations and more. These features will able to be leveraged by additional data from LinkedIn, offering greater integration and enhanced value to the product suite. That has more trust now than ever, particularly as Microsoft continues setting technology trends and new technology acquisitions.
One of the pillars of StratusLIVE's vision is the conviction that building on a commercial platform is the way of the future. This acquisition of LinkedIn by Microsoft is just one more example of how StratusLIVE can leverage major shifts in the technology sector, delivering innovation directly into the hands of our clients.
