By Matt Day, The Seattle Times
ATLANTA — Microsoft and business software maker Workday on Tuesday announced a deal to engineer their software to work better together.
It’s the latest pact Microsoft has struck with other business software companies to broaden the appeal of its tools, following partnerships Salesforce.com, and electronic signature firm DocuSign, among others.
Under the deal, elements of Microsoft’s Office 365 and related analytics tools will connect with Workday’s set of human resources and finance software.
When an employee takes on a new position with the same company, for example Workday’s software will tell Office to reflect that change, adjusting the team email accounts, shared calendars, and other group features that the employee has access to.
Another engineering collaboration will connect Workday’s human resources software data to the data underlying Microsoft’s Office, aimed at giving employees and managers better data on how they collaborate and spend their time.
“We will simplify daily tasks and actions,” Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella said in announcing the deal.
The announcement came during Microsoft’s Ignite information technology conference here, as well as Workday’s own trade show in Chicago.
“It’s very common for a customer to say, ‘I’ve selected Workday, and I’m a Microsoft shop,’” said Dan Beck, a senior vice president with Pleasanton, Calif.-based Workday. “What more can you guys do together?”
About 1,100 companies used both Office 365 and Workday’s software, Microsoft says.
©2016 The Seattle Times Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
