What you need to know
- Microsoft has acquired Ally.io, which is described as an OKR (objectives and key results) company.
- Ally.io will be behind a new Microsoft Viva module, along with other related projects.
- This is one of many acquisitions Microsoft has made throughout 2021.
Microsoft announced its acquisition of Ally.io on October 7, 2021, marking the latest in a long string of purchases from the company. Suplari, RiskIQ, ReFirm, and CloudKnox Security are just a few of the other purchases it's made in recent memory.
As for what Microsoft hopes to achieve by owning Ally.io, its new OKR (objectives and key results) company: The tech giant said Microsoft Viva would be improving as a result of the acquisition. Ally.io will be the driving force behind a new Viva module to supplement the four existing modules (Connections, Insights, Topics, and Learning).
But Microsoft's not stopping there. The company provided a brief outline of what's in store for the future of Ally.io in its press release announcing the acquisition. "Over the next year, we'll be investing to bring Ally.io into the Microsoft cloud, evolve the existing integrations with Microsoft Teams, and weave Ally.io into Viva, Office, Power BI and the broader set of Microsoft 365 apps and services," the piece said.
So while Viva may be the start for Ally.io, it'll have an impact on Teams and beyond. Financial details of Microsoft's arrangement with the OKR company were not disclosed, which is par for the course given that such details were not provided for the majority of other recent acquisitions.
To give a brief overview of Viva, it's a platform Microsoft offers for actionable insight dissemination that is designed to help employees monitor their wellbeing. It has other functions as well, though its employee wellness angle is front and center.
