[{"innerBlocks":[],"name":"core\/freeform","postId":3874,"blockType":{"name":"core\/freeform","keywords":[],"attributes":{"content":{"type":"string","source":"raw"},"lock":{"type":"object"}},"providesContext":[],"usesContext":[],"selectors":[],"supports":{"className":false,"customClassName":false,"reusable":false},"styles":[],"variations":[],"apiVersion":3,"title":"Classic","description":"Use the classic WordPress editor.","category":"text"},"originalContent":"Microsoft is presenting its mammoth $26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn as the lynchpin of a sweeping effort to reinvent the professional workplace. Few specifics have been available since the merger was announced this past June, but with the formal completion of the deal last week, the two companies have said they will soon begin providing more details about their plans. Here, in the third installment of this three-part series, we look at how the combined company could infuse sales and marketing with social intelligence. <\/i>

In his initial take on Microsoft\u2019s plans to acquire his company, LinkedIn\u2019s CEO Jeff Weiner spotlighted several \u201cenormous opportunities.\u201d High on his list was \u201credefining social selling through the combination of Sales Navigator and Dynamics.\u201d

The former is LinkedIn\u2019s suite of social selling tools, while the latter is Microsoft\u2019s line of enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) applications. Today, says Microsoft\u2019s CEO Satya Nadella, work is split between the tools that sales and marketing professionals use to do their jobs, such as Dynamics and Microsoft\u2019s Office programs, and social networks like LinkedIn that connect them to their customers and prospects.

By acquiring LinkedIn, Nadella says, \u201cMicrosoft aims to weave those two pieces together.\u201d For instance, by tapping social intelligence gleaned from Sales Navigator and LinkedIn members\u2019 profile data, Dynamics users could obtain useful background on new sales prospects. Then once a meeting has been set, the sales reps could learn more about the other attendees from the invites in their Outlook calendars.

Also See: Microsoft clears final hurdle to LinkedIn deal<\/a>

Key to melding the two sets of applications together is an ambitious scheme to integrate Microsoft\u2019s Office Graph with LinkedIn\u2019s social graph. Office Graph is a set of machine learning and intelligent search technologies that keeps tabs on Office users\u2019 activities, including the types of data that they share and the kind of information that they search for. LinkedIn\u2019s social graph maps its members\u2019 professional accreditations, skill sets and workplace associations. Once merged, Office Graph will know who is sharing what information with whom and will be able to make relevant recommendations based on the user\u2019s current activities and needs of the moment.

\u201cLinkedIn is a disruptive version of CRM,\u201d notes Manish Sood, the CEO of Reltio, a cloud-based provider of data driven business applications. \u201cEvery sales-focused discussion that takes place has the potential to leverage LinkedIn-type data that will inform the engagement.\u201d

\u201cLinkedIn should be able to provide sales and marketing with demographic targeting based on business and professional user information,\u201d adds Sheryl Kingstone, research director for business applications at 451 Research. Microsoft, she says, will be able to create a social graph that includes such information as professional interests, company size and business associations.

Tying data from Microsoft\u2019s Office to a LinkedIn identity, Kingstone continues, \u201ccould create phenomenal B2B targeting data.\u201d Marketers, for example, would have access to information such as who has viewed which messages on what topics, giving them the potential to forge much deeper connections with prospects and customers.

Acquiring LinkedIn \u201cprovides the pieces to bring [Microsoft\u2019s sales and marketing] applications into a world based on business networks and relationships,\u201d agrees Al Gillen, group vice president for software development and open source at market researcher International Data Corp. These, he says, include a relationship platform, data about relationships and content that is relevant to different market segments, all of which can be mined and utilized as extensions to Dynamics CRM.

For sales reps in search of leads, such integration would enable them to use LinkedIn as a reliable and up-to-date data source. For marketers, feeding the LinkedIn data to Dynamics would enable them to identify \u201clook-alike\u201d audiences that match highly specific marketing criteria.

\u201cBy connecting the Office Graph with the LinkedIn user graph, Microsoft not only owns the network but enables users to connect to the right colleague, customer, partner or supplier at the right time and with the right information with which to make decisions and resolve exceptions,\u201d explains Gillen. LinkedIn, he adds, \u201chas been long criticized for poor profile controls. But with its development talent and integration with Dynamics CRM through Outlook, Microsoft will have a significant competitive product to Salesforce\u2019s Data.com.\u201d

All this, however, is unlikely to go down without some customer friction along the way.

\u201cThe data on LinkedIn is relatively static,\u201d notes Reltio\u2019s Sood, \u201csince members are the only ones who can make changes to their profiles. But potential customers for that data will want it augmented and updated more frequently.\u201d That won\u2019t happen, he says, unless LinkedIn users believe they still control and have ownership over their information.

\u201cTrust is a big issue,\u201d seconds 451\u2019s Kingstone, \u201cand LinkedIn could become negatively perceived.\u201d Members, she says, may have concerns about updating their profiles and providing additional details, if Microsoft moves forward with plans to utilize that data in a wide variety of contexts.

Kingstone expects this to be an especially significant issue outside the U.S., where personal privacy is taken more seriously. To minimize any concerns, she says Microsoft \u201chas to take pains to avoid doing anything that could be perceived as \u2018creepy.\u2019\u201d

\u201cThe elephant in the room is that this acquisition makes a lot of people very uncomfortable,\u201d concurs Vanessa DiMauro, a consultant and Columbia University faculty member. The value of LinkedIn to Microsoft is based on the \u201ctreasure trove\u201d of data that its members voluntarily provide. But, she warns that if they or their companies begin to suspect that Microsoft is keeping tabs on them or sharing their data with their competitors, they could stop updating or even take down their profiles.

One way to defuse this sort of reaction, DiMauro points out, is for Microsoft to train its users in data privacy considerations and set clear ground rules for disseminating different types of information. Such guidelines would put the software giant ahead of the curve and in a strong position to capitalize on the trend toward social selling.

\u201cSocial selling means moving away from selling widgets and focusing instead on your customers overall business needs,\u201d says DiMauro. \u201cBy creating a mechanism for understanding other people\u2014what they do, who they connect with and how they do that\u2014Microsoft can help salespeople make the leap and engage in selling of a higher order.\u201d
","saveContent":"Microsoft is presenting its mammoth $26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn as the lynchpin of a sweeping effort to reinvent the professional workplace. Few specifics have been available since the merger was announced this past June, but with the formal completion of the deal last week, the two companies have said they will soon begin providing more details about their plans. Here, in the third installment of this three-part series, we look at how the combined company could infuse sales and marketing with social intelligence. <\/i>

In his initial take on Microsoft\u2019s plans to acquire his company, LinkedIn\u2019s CEO Jeff Weiner spotlighted several \u201cenormous opportunities.\u201d High on his list was \u201credefining social selling through the combination of Sales Navigator and Dynamics.\u201d

The former is LinkedIn\u2019s suite of social selling tools, while the latter is Microsoft\u2019s line of enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) applications. Today, says Microsoft\u2019s CEO Satya Nadella, work is split between the tools that sales and marketing professionals use to do their jobs, such as Dynamics and Microsoft\u2019s Office programs, and social networks like LinkedIn that connect them to their customers and prospects.

By acquiring LinkedIn, Nadella says, \u201cMicrosoft aims to weave those two pieces together.\u201d For instance, by tapping social intelligence gleaned from Sales Navigator and LinkedIn members\u2019 profile data, Dynamics users could obtain useful background on new sales prospects. Then once a meeting has been set, the sales reps could learn more about the other attendees from the invites in their Outlook calendars.

Also See: Microsoft clears final hurdle to LinkedIn deal<\/a>

Key to melding the two sets of applications together is an ambitious scheme to integrate Microsoft\u2019s Office Graph with LinkedIn\u2019s social graph. Office Graph is a set of machine learning and intelligent search technologies that keeps tabs on Office users\u2019 activities, including the types of data that they share and the kind of information that they search for. LinkedIn\u2019s social graph maps its members\u2019 professional accreditations, skill sets and workplace associations. Once merged, Office Graph will know who is sharing what information with whom and will be able to make relevant recommendations based on the user\u2019s current activities and needs of the moment.

\u201cLinkedIn is a disruptive version of CRM,\u201d notes Manish Sood, the CEO of Reltio, a cloud-based provider of data driven business applications. \u201cEvery sales-focused discussion that takes place has the potential to leverage LinkedIn-type data that will inform the engagement.\u201d

\u201cLinkedIn should be able to provide sales and marketing with demographic targeting based on business and professional user information,\u201d adds Sheryl Kingstone, research director for business applications at 451 Research. Microsoft, she says, will be able to create a social graph that includes such information as professional interests, company size and business associations.

Tying data from Microsoft\u2019s Office to a LinkedIn identity, Kingstone continues, \u201ccould create phenomenal B2B targeting data.\u201d Marketers, for example, would have access to information such as who has viewed which messages on what topics, giving them the potential to forge much deeper connections with prospects and customers.

Acquiring LinkedIn \u201cprovides the pieces to bring [Microsoft\u2019s sales and marketing] applications into a world based on business networks and relationships,\u201d agrees Al Gillen, group vice president for software development and open source at market researcher International Data Corp. These, he says, include a relationship platform, data about relationships and content that is relevant to different market segments, all of which can be mined and utilized as extensions to Dynamics CRM.

For sales reps in search of leads, such integration would enable them to use LinkedIn as a reliable and up-to-date data source. For marketers, feeding the LinkedIn data to Dynamics would enable them to identify \u201clook-alike\u201d audiences that match highly specific marketing criteria.

\u201cBy connecting the Office Graph with the LinkedIn user graph, Microsoft not only owns the network but enables users to connect to the right colleague, customer, partner or supplier at the right time and with the right information with which to make decisions and resolve exceptions,\u201d explains Gillen. LinkedIn, he adds, \u201chas been long criticized for poor profile controls. But with its development talent and integration with Dynamics CRM through Outlook, Microsoft will have a significant competitive product to Salesforce\u2019s Data.com.\u201d

All this, however, is unlikely to go down without some customer friction along the way.

\u201cThe data on LinkedIn is relatively static,\u201d notes Reltio\u2019s Sood, \u201csince members are the only ones who can make changes to their profiles. But potential customers for that data will want it augmented and updated more frequently.\u201d That won\u2019t happen, he says, unless LinkedIn users believe they still control and have ownership over their information.

\u201cTrust is a big issue,\u201d seconds 451\u2019s Kingstone, \u201cand LinkedIn could become negatively perceived.\u201d Members, she says, may have concerns about updating their profiles and providing additional details, if Microsoft moves forward with plans to utilize that data in a wide variety of contexts.

Kingstone expects this to be an especially significant issue outside the U.S., where personal privacy is taken more seriously. To minimize any concerns, she says Microsoft \u201chas to take pains to avoid doing anything that could be perceived as \u2018creepy.\u2019\u201d

\u201cThe elephant in the room is that this acquisition makes a lot of people very uncomfortable,\u201d concurs Vanessa DiMauro, a consultant and Columbia University faculty member. The value of LinkedIn to Microsoft is based on the \u201ctreasure trove\u201d of data that its members voluntarily provide. But, she warns that if they or their companies begin to suspect that Microsoft is keeping tabs on them or sharing their data with their competitors, they could stop updating or even take down their profiles.

One way to defuse this sort of reaction, DiMauro points out, is for Microsoft to train its users in data privacy considerations and set clear ground rules for disseminating different types of information. Such guidelines would put the software giant ahead of the curve and in a strong position to capitalize on the trend toward social selling.

\u201cSocial selling means moving away from selling widgets and focusing instead on your customers overall business needs,\u201d says DiMauro. \u201cBy creating a mechanism for understanding other people\u2014what they do, who they connect with and how they do that\u2014Microsoft can help salespeople make the leap and engage in selling of a higher order.\u201d
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