Microsoft's Nadella Banks On LinkedIn Data To Challenge Salesforce (reuters.com)

Microsoft is rolling out upgrades to its sales software that integrates data from LinkedIn, an initiative that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told Reuters was central to the company's long-term strategy for building specialized business software. From the report: The improvements to Dynamics 365, as Microsoft's sales software is called, are a challenge to market leader Salesforce.com and represent the first major product initiative to spring from Microsoft's $26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn, the business-focused social network. The new features will comb through a salesperson's email, calendar and LinkedIn relationships to help gauge how warm their relationship is with a potential customer. The system will recommend ways to save an at-risk deal, like calling in a co-worker who is connected to the potential customer on LinkedIn. [...] The artificial intelligence, or AI, capabilities of the software would be central, Nadella said. "I want to be able to democratize AI so that any customer using these products is able to, in fact, take their own data and load it into AI for themselves," he said. On Monday, LinkedIn said it has surpassed 500 million members globally, one of the first big milestones for the business social network since its acquisition.

Comments

more justification to cut off salesmen

[albeit unknown]

Now I get to look forward to co-workers being further tricked into influencing me. As an engineer, I've come to realize that the only mission of a salesman is to manipulate your otherwise objective decision making in their favor. ("Objective" to the extent possible for a human). Where possible, I no longer accept sales calls or meetings with sales. Sometimes, it's hard to let go of the feeling I'm being rude. Companies who don't have a hard-boiled, experienced purchasing person doing most of the talking during major buying efforts are fools. Unfortunately, this is the exception rather than the rule.

Re:more justification to cut off salesmen

[Baron_Yam]

> I've come to realize that the only mission of a salesman is to manipulate your otherwise objective decision making in their favor.... Sometimes, it's hard to let go of the feeling I'm being rude.

Just remember that part of being an effective sales person is to deliberately use the potential customer's social conditioning against them. They are unrepentant manipulative bastards who have few scruples... and consider that they are intruding into your time, for their own purposes at your cost. Shutting them down ASAP is not rude, it's returning them the same (if not better) level of consideration they're showing you.

Now, I've had some great relationships with *technical* sales. People who simply know their products exceptionally well and have some social skills. But regular sales? Like people in advertising, they can rot in Hell.