Yammer social networking tool arrives for Office 365 business users

Microsoft is bringing its Yammer enterprise social networking tool to all eligible Office 365 business customers.

The software giant acquired Yammer in 2012 for $1.2bn. The company is looking to compete with Facebook and IBM by bringing the Yammer platform to Office 365 customers.

Yammer will hook into Office 365 Groups and provide cross-suite scenarios that allow users to extend their Yammer conversation into a Skype call and schedule a meeting using Outlook calendar. It will also enable users to access their files in OneDrive and create tasks in Planner.

The company will roll out Yammer to existing Office 365 subscribers in three waves over the next few weeks.

It will begin with customers that have a business subscription who purchased less than 150 licences, moving on to those with fewer than 5,000 licences in March, and then for all customers in April, including those who have an education subscription.

Microsoft corporate vice president for the Office team, Kirk Koenigsbauer, said the move to bring Yammer fully into Office 365 by default follows the completion of several background works, including moving Yammer into Microsoft managed data centres and performing identity work with Azure Active Directory.

"Every Office 365 user with a Yammer license will be able to easily access Yammer from the Office 365 app launcher or start a Yammer conversation from SharePoint, Office 365 Video Portal and, coming soon, Delve and Skype Broadcast.

"This enables you and your coworkers to share ideas and work together in the open using Yammer’s flexible workspaces."

The company said users with a license that includes Yammer can begin accessing the new change through the Yammer tile in the Office 365 app launcher, or start a Yammer conversation from other Office 365 apps.

Microsoft is also delivering a simpler admin experience by allowing admins to manage important tasks of the Yammer service from Office 365, including identity, user and license management.

The company said it will continue to work with regulatory bodies to track evolving standards and requirements and offer controls that help users meet those needs when they use Yammer and Office 365.