In any organization or project, whatever its nature, one of the necessary conditions for the work to be carried out and the objectives to be achieved is that communication between collaborators flows. Especially when it comes to remote work. And for that you need to have the right tools. In this post we are going to analyze everything that refers to Microsoft Yammer, what it is and what it is used for.
Because without a doubt Yammer is one of those reference tools when it comes to betting on the collaborative work and obtain the best in terms of creativity and productivity from work teams that interact remotely. In short, an instrument that adapts perfectly to new times and new ways of doing things.
What is Microsoft Yammer?
We could define Microsoft Yammer , the a unique social network service aimed at the internal communication of a company. This service was created in 2008 by a company called Geni, and was later acquired by Microsoft in 2012.
The original idea is to establish a means by which employees of the same company can be connected and communicated at all times to improve their work capacity. There are those who have defined it as "the Facebook of the business world" where instead of friends there are co-workers and instead of advertising we find corporate reminders.
Currently, this service is included within Microsoft Office and is used by numerous companies around the world.
What is Microsoft Yammer used for?
Part of Yammer's success in many enterprise organizations lies in the fact that it is extremely easy to configure and manage: for anyone who has ever used Facebook, its interface has no secrets. In addition to that, it is a very practical tool that provides many advantages. These are some of the most notable:
Creation of personal profiles and groups
Based on user information from the organization's directory, with Yammer you can create personal profiles with different degrees of detail, as well as different levels of access to information of the company. Each of the users has the option to follow the posts of others.
Likewise, these profiles can be grouped around a theme or project (or even several at the same time), always responding to the company's own needs.
Remote collaboration
For those companies that have several work centers located in locations far from each other, Yammer is revealed to be a magnificent remote communication and collaboration tool.
It is more immediate and effective than email: The responses are more immediate and are published in groups, which favors access to information and reduces the probability of confusion and misunderstandings. In short, everything translates into a greater fluency when communicating and working as a team.
employee training
You could say that this is a positive side effect derived from the implementation of Yammer in a company. Every day, all users read updates from other contributors, or publish their own, on a continuous learning exercise, almost involuntary.
Over time, users acquire specialized knowledge of the sector in which they work even more effectively than if they had attended specialized seminars or courses. This is what is known as learning “on autopilot.”
Greater transparency
One of the main favorite benefits of using open chat tools within an organization is that it projects the idea of honesty and transparency of the company. Procedures, objectives, progress, doubts, indications... Each one knows the roles of the others and everything is on the table, visible to everyone, which eliminates the possibility of generating distrust among employees. Or between bosses and subordinates.
Office 365
Yammer groups are also connected to Office 365. This means they have access to all functions of the office suite. For example, it is possible to use Yammer within teams from the application itself or through Outlook. Likewise, all files uploaded to Groups can also be stored in SharePoint.
Recommendations for group owners
In its latest update, Yammer renewed its service offering under the name of Yammer Communities. This has meant expanding the possibilities of using this tool, giving group owners new options to improve internal communication in their organizations.
Configure everything in detail before starting
Before encouraging all members and collaborators of a group to participate in it, you have to invest some time in the configuration: prepare the interface so that it is attractive, find an attractive and appropriate name, carefully select the applications that will be able to be used...
It is also important to personalize the look of the group. The company's visual identity should not be missing in order to create a sense of belonging and encourage participation.
Appoint a moderator
One or several, if the group is large. It is a more than necessary role for avoid chaos and dispersion. The moderator must direct the group's content strategy, as well as resolve doubts and guide community members in activities and communications.
The "censoring" role of the moderator is secondary here, since in the absence of anonymous profiles there is very little chance of the negative behaviors that we can see on social networks occurring.
Establish rules of use
Finally, a recommendation for the proper functioning of any Microsoft Yammer group: writing a short document that establishes a series of basic rules of use. Above all, to avoid racist, sexist, etc. comments, for example. or that work conversations end up degenerating into political discussions. All participants must abide by these rules and respect them.