LinkedIn Sales Navigator moves to quarterly release cycle, continues to broaden app platform reach

LinkedIn is moving to a quarterly release cycle for Sales Navigator and the first such update, dubbed the "Q1 Release", will update the Sales Navigator Application Platform (SNAP), and introduce enhancements to account pages, search, and alerts.

SNAP is LinkedIn's approach to connecting Sales Navigator data with CRM, marketing automation, BI, sales acceleration, web conferencing and eSignature solutions. Dynamics 365 is among the earliest partners, along with Salesforce and Marketo, and over two dozen partners are already signed on to work with SNAP. And LinkedIn's head of product, Doug Camplejohn, revealed that his team has now added supported integration with Demandbase, InsideSales.com, SugarCRM, and Oracle Sales Cloud.

With a growing list of connected systems, Microsoft will remain under pressure to continue to offer a premier integrated experience between LinkedIn Sales Navigator and its own solutions, including Dynamics 365 for Sales and Markting. As Dynamics 365 principal program manager Kishan Chetan told MSDW earlier this week, changing trends in demand generation will drive the Dynamics 365 team to push for deep capabilities in areas like account-based targeting.

Other Sales Navigator updates in Q1 cover new features and an updated layout of account pages that "streamlines the process of landing new accounts or building relationships within existing accounts", auto-saved search preferences, custom sales alerts, and an improved process for moving a new sales team member's existing Sales Navigator data to the company's Team or Enterprise account.