Microsoft StaffHub promises better tools for shift workers and their managers; Could Dynamics 365 take advantage?

Microsoft has announced a new workforce management app, its latest Office 365 business solution. Microsoft StaffHub is available worldwide for customers already on certain Office 365 plans and is designed to manage and publish worker shift schedules and to allow workers to use a smartphone app to communicate with managers, get job information, see their shifts, and to swap their shifts with other workers.

StaffHub is the latest in what now appears to be a plan to offer series of line of business apps that Microsoft is building and offering up as-is for small and mid-sized businesses that subscribe to Office 365.

And while there is no mention of a tie in to Dynamics 365 for StaffHub, there could be a precedent for such a connection in the future.

Another Office 365 app, Bookings, was launched in 2016 in a similar way to StaffHub, with a quick announcement and push out to existing Office 365 customers. Bookings provides an online appointment scheduling system that allows customers to book appointments with a business online while synchronizing those bookings with the schedules of the employees. Managers set up the services and staff accounts and make the app available to clients and prospects via their web site. 

And while the Bookings app didn't offer any tie-in to Dynamics ERPs initially, the Dynamics NAV team took the next step of building out that integration. Services exposed in Bookings can be tracked and synchronized in NAV 2017. Customers can also be synced between NAV ...