Microsoft Pulse Tool Relaunched without the 'Bing'

Microsoft has relaunched its MR tool, dropping the name of its Bing search engine to reflect the tool's integration with a number of other Microsoft products including Skype and Yammer. The new version also includes enhancements to visuals and functionality.

The DIY suite was launched in July and offered 'a [free] self-service solution for surveys, live content rating, and moderated response groups of any size'. The relaunched version is much the same and remains connected to Bing behind the scenes, but the rename means it can be linked to a growing number of other product and service lines. Users can link it through Skype for Business to get feedback from people watching a massive teleconference; or through Yammer to get employee feedback; and the software giant's Power BI service can be used to analyze its output. Microsoft Technology and Civil Engagement Director Dritan Nesho, interviewed on gigaom.com, says the team behind it would 'love [it] to be integrated with Xbox very soon', for example.

'Our current focus and our current goal' says Nesho, 'is making sure that people start using this product frequently, at scale, and get their reactions to it so it's something that becomes part and parcel of their every day activities and becomes useful to their needs for engaging the customers they have'.

New functionality includes:

• enhanced dashboard and integration in Pulse for Broadcast
• easier integration via an API, deeper analysis options and Skype-based surveying of up to 10,000 users, in Pulse for Events & Conferences
• fully scalable focus groups, and video push for stimulus, in Pulse for Market Research, and
• anonymous voting and better interactive features in Pulse in the Classroom.