Yammer and Your Enterprise Social Strategy

A couple years ago, the future of the Enterprise Social Network (ESN) was bright, and just about every end user was clamoring for the latest consumer-based social tool – and every admin was interested in hearing more about how social would help them solve the elusive adoption+engagement issues in SharePoint. Sometime after Microsoft’s acquisition of Yammer, as enterprises moved past the gut-reaction purchases and really started to slow down and think about their social strategies, the end user chatter surrounding social began to shift away from social as a destination – and move toward social as an integrated part of the overall collaboration strategy. So while companies continue to flock to Yammer and competitors, many are stepping lightly as they try to understand the best long-term strategies.

Add to this more contemplative approach a more mature social story out of Microsoft. Two years ago, the answer to all social questions was “Just use Yammer!” which did not answer many of the valid and nuanced questions coming from the field. As Yammer becomes more of an integrated experience inside of Office 365, and with the Yammer web part and app for SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint 2013, respectively, are being deprecated by Microsoft, many organizations are asking what the future will look like (both short-term and long-term) for on prem and hybrid environments.

In this month’s CollabTalk tweetjam, taking place this Friday, April 24th at 9am PDT, we’ll tackled the question “How does Yammer align with your social strategy?” and hear from a panel of experts – and you in the community – on what is working, what is missing, and where you’d like to see Microsoft expand their tools and messaging.

If you’ve never participated in one of these tweetjams, they can be a lot of fun – and for those like me who do a lot of blogging, they are also a great source of material for future posts. Within each hour-long session using the Twitter UI of your choice (Twitter.com, Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, Twubs, whatever) we will go through a series of questions over the course of the hour, responding to Q1, Q2, Q3 and so forth with A1, A2, A3 and always including the #CollabTalk hashtag with your answers. Feel free to reply as often (or as little) as you’d like, ask your own follow up questions, share relevant links, retweet others, and engage with the audience.

The questions we will discuss during the session include:

• What role does Yammer play in your organization today?
• What is your social priority: out-of-the-box, hybrid, mobile, other?
• Does Microsoft's Yammer strategy meet your social collaboration needs?
• Does the inclusion of Yammer make Office 365 Groups a more compelling offer?
• What are the impacts of external messaging in Yammer?
• What impact will Yammer have on the overall Delve experience?
• What Yammer integrations are needed for on prem and hybrid?

Participating on this panel are a number of MVPs and experts on SharePoint, Yammer, and a number of other social platforms. Of course, this is open to the public, so please join in the discussion!

• Maximo Castagno (@maximocastagno), product lead at Beezy
• Noah Sparks (@noahsparks), customer success manager at Microsoft 
• Naomi Moneypenny (@nmoneypenny), Office365 MVP and cto at ManyWorlds
• Christophe Fiessinger (@cfiessinger), Office 365 product manager at Microsoft
• Scot Hillier (@scothillier), SharePoint MVP and independent consultant  
• John White (@diverdown1964), SharePoint MVP and cto at UnlimitedViz Inc. 
• Barry Jinks (@BJinks), founder and ceo at Colligo
• Michal Pisarek (@michalpisarek), SharePoint MVP and founder of Dynamic Owl Consulting
• Darrell Webster (@darrellcwebster), Office 365 MVP and SharePoint trainer at ShareThePoint.com
• Eric Riz (@rizinsights), SharePoint MVP and ceo of Empty Cubicle  
• Erica Toelle (@EricaToelle), business development manager at Protiviti
• Michelle Caldwell (@shellecaldwell), SharePoint MVP and director of collaboration at Avanade 
• Jeff Willinger (@jwillie), director of collaboration and social business at Rightpoint 
• Gokan Ozcifci (@gokanozcifci), SharePoint MVP and IT infrastructure consultant at Neoxy 
• Ritse Klink (@ritseklink), coo at Beezy
• Chris McNulty (@cmcnulty2000), SharePoint MVP and cto at Cryptzone/HiSoftware
• Jennifer Mason (@jennifermason), SharePoint MVP and SharePoint enthusiast at Rackspace
• Owen Allen (@owenallen), Office 365 technology architect at Microsoft
• Jeff Shuey (@jshuey), chief evangelist at K2
• Nick Kellett (@nickkellett), SharePoint MVP and cto at StoneShare
• Robert Toro (@SharePointToro), SharePoint practice director at Slalom 
• Hans Brender (@hansbrender), SharePoint MVP and solution architect at BitTitan 
• Stacy Deere-Strole (@sldeere), owner of Focal Point Solutions
• Jeff Fried (@jefffried), cto and vp of engineering at BA Insight
• Sebastien Levert (@sebastienlevert), Office365 MVP and specialist in Azure, SharePoint, and O365 at Pollen
• and your host, Christian Buckley (@buckleyplanet), Office365 MVP and Managing Director, Americas for GTconsult 

The questions are meant to be somewhat broad, allowing participants to add depth to the conversation. Participants can talk about the marketing and messaging, the features involved, the end user, admin, or developer experience – whatever perspectives you bring to the table. We want different viewpoints. Looking forward to another engaging community discussion. See you online!