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Tech major Microsoft said it is collaborating with frontline workforce management platform BetterPlace for product development and go-to-market strategies. Under the former, BetterPlace’s human capital management features will be integrated with Microsoft’s enterprise cloud and artificial intelligence platform.

“Microsoft pretty much sells across the top 200-300 listed companies in every market. How do we provide more services of discovery for some of these solutions is what we essentially are doing. And that’s the essence of the partnership,” said Sangeeta Bavi, Executive Director-Digital Natives, Microsoft India, in an exclusive conversation with YourStory.

With this, BetterPlace is listed on Microsoft’s platform and “sellers and Microsoft are incentivised” to “sell in all markets” in global markets.

Microsoft is betting big on the increasing participation of blue-collar workers in the overall workforce population with the growth of Internet consumer services and hopes to reach out to them through its partnership with BetterPlace.

This collaboration will include creation of a mobile-first upskilling programme, designed keeping in mind the needs of the blue-collar workforce, Microsoft said in a statement.

For BetterPlace—which has been making aggressive moves to expand in international markets recently—this partnership will help provide access to new markets through Microsoft. 

If for instance, BetterPlace were to expand its services to South Korea,

Microsoft could help it understand market nuances and help it build or integrate related product capabilities, according to Sandeep Uberoi, Group President, BetterPlace. The company said it cannot share any numbers related to the impact of this partnership on its revenue and customer growth.

Both the companies declined to comment on if there were any financial arrangements between them. “We don’t know how this partnership will evolve but right now, it is completely around product partnership and go-to-market partnership. That’s what we are looking at,” said Bavi.

Microsoft had entered into a similar partnership with HR tech startup (also, a unicorn) Darwinbox in January this year by investing nearly $4 million as part of a “strategic partnership”, which included product integrations, co-innovation and go-to-market strategies.

BetterPlace, which closed its Series C round at $40 million with participation from returning investor Jungle Ventures and new investor and development finance institution British International Investment in December, offers solutions from hiring to benefits for blue- and grey-collar workforce.

“Our ability to upskill was of a lot of interest for Microsoft because we have a grassroots-level reach and Microsoft’s done such a phenomenal job via LinkedIn to train millions of people. That content interplay became a really exciting opportunity where we could partner with them to take it to a more grassroots level, which Microsoft is looking to upskill,” said Uberoi.

“And whereas for us, the product offering as we kind of evolve on Azure and the additional products that Microsoft brought to us, specifically around AI, is of tremendous value to our clients, which trickles down to empowered people to get hired faster, to get upskilled,” he added.

Giving an example, Uberoi said the AI capabilities offered by Microsoft could help workers get pre-skilled and ready when a potential job opportunity opens up.