Microsoft acquired LinkedIn for a whopping deal of $26.2 billion last year. During the time of acquisition, Satya Nadella outlined some integration plans which involved combining of LinkedIn identity and network into Microsoft Office Suite and MS Outlook. After an year since the acquisition has been completed, Microsoft has finally decided to Integrate LinkedIn and Office 365 through the newly introduced Profile card feature.
During the Microsoft Ignite conference held in Orlando today morning, Microsoft announced about it’s plans to include a new “Profile card” information in Office 365 which will displayed the LinkedIn profile of the concerned user. This will be helpful for HR recruiters who use Office 365 to view the LinkedIn profile of the job seekers before sending them any Job description email. This will make it easier for recruiters to search for suitable candidates right from the Outlook, instead of having to look for everything in LinkedIn portal.
Users who have access to this Profile Card feature can access the LinkedIn profile information of any individual by hovering over the name of the person on their MS Outlook directory and navigation to the “LinkedIn” tab. The Administrators still have control on the organizational privacy in their tenant. The profile visibility settings and the LinkedIn privacy settings will also be taken into account as usual. Microsoft also plans to connect LinkedIn with it’s Dynamics sales and recruiting technology. Here after the LinkedIn messages and Inmails can be sent directory using Dynamics 365 for sales. Also, the customers can integrate the LinkedIn profile information with Microsoft Dynamics 365 which can improve the lead data.
Microsoft also introduced a new LinkedIn app for Windows 10 in July this year. This new LinkedIn app provides important notifications through the Windows Action Center such as professional updates, Inmails, profile news and trending topics.
Microsoft also made an important announcement about the launch of “Bing for Business”, an Artificial intelligence based technology to deliver relevant search results for organizations. This new search engine powered with machine learning and AI will help organizations to obtain instant search results which are more relevant to their businesses.
Microsoft has also introduced new machine learning tools to help developers learn and master ML techniques. The new tools which were introduced today at the Ignite conference include the Azure Machine Learning Workbench, Azure Machine Learning Model Management Services and the Azure Machine Learning Experimentation services.