I just read the big news of today, Microsoft’s acquisition of LinkedIn. It immediately brought my thoughts to a SWOT for the new entity.
While the longer term outlook is yet to be envisaged, one immediate area which Microsoft can look at is combining the power of Skype with LinkedIn.
The combination of Skype’s collaboration platform with LinkedIn’s Professional Network platform can evolve into a powerful tool for recruitment, team collaboration, and corporate communication.
Some possible applications/ toolkits can be:
- Creating a online tool for face-to-face interviews.
- Online group meetings from within LinkedIn.
- Online chat within LinkedIn
- New referral & consultation platforms
- Live CEO townhall within LinkedIn company page
…. etc
I hope that Microsoft does not loose this opportunity to leverage its Skype buyout and expand on LinkedIn’s growing popularity (without loosing its startup nimbleness) to take this gigantic corporation to a new level of acceptance by the internet generation.
Now lets get to hear about Microsoft’s plans for this mega acquisition…