Microsoft buying LinkedIn, WIIFM(what’s in it for me) as an HR?

The recent announcement of Microsoft bought LinkedIn for $26 billion shook the online community. The professional networking LinkedIn valued at $192 per share and the tech giant Microsoft is entering into the new domain of HR. LinkedIn is the largest business networking site in the world and Microsoft is positioned to exploit the value of this asset in a much broader way through its business divisions. LinkedIn isn’t just a company which created a category for a professional network, it is a category king with no competition.

Microsoft’s smart move to enter into the HR space has several reasons such as-

1. It’s all about the Data-

In today’s world data is the power and LinkedIn today stands as the most authenticated data source for contacts.

Microsoft wants to be more involved in the HR application food chain. Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella hinted about HR hooks strongly with a clear cloud twist. Microsoft will use the data to enhance its own products such as Microsoft 365. LinkedIn has its own unique data set that includes information such as where you currently work, about your past work experience, where you completed your education etc. This data set was missing from traditional CRM. If Microsoft could integrate it correctly it will be a huge asset for Microsoft.

2. Cortana Enhancements/ Candidate recommendations-

A well-prepared sales representative knows all about his prospects before entering into a meeting room. Right now  Cortana provides basic information such as your calendar, your meetings, your co-workers (Delve). Imagine you scheduled your meeting on outlook with a customer, with the help of LinkedIn data Cortana will provide important information about the customer and his insights.

LinkedIn has all the data about where you work and what’s your job title? Think a recruiter asking Cortana “recommend me candidates with job title “XXX” in the nearby location of “XXX”; wouldn’t it be great for recruiters? As of now there are very few tools that recommend candidates such as instaTalent a talent recommendation platform that recommend candidates based on their skills and culture-fit attributes.

 3. Dynamic CRM and host of collaboration tools-

Microsoft is thinking to keep LinkedIn’s economic data graph to use for powering up Microsoft’s products. In note to employees, Satya Nadella said-

If you look at the combination of Office 365, LinkedIn and Dynamics that’s the core of who we are. And then you combine it — a cloud asset which is a network asset. We aren’t just talking about CRM. It is CRM with social selling. It is not just about HCM, it is HCM with talent management telemanagement solutions and recruiting from LinkedIn. Those to me are the formative things that we can now do.

Source: Microsoft

LinkedIn envisions “Economic Graph” which is a digital representation of every employee and their resume: a digital record of every job that’s available as well as every necessary skill to get that job. Buying LinkedIn mixes these two graphs to feed it to the machine learning of Microsoft.

If you connect these two graphs, this is where the magic happens, where digital work is concerned,”  – Satya Nadella

 4. New digital Era for HR-

Microsoft wishes to become king of work/offices. Microsoft already has tools that are being used by professionals for emails & documents but entering into the professional social network will give Microsoft edge over Facebook & Google who are the masters of the massive data. Microsoft’s integration with LinkedIn will give organizations a deeper look into skills and effectiveness of their team (who are using Microsoft products). LinkedIn’s Lynda.com can leverage a lot from Microsoft products such as micro modules pop up on how to do a certain task when that task has been assigned by your manager. In a note to employees, Jeff Weiner said  

6 of the top 25 most popular Lynda.com courses are related to Microsoft products.

[This blog post originally appeared on CareersUnbound's blog]

Online community is predicting numerous possibilities of Microsoft-LinkedIn deal. What do you think? How will it benefit HR Professionals according to you?