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Yammer, the enterprise social networking platform acquired by Microsoft in 2012 for $1.2 billion, is continuing its spread across the Office ecosystem.
“In an effort to bring enterprise social networking to deskless workers, we’re excited to announce Yammer Enterprise is now included in the Office 365 [K1] kiosk plan,” wrote Microsoft’s Office 365 Team in a Dec. 16 blog post. “Many people in organizations spanning industries as diverse as health care, education, retail and hospitality, work on shared computers or other devices.”
Microsoft has been stepping up its efforts to integrate Yammer into its cloud-enabled Office 365 productivity software suite.
In July, Microsoft announced that it was bundling Yammer with its Office 365 Midsize Business and Office 365 Education plans, months after the company rolled out a streamlined login process for joint Yammer-Office 365 customers, a step closer to an all-encompassing single sign-on experience. Last year, Microsoft passed out Yammer licenses to Office 365 Enterprise customers. “Starting today, Office 365 Enterprise customers are no longer required to purchase Yammer Enterprise licenses for external users within their external networks,” stated Jared Spataro, general manager of Microsoft Office, at the time.
Taking a cue from social networks, Yammer blends a Facebook-like activity feed with secure business messaging and collaboration features.
The software enables workers “to collaborate and share feedback with their team and across the company, and also keeps them connected to companywide announcements,” said the Microsoft staffers. Using Yammer in concert with Office 365 helps companies adapt and respond more quickly to customer needs and ultimately grow their business: the core of our work like a network vision.”
Adding Yammer to the kiosk plan completes the circle, according to Microsoft. “From company executives to students, bustling entrepreneurs to employees out in the field, we’re thrilled that Yammer Enterprise is now officially available in every Office 365 for business plan,” said the company.
The Office 365 K1 kiosk plan is aimed at workplaces where a single PC can support several users. The plan includes 2GB of Exchange Online storage for emails, access to SharePoint Sites and Office Online Documents for a starting price of $4 per user per month.
The move follows a major expansion of Office 365 in East Asia. On Dec. 17, Microsoft announced the general availability of Office 365 in Japan.
“Offering Office 365 services from local data centers helps customers in sectors such as financial services, health care, and central and local government better comply with regulations that require data to be kept in Japan,” said Microsoft Corporate Vice President John Case. “Of course, it also delivers the ubiquitous collaboration, personalized insight and people-centric compliance that customers have come to expect from Office 365.”
Current Japanese customers will have their data moved from Microsoft’s Asia-Pacific (APAC) Azure data centers to facilities in Japan, added Case.