Microsoft's acquisition of LinkedIn has generated a lot of speculation about the deal's rationale, much of it questioning whether two tech companies that have each seen better days can make a go of it as a couple. Pundits and investment analysts alike are cynical, given the size of the deal and Microsoft's checkered history with acquisitions. Others are asking if this is just another tech entrepreneur's exit strategy with the founder and CXOs cashing out before moving on to the next big thing. I find this unlikely, since LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner has stated that the promise he can run LinkedIn as a fully independent entity helped sell him on the deal. Huge payoffs notwithstanding, he'll probably stick around.
Skeptics aside, there are a growing number of alternative perspectives surfacing that are bullish on this deal's potential to succeed. Grant Feller at Forbes.com argues it's about content and that Microsoft has, in fact, purchased one of the world's most influential digital media companies. Christopher Mims at the Wall Street Journal points out that LinkedIn provides Microsoft access to its core demographic in a networked environment, where user-driven data will provide insights for product development and greater adoption.
Fast Company gets at what I think is the most compelling argument in favor of the deal when it says that Microsoft is competing for the future of work. "What LinkedIn brings to the table," writes Ruth Reader, "is recruitment technology, training tools through Lynda, and big data about companies and individual professionals and their networks." When combined with the full complement of HR technology acquisitions made since 2011 (Pando Networks, Netbreeze, Capptain, Aorato, VoloMetrix, and many more) along with the Skype and Yammer deals, LinkedIn advances Microsoft's ability to create a social-style HR solution unlike any other.
But let's take this idea a bit further. I would like to suggest that Microsoft is now positioned to design and enable a global, digital HR operating model for the gig economy. One of the biggest challenges facing organizations today is workforce planning and management that extends beyond corporate boundaries to include freelancers, contractors, self-employed entrepreneurs and other independent workers. With LinkedIn, Microsoft has in its hands the prototype and installed base for an open talent exchange where workers connect, collaborate and manage careers on their own terms, one that is also capable of intersecting with organizations' internal HR functions and other sponsored talent exchanges. This is a pretty powerful position to be in as the gig economy takes hold worldwide.
If Microsoft were interested in assuming this role, all it would take is to look beyond the acquisition of LinkedIn as simply a cloud play to its potential as a catalyst for organizing the new world of work. I say "all it would take", but that's a big ask of a technology company that has misread the signals of a shifting marketplace before. Let's see how it plays out.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.