Microsoft set to acquire LinkedIn - What this means to the world!

Microsoft, one of the global IT giants, recently made announcement about acquisition of world's largest business-oriented social networking service - LinkedIn. This $26.2 billion deal with an all-cash transaction is Microsoft's largest acquisition ever, and would certainly mean a global phenomenon, and it is expected to change the whole world...each and every professional. Yes !! Everyone of us. If you think the above lines are bit exaggerated, just read ahead about certain expected possibilities from this deal, which made us think of it as exaggeration. 

Global Talent Acquisition: With more than 400+ million users, LinkedIn currently posses a huge database of entire professional lives of the creamiest talent in the world. With such strength of direct connections, and multi-fold indirect reach-out, the IT giant would have sufficient analytical capabilities, not only to cherry-pick for the talent it requires to turn-around its business, but also to analyze ways to retain and strengthen that talent.

Sales Channels: LinkedIn could serve as convenient sales channel for Microsoft. Microsoft had shared its plans of using LinkedIn's social graphs as selling tools, in integration with its current CRM Products, thus presenting a stronger business threat for Salesforce. LinkedIn's sales navigator could be used for providing direct linkage with the potential customers spread across global enterprises. So Microsoft would have a better reach-out for promoting its products, including Office 365 productivity suite and Dynamics, which have become an essential requirement for every professional.  

Learning and Publishing Platform: Lynda.com, a global online learning platform, which was recently acquired by LinkedIn, provides Microsoft with another platform for evangelizing relevant skills and technologies. This would be in addition to its current Microsoft Virtual Academy platform, where learners can gain skills in a self-paced learning curriculum. LinkedIn Pulse would provide an extension to Microsoft's current tech-content platform TechNet, expanding its scope towards other business content, and providing the business aspects to its Search Engine Optimization (SEO) division. 

Social Networking: With LinkedIn, Microsoft makes another push towards establishing an enterprise social networking solution. Microsoft's previous acquisition of Yammer in 2012 already provides it a base, and Linked can take this effort one more step further towards becoming a true Enterprise Social Networking platform. 

Competitive Advantage: With LinkedIn, Microsoft also gets a sharp edge in keeping an eye on its competitors. By knowing the trends in Talent acquisition and shifts in the skill sets of its competitors using the LinkedIn Database, Microsoft can run analysis to identify what direction their competitors are working!!!

The Real Artificial Intelligence: In a more futuristic vision, Microsoft's artificial intelligence assistant Cortana can serve as a smartest fellow you would want have for your meeting preparations. You can know all professional details of the people: potential customers, investors, or other vendors, even before meeting them. Microsoft's well established communication and collaboration platforms like Skype for Business and SharePoint adds up to the mix, providing an end-to-end platform for all the needs of any enterprise professional. 

There are yet many more possibilities, and as we see today, the potential of this merger could be restricted only by putting limits to futuristic vision. And every professional individual does have a direct relation with at least two or more scenarios discussed above. So its just a matter of time when we see the impact of this deal on our lives. In meantime, if you would like to share your thoughts about this acquisition, do leave a comment, or do connect with us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/vishal0soni