Microsoft has announced that it plans to acquire VoloMetrix, a company that spearheads organizational analytics, along with its related tools. This acquisition is an effort on Microsoft"s part to employ the technology and experience offered by VoloMetrix, as well as the company"s previously announced Delve Organizational Analytics, in order to increase productivity across Office 365.
Microsoft explained today why this acquisition will be beneficial to its customers, stating:
Even small improvements in a person’s day-to-day effectiveness can add up to significant value for an organization and greater employee happiness. Today, most of us don’t have the tools and information to help us make better decisions about our scarcest resource at work: our time. But, similar to how fitness trackers help us understand our health in our personal lives, innovative new solutions are emerging to objectively measure and prioritize our time at work. Giving people access to real data and objective, personalized feedback can lead to a virtuous cycle of improvement for both individuals and their company.
The company states that while both Office 365 and Office Graph provides users with a large quantity of data, the real problem comes when harnessing and understanding the data. Microsoft also mentioned privacy controls, claiming that when properly maintained, people will be able to monitor behavioral data and will be able to deduce the answer to questions such as: "How can I improve my emails to ensure my communications are impactful? Am I spending my time focused on my priorities? Do I have the right people and expertise in my network to accomplish my project?"
While the Redmond giant hasn"t announced a date for the completion of the acquisition of VoloMetrix, it has mentioned that it expects to launch the Delve Organizational Analytics tools as a part of a preview program by the end of next month, with general availability of the integrated Office 365 service by the end of this year.
Source: Microsoft