Yammer is gaining traction as people become more interested in social enterprise tools. An article from CITE World highlights what makes Yammer stand out from other social enterprise tools, including some new features.
What’s especially great about Yammer is that its user interface is easy to use. There’s no learning curve associated with Yammer because it’s so similar to social networks that occur outside of the enterprise, such as LinkedIn and Facebook.
What’s more, a new feature that’s being rolled out introduces greater email functionality, allowing for Yammer mentions to be sent to email addresses and for replies to appear in the Yammer conversation. Emailed documents can also be automatically loaded into Yammer.
However, many people still have lingering concerns about how Yammer fits into Microsoft’s future plans and how it’s going to integrate with their other technology investments. That’s why the Office 365/Yammer login integration highlighted in the article is especially important moving forward.
With that integration, users who are in Office 365 are automatically logged into Yammer with the same credentials. Organizations want to have single sign-on to Yammer. They don’t want it to be complicated for users to leverage the system. A single credentialing experience is another area of strength for Yammer as a social platform.
Furthermore, Microsoft does have plans to integrate Yammer with Skype, and to improve the ability to leverage Office 365 and Office as a network. Microsoft is taking the necessary steps to leverage networks that already exist in your Active Directory and then continue that dialogue through integration with Office.
Another of Yammer’s strengths is that thanks to its cloud-based, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) architecture, it’s easier to roll out new features quicker than in on-premises solutions that are typically maintained by internal IT departments.
We definitely encourage organizations to seriously consider Yammer. It’s a strong platform and a smart way to introduce social networking into your organization in a thoughtful, productive manner.
If you’re thinking about using Microsoft Yammer for your organization, talk to one of our Yammer Integration specialists at Portal Solutions for a free consultation today!
Source: CITE World, February 2014
