LinkedIn working on new possibilities after its acquisition by Microsoft

On June 13, 2016, the day the $26.2 billion deal was announced, Microsoft showed its investors what it could do with LinkedIn in a PowerPoint presentation. Few of those ideas were also implemented. In an interview, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner said that the company is working on other ideas also.  

During the interview, he turned to the Microsoft Surface Studio PC on his desk, brought up Microsoft’s Outlook email service in a browser window and then, with a few clicks, accessed information from LinkedIn about people with whom he had exchanged messages.

The integration already exists on the web and in Outlook’s iOS app. There are other promises that are yet to materialize, one such is “Intelligent Newsfeed” in LinkedIn that draws from information in Office apps, and tools for managers to understand what their employees are doing at work.

The slowness points to Microsoft’s current desire to not screw up its biggest acquisition yet, suggesting a change in approach under CEO Satya Nadella.

Finance Chief of Microsoft, Amy Hood said that the reason behind the acquisition was to accelerate growth at LinkedIn, as well as the Office 365 and Dynamics 365 product lines.

As part of the deal, LinkedIn got to retain its independence and Weiner remained in charge. Weiner received a spot on Microsoft’s senior leadership team and started reporting directly to Nadella, while keeping his CEO title.

Potential integrations were definitely part of Microsoft’s original pitch for buying the company. The presentation featured six “illustrations” of the two companies’ products coming together:

A connection between LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator and Microsoft Dynamics sales software. This technology is available, and teams have enhanced the connection between the services. People can also use Sales Navigator data in Microsoft’s PowerApps and Power BI tools.

A unified professional profile that would show LinkedIn details in Windows and Office applications. Microsoft has made inroads here, and the LinkedIn integration will be coming to the Outlook app for Android in 2020.

An “Intelligent Newsfeed” in LinkedIn that draws on activity from Microsoft Office apps. This isn’t available today, although LinkedIn has tapped Microsoft services such as translation to enhance the feed.

Microsoft’s Cortana virtual assistant telling users about relevant LinkedIn information. This isn’t available today.

Tools that managers can use to better understand employees’ work activity. This isn’t available today.

LinkedIn Learning content inside Office applications. This isn’t available today, but Weiner said bringing Learning content to Office apps “feels like it makes a lot of sense.”

In addition, during a CNBC appearance alongside Nadella on acquisition day, Weiner mentioned several Microsoft products that it would be “incredibly exciting” to integrate with, including Active Directory and Skype. To date LinkedIn has not touted integrations with those things.

(This article is part of CNBC and VARINDIA is re-publishing it by making some slight changes in its content)