Meta last Wednesday (10 October) announced an official partnership with Microsoft, under which Meta’s Workplace app and Microsoft Team will be integrated. The integration will enable content sharing and engagement between both applications. This marks the merger between two rivals in the enterprise communication software market. 

However, according to CNBC, Workplace and Teams do not have complete overlap. Meta Workplace is focused on broad, companywide connections, while Microsoft Teams is focused on instantaneous communication between workers and their direct colleagues.

Meta Head of Workplace Ujjwal Singh said that the integration was requested by users at Vodafone Group and Accenture.

“The way our customers end up using it - is customers use the complementary features, not the competing features,” Singh said, adding, “There are customers that are just Workplace shops, and then there are customers that are just Teams shops. This is really for those customers that use both.”

Microsoft Head of 365 Collaboration Jeff Taper stated, “One thing I've learned … there's not going to be a one and only communications tool on the planet.” He said that office workers will shift between many tools, and it was up to “responsible vendors” to make sure they integrate and are interoperable.

Microsoft Teams boasts a bigger user base, with 250 million monthly active users. Meanwhile Meta announced back in May that it reached 7 million paid subscribers. However, the partnership is expected to benefit both and accelerate the move toward an enterprise metaverse.