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In our hybrid world, it can be difficult for co-workers to connect with each other. Statista state that as much as 45% of the worldwide workforce is currently working entirely remotely, with 29% splitting their time working from home and in the office.
As such, now more than ever, digital connectivity is essential to the success of any business. The value that Microsoft Yammer can add to your business is massive. Its variety of tools focused on the easy exchange of information, quick communication, team building and social engagement are all incredibly useful.
With its wealth of business-focused features, Microsoft Yammer is an incredibly valuable tool for achieving this connectivity - let’s discuss a few reasons why!
What is Microsoft Yammer? What are Yammer’s top features? Why should you consider Yammer for your business?
In this article, we’ll explore all you’ll need to know about Microsoft’s brilliant enterprise social network.
Microsoft Yammer is an enterprise-focused social media network. In the same vein as platforms like Facebook, Yammer exchanges ‘friends’ for ‘colleagues’, and replaces the advertising and social posts with content focused on your business.
Especially in mid-market firms and large enterprises, it can be difficult for employees to keep in touch with colleagues outside of their teams & department. By taking the social network approach, Yammer can facilitate communication across your organisation and enhance how knowledge, ideas and interests are shared between teams.
Originally developed as a tool strictly for internal communications, acting as an alternative to email for communication, Yammer allows for organisation-wide connectivity, as well as facilitating contact with customers, contractors, and vendors.
What can Microsoft Yammer do? Here are some key features you’ll find when using the platform:
- Feeds: Yammer’s home feed is the primary way that users will interact with content on the platform. Similar to Facebook’s timeline, the home feed is where you’ll find posts and messages from other users within the communities you’re a member of.
- Live Events: Yammer allows you to arrange, schedule, and host live virtual events. Although this is often easiest through Microsoft’s own video conferencing platform, Teams, other platforms can be used.
- Communities: Yammer’s communities are the groups of members within your organisation. These can be for specific departments, teams, or other overarching communities within the company. Communities are a central repository for all of your conversations, files, events, and updates. Communities allow quick and easy access to information relevant to these groups - facilitating knowledge-sharing across your organisation.
- Files: Yammer allows users to upload and attach files to messages and conversations. This can be used to maximise the social features, uploading images and gifs, or as quick and easy file sharing between users.
- Lots more: While the above are some of the most important features, Yammer allows you to upload discussions, polls, announcements and more. All of these features allow you to communicate and gather information to and from colleagues with ease.
Swoop Analytics found that Microsoft Yammer is quickly becoming a key tool for improving organisations’ employee experience. Why are businesses so keen to adopt Yammer?
Here are key benefits of using Microsoft Yammer in your organisation:
It is easy to forget but impossible to deny the importance of effective internal engagement. By sharing ideas across teams and keeping everyone within your organisation up to date with your work, everyone is on the same page.
Social media networks like Yammer ensure that every employee feels included within your organisation. Yammer’s enhancement to morale and social cohesion cannot be understated!
Its ability to support effective collaboration is also invaluable too - ensuring that even when you can’t be in the same office as your colleagues, you can easily work as a team.
Working remotely has countless benefits, but it’s impossible to deny that it can also lead to losing the sense of community that comes with working in an office.
Having a tool like Yammer which encourages a sense of community and connectedness is a fantastic way to ensure that teams that can’t, for whatever reason, work together in person goes a long way to ensuring employee wellbeing.
Microsoft is keen to market Yammer as a tool for sharing knowledge across an organisation. It can be difficult to find new ideas and approaches, so Yammer makes it easy to post information in your communities.
Many organisations start communities and pages for employees asking for help or advice. In fact, Victoria Police in Australia used a Yammer community to ask for assistance and share leads - improving the force’s ability to solve crimes! How cool is that?
Yammer’s search functions streamline your ability to get to the information you need - and the ability for employees to share knowledge and expertise is brilliant!
We particularly enjoy the ability to search across your organisation for keywords related to specific files, ideas, and people in your network. Finally, the organisation of specific communities allows you to search only in areas that are relevant.
Yammer’s ability to connect people and compile information makes it an incredibly powerful tool for R&D.
Allowing for the quick exchange of information, the ability to get opinions from teams with ease and easy communication makes R&D a breeze, regardless of where in the world your team is.
One of Yammer’s key strengths is the strength of any form of social media- everyone has a voice. Acting as a social platform, any employee can present ideas, engage in discussion, and make themselves heard.
The benefit of this is immeasurable. Being able to voice their wins, concerns and ideas can make employees feel more valued. Allow for everyone to contribute improves cohesion, and allows a whole host of new ideas to find their way into the discussion.
This all goes without even mentioning how far this can go to creating a positive sense of company culture, making individuals feel heard and valued, and the morale boost these factors can have.
Microsoft Yammer is a brilliant enterprise social network that brings organisations together. By sharing ideas, fun stories and asking for help, employees can engage with their colleagues.
In the world of hybrid working, having a casual way to connect with colleagues is vital - and bridges the gap between remote and in-office staff.
Ready to take the leap and set up Microsoft Yammer for your business? Get in touch with us today and see how we can help! We’ll help you set up your social network, get you started with communities and get your employees on board.
