OneDrum currently offers file sharing and collaboration solutions for business. Yammer’s acquisition of the UK based software company will allow Yammer to have desktop sync features that enables file folders to be shared across multiple desktops by users.
"Yammer was built to be social from the ground up, so it’s natural for it to be the platform for maximizing content value," said Jasper Westaway, founder and CEO of oneDrum.
"I’m proud that we’ll become part of the pioneer and leader in enterprise social networking to make our vision a reality."
The functionality will allow Microsoft users to work on Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents in real time, from multiple locations.
Every Yammer group has a shared folder for the team. Shared folders will appear automatically when a user joins a certain group and disappear if they leave it.
Users can drop files into a shared folder which is then automatically synced to other group members’ desktops – similar to the manner in which DropBox and Google Docs function.
"Employees spend a huge amount of time working with files, especially in Microsoft Office," said David Sacks, Yammer CEO.
"Through oneDrum, Yammer will incorporate all of that content into the enterprise social graph, making it discoverable and collaborative. Our mission is to create a social layer across the enterprise, bringing together people, content, and conversations across all business applications."
Yammer will begin introducing the oneDrum feature by summer this year as a desktop client download, with no plug-ins to Microsoft Office needed.
Yammer began as a corporate based microblogging service similar to Twitter in 2008. IT has been successful in developing into a full social networking service, based around intra-company collaboration.
Yammer is retaining all of OneDrum’s staff, who will join company in the summer. The financial details of the deal have not been disclosed.
OneDrum was similarly founded in 2008 by Jasper Westaway and John Boyle, and backed by Amadeus Capital Partners. OneDrum entered its first private beta at the start of 2011, and began a public beta of the software in the second quarter of 2011.
Future plans include the development of an application programming interface (API) and software development kit (SDK) to allow users to customize any application they are developing or upgrading to enable it to become collaborative.
In February 2012, a premium, subscription-based version will be released providing a variety of extra features such as backup to the cloud and web access to files.
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