Microsoft (MSFT) plans to enter into new partnerships this year as it continues to build on successful relationships with companies like Salesforce (CRM) and Uber. Microsoft’s Executive Vice President for Business Development Peggy Johnson said partnerships are a growth area for the company that will help to expand its customer base and improve user experiences. ‘Microsoft has always been a partner in the industry, but we haven’t had so many partnerships,’ said Johnson. ‘I think going forward you might see some of them as somewhat surprising.’ Johnson cited Microsoft’s partnership with Uber as an example. ‘We now have an add-in in Outlook that looks at your calendar and sees that you need to go to the other side of town, and it will pop up the Uber app and it will fill in your destination and all you do is press a button and off you go.’ When asked if partnering could include an acquisition, Johnson replied, ‘it always starts with a relationship, it always starts with looking for that area of resonance, and that’s what we’re trying to focus on. And sometimes that ends in an acquisition and sometimes it ends in a commercial agreement.’ Johnson spoke on a panel called ‘Tech for Good’ at Fortune’s The Most Powerful Women Summit in Washington, D.C.
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