BY NAT LEVY on September 25, 2017 at 6:00 am
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner. (Microsoft Photo)
More than a year after Microsoft announced its plans to purchase LinkedIn for $26.2 billion, the technology giant is rolling out some of the first integrations with the business social network.
At its Ignite conference in Orlando this morning, Microsoft plans to announce that Office 365 will include a new “profile card” that can display LinkedIn information. For example, interviewers using Outlook would be able to easily access LinkedIn profiles of job seekers. This integration, the first between Office 365 and LinkedIn since the acquisition, is designed to make it easier for people to search for others inside their organizations.
Here’s how it works, according to the company: “Users who have access to this feature can access LinkedIn profile information by hovering over a person’s name and navigating to the ‘LinkedIn’ tab on the new profile card. Microsoft service administrators continue to have control over organizational privacy and connected features in their tenant. We respect end-user privacy and will honor your LinkedIn privacy and profile visibility settings.”
Microsoft is also connecting LinkedIn with its Dynamics sales and recruiting technology. LinkedIn InMails and messages will soon be able to be sent directly from Dynamics 365 for Sales, for example, and customers will be able to quickly integrate LinkedIn profile photos and other content to enrich lead data.
Microsoft completed its high-profile purchase of LinkedIn last year. At that time, Microsoft detailed a few of the integrations it was pursuing at the time, providing a roadmap for the work between Microsoft and LinkedIn.
