Microsoft Acquires Intentional Software To Boost Teams

Microsoft just recently announced the acquisition of Intentional Software, a tech company with a focus on team productivity applications founded in 2002 by Microsoft’s own former chief architect Charles Simonyi.

The move to acquire Intentional Software signals Microsoft’s intent to boost its future productivity solution capabilities. Simonyi, who today is chairman and CTO at Intentional Software, helped develop some of Microsoft’s Office tools, including Word and Excel.

“The impact of Charles’ historical contributions reinvented how work is done for millions of people,” wrote Intentional Software CEO Eric Anderson in a company blog post on the acquisition. “In this next chapter, I see the potential for an even greater impact. The world is bigger, more connected, and technology is far more sophisticated and far more accessible.”

The financial terms of Microsoft’s acquisition of Intentional Software have not been disclosed, and TechCrunch noted it will be subject to regulatory approval — but when everything is settled, it seems likely that Intentional Software and Simonyi’s expertise creating team productivity solutions will be put to good use.

“We’re excited about the company’s work on productivity applications, especially given our focus of putting people at the center of experiences and our continued effort to reimagine collaboration,” wrote Rajesh Jha, executive vice president for the Office Product Group, in a company blog post announcing the acquisition.

Last month, Microsoft launched Teams, a chat-focused workspace for Office 365 in 181 markets around the globe. Teams takes on Slack, Facebook, Google and Amazon in the enterprise messaging marketplace.

Microsoft had been testing Teams for four months prior to launch, adding over 100 new features to the app in the process. Some of those features include the option to create public teams, schedule meetings and make mobile voice calls.

In addition to officially launching Teams last month, Microsoft announced new partnerships for the app with SAP and Trello. Microsoft also said it would make regular updates to Teams with some of the soon-to-be-released features including Office 365 external guest access capabilities.