Microsoft is dropping some of its Dynamics 365 HR apps in favor of LinkedIn alternative

Microsoft is preparing  to drop its Dynamics 365 Talent Attract and Talent Onboard apps on February 1, 2022, officials said late last week. Microsoft is advising customers to move to LinkedIn Talent Hub instead. At the same time, Microsoft is repackaging some of its "core" human resources capabilities in Dynamics 365 Talent and releasing it as Dynamics 365 Human Resources on February 3, 2020.

Microsoft made these announcements in a couple of December 6 blog posts (one of which I saw thanks to Microsoft MVP Jukka Niiranen on Twitter). Microsoft's Dynamics web site already reflects the coming change, noting that Dynamics 365 Talent has been rebranded as Dynamics 365 Human Resources.

Microsoft is telling customers who are using its core Dynamics HR capabilities today that they will be automatically transitioned to the coming Dynamics 365 Human Resources product. Until then, Microsoft says they will continue to support Attract and Onboard, and that current customers can renew their contracts for these apps up until June 6, 2020. Microsoft will provide critical bug support for Attract and Onboard until February 1, 2022, but won't be adding any new features to those products.

LinkedIn Talent Hub is an application tracking system for sourcing, managing and hiring. It is built on top of the core LinkedIn network. Talent Hub includes LinkedIn Recruiter and Jobs together into a single platform.

Microsoft made Dynamics 365 Talent, its first human-capital-management (HCM) offering, available in July 2017. At that time, it included integration with LinkedIn Recruiter.

Another Microsoft December 6 blog post explains what else will be included in the coming Dynamics 365 Human Resources offering:

"In October, we announced our investments in the rights to strategic solutions from FourVision and Elevate HR to accelerate HR operations innovation within leave and absence, time and attendance, and benefits administration. These new capabilities will begin rolling out within Dynamics 365 Human Resources in early 2020."

It's interesting to see Microsoft start to make greater use its LinkedIn assets rather than just letting LinkedIn run basically as an independent entity. Microsoft bought LinkedIn in 2016 for $26.2 billion, making it the largest acquisition in Microsoft's history.