Microsoft snaps up Seattle startup VoloMetrix to help boost Delve

As Microsoft lets go of roughly 7,800 employees on the hardware and marketing side of business, it’s simultaneously bolstering its software side of employment. Each recent purchase or acquisition Microsoft has been tied to lately have been done so with a specific software goal in mind. Microsoft is continually beefing up its play for productivity and enterprise customers, and the recent acquisition of Seattle startup company, VoloMetrix continues that trend.
VoloMetrix started up just a little over four years ago, but Microsoft saw value in the companies ‘organizational analytics’ strategy and swooped in quickly to add it to one of its already existing properties. VoloMetrix is a relatively small startup specializing in ‘people analytics’. According to the VoloMetrix website, the company specifically;

extracts and analyzes anonymized, aggregated header-level data from your corporate communication systems. Without compromising employee privacy, this data provides insight into the subject, timing, and format of collaboration, as well as an understanding of the role and geographic location of individuals involved. Together, People Analytics data provides a holistic map of your company’s communication and collaboration behavior.”

With the purchase of VoloMetrix, Microsoft intends beef up its Office 365 business feature Delve. A little over a year ago, Microsoft introduced the Digital Office 365 assistant to business customers. At the time, Delve handled queries about schedules, emails, meetings, contracts, social networks and business documents saved in Office 365. Incorporating VoloMetrix’s analytics tools should help boost employer and employee knowledge about how to communicate best within a business.
According to a Microsoft spokesman who spoke with Business Insider, “a significant number” of employees from VoloMetrix will remain with the company and be working from their offices in Seattle. This should be pleasant news for those employees as Microsoft’s trend lately has been to trim rather than add to the company.