Facebook signs deal to use some Microsoft Office 365 services
Facebook is an Office 365 customer.
That's about all we know regarding a new deal Microsoft has signed with Facebook for some of its Office 365 services. We don't know how many Office 365 users there will be at Facebook. We don't know whether Office 365 is displacing other productivity offerings at Facebook. We also don't know how much Facebook is paying for Office 365.
But Microsoft brought Facebook CIO Tim Campos to its Worldwide Partner Conference on July 12 to announce that Facebook is a customer.
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Campos told Worldwide Partner Conference attendees that Facebook was bullish on Office 365 being device, platform, and location-agnostic. Campos also touted Office 365's security capabilities as appealing to the company, as "security is paramount at Facebook".
Campos said Facebook's policy is to allow its 13,000 users to use what makes sense for them on the collaboration-front and support their use of those products. To me, that means there are other productivity and collaboration products in use at Facebook, too.
Facebook is developing its own Facebook at Work service, which Facebook employees will use internally. Campos told The Wall Street Journal that "Facebook at Work doesn't end the need for email".
Campos also told The Wall Street Journal that Facebook's employees will tap "some portions of Office 365", including email and calendar, but not Yammer or Skype for Business, which compete directly with Facebook's own services.