Close
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Video
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Subscribe
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Video
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Subscribe
    Home Applications
    • Applications
    • Cloud
    • Networking

    Microsoft Must Integrate Yammer Without Stifling Its Innovation: Analysts

    Written by

    Robert J. Mullins
    Published June 25, 2012
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Industry analysts largely applaud Microsoft€™s $1.28 billion acquisition of enterprise social networking vendor Yammer, but worry that what makes Yammer a unique and popular social network may be lost as it€™s folded into Microsoft€™s other workplace productivity software.

      Microsoft and Yammer stepped forward June 25 to say that Yammer had agreed to the acquisition 10 days after media reports said the acquisition was practically a done deal.

      Yammer lets individuals sign up to use its service to communicate with co-workers and others in a social networking environment similar to what consumers enjoy on Facebook. Businesses can pay for premium services such as a management console and data analytics. The acquisition gives Microsoft a piece of the growing market for enterprise social media, following the lead of Salesforce.com, Oracle, SAP, VMware and IBM in getting into enterprise social via acquisitions.

      €œThink of Yammer as a fundamental part of our Office family,€ said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at a news conference announcing the deal. Yammer will operate within Microsoft€™s Office division.

      But among Yammer€™s best attributes are its ease of use and ease of deployment, which might be lost when Microsoft carries out it plans to integrate Yammer into Microsoft€™s workplace productivity tools such as Office, Exchange, Outlook or SharePoint.

      Daniel Chalef is CEO of KnowledgeTree, which delivers document management software to businesses in a software-as-a-service model. A Yammer user himself, Chalef says Yammer installs quickly and is easy to manage and pay for, something he can€™t say for large Microsoft enterprise deployments such as SharePoint.

      €œIf Yammer becomes as complicated to customize and implement in an organization as SharePoint is, that€™s going to become a major challenge,€ said Chalef.

      Ballmer made a point of saying that Yammer will also remain a standalone product, but Chalef wonders whether Microsoft will invest in future innovation in Yammer; he€™s seen it happen in other situations where core product innovation is neglected.

      €œThe standalone versions of the product do not see the type of incremental and constant innovation that the more integrated applications see because of the desire to drive the customers towards the integrated suite because that€™s where the profit is,€ he said.

      Chalef also lamented the €œconvoluted€ pricing his company experiences with its SharePoint and Office 365 services. Yammer, meanwhile, offers a basic service for free with pricing for a business account at $5 per user/month, enterprise service at $15 per user/month and a suite of premium services at $79 per user/month.

      One analyst highly critical of the deal said Microsoft paid too much for Yammer and is late to the game of enterprise social networking behind companies such as Salesforce.com and Oracle.

      €œThis would have been a great acquisition if they paid $50 million or $100 million at most. It just doesn€™t make sense,€ said Trip Chowdry, managing director of equity research at Global Equities Research.

      Microsoft€™s tardiness in getting into enterprise social media is part of a pattern for the company, following its late arrival in the search business, Chowdry said. Google lead the search business for years while Microsoft€™s MSN Search languished until the company came out with Bing in 2009. Likewise in mobile, Microsoft is a distant third with Windows Phone behind Google Android and Apple iOS.

      Now Microsoft€™s plan to integrate Yammer with Office and other workplace software makes Yammer just one feature within a large software ecosystem, he said.

      €œ[Yammer] is a feature enhancement for Microsoft. You don€™t spend $1.2 billion to add a feature,€ Chowdry said.

      But other observers think that enterprise social networking is such a new trend, that nobody is late to the market.

      €œThey are getting into enterprise social media behind its direct competitors, but I don€™t think the market is so mature that it€™s too late,€ said Charles King, principal analyst with the research firm Pund-IT.

      Integrating Yammer with Microsoft€™s office productivity suite (Word, Excel, Outlook, etc.) makes perfect sense, King said, especially given how deeply the Windows operating system and that software are embedded in the global workplace.

      And rather than being late to the game, Microsoft has instantly jumped into a top position in the enterprise social market by acquiring Yammer, which was already one of the major players, said Rob Koplowitz of Forrester Research.

      €œI think Microsoft has moved itself into a leadership position, a very strong position within enterprise social,€ Koplowitz said.

      Editor€™s Note: This story has been revised to reflect the correct spelling of the name of Forrester Research’s Rob Koplowitz.

      Robert J. Mullins
      Robert J. Mullins
      Robert Mullins is a writer for eWEEK who has covered the technology industry in Silicon Valley for more than a decade. He has written for several tech publications including Network Computing, Information Week, Network World and various TechTarget titles. Mullins also served as a correspondent in the San Francisco Bureau of IDG News Service and, before that, covered technology news for the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal. Back in his home state of Wisconsin, Robert worked as the news director for NPR stations in Milwaukee and LaCrosse in the 1980s.

      Get the Free Newsletter!

      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis

      Get the Free Newsletter!

      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Artificial Intelligence

      9 Best AI 3D Generators You Need...

      Sam Rinko - June 25, 2024 0
      AI 3D Generators are powerful tools for many different industries. Discover the best AI 3D Generators, and learn which is best for your specific use case.
      Read more
      Cloud

      RingCentral Expands Its Collaboration Platform

      Zeus Kerravala - November 22, 2023 0
      RingCentral adds AI-enabled contact center and hybrid event products to its suite of collaboration services.
      Read more
      Artificial Intelligence

      8 Best AI Data Analytics Software &...

      Aminu Abdullahi - January 18, 2024 0
      Learn the top AI data analytics software to use. Compare AI data analytics solutions & features to make the best choice for your business.
      Read more
      Latest News

      Zeus Kerravala on Networking: Multicloud, 5G, and...

      James Maguire - December 16, 2022 0
      I spoke with Zeus Kerravala, industry analyst at ZK Research, about the rapid changes in enterprise networking, as tech advances and digital transformation prompt...
      Read more
      Video

      Datadog President Amit Agarwal on Trends in...

      James Maguire - November 11, 2022 0
      I spoke with Amit Agarwal, President of Datadog, about infrastructure observability, from current trends to key challenges to the future of this rapidly growing...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2024 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.