Microsoft is looking to improve Office collaboration and enhance the effectiveness of its productivity tools by focusing its analytics know-how on workforces with offerings like Delve and the upcoming Delve Organizational Insights product. Today, the company announced a new acquisition to further those aims.
The software giant announced today that it entered into an agreement with VoloMetrix to acquire the organizational analytics cloud software provider for an undisclosed amount. Headquartered in Seattle, Wash., and with offices in San Francisco, VoloMetrix’s big data processing platform monitors daily activities from productivity and business applications. It then applies behavioral analysis to provide businesses with visibility into their corporate culture and how their workforces function, enabling them to boost sales productivity, spur employee engagement and better manage their organizations.
Last October, VoloMetrix announced it had raised $12 million in a Series B round of financing headed by Split Rock Partners, bringing its total funding to $17 million to date. The company, founded in 2011, counts Facebook, Qualcomm and “dozens” of Global 2000 firms among its customers.
For Microsoft, VoloMetrix dovetails with its own people-centric Office technology initiatives.
“This acquisition will combine VoloMetrix’ experience, technology and track record of success with Office 365 and our previously announced Delve Organizational Analytics,” Rajesh Jha, corporate vice president of Microsoft Outlook and Office 365, said in a Sept. 3 announcement. “I am excited about this big step forward in our company ambition to reinvent productivity and business process, and how it will deliver new value to our customers with organizational analytics.”
First shown at Microsoft’s Ignite Conference in May, Delve Organizational Analytics uses Office 365 usage data to track and measure employee engagement among individuals and teams. A dashboard allows managers to monitor trends that affect paycheck earners like work-life balance. Incidentally, Jha also confirmed today that a preview of Delve Organizational Analytics is slated for next month while an Office 365 integration will be formally released by the end of the year.
“I am excited about this big step forward in our company ambition to reinvent productivity and business process, and how it will deliver new value to our customers with organizational analytics,” Jha remarked.
Ryan Fuller, CEO and co-founder of VoloMetrix, said in a blog post that Microsoft’s vision of technology in the modern workplace—not to mention its reach—aligns with VoloMetrix’s own outlook.
“Microsoft has a huge vision to reinvent productivity and a set of assets in Office 365 that are fundamental to how work gets done,” he wrote in a blog post related to the deal. “By joining them, we will be able to continue to pursue our shared mission and have an impact at a staggering global scale.”
Fuller predicted that the deal would prove to be “a huge win” for VoloMetrix’s customers. “Over the coming months, you can expect to hear more from us about new capabilities we will be rolling out, new investments in our partner eco-system and more,” he continued.