At the start of this year’s TechCrunch50 conference, last year’s TechCrunch50 winner, Yammer, is making a significant announcement about a partnership with Microsoft. Yammer, a micro-messaging tool for enterprises (TechCrunch uses it), is releasing a plug-in for Microsoft Outlook and an app for Windows Mobile phones. Yammer is also joining Microsoft BizSpark, a program that encourages startups to build on their software.
Yammer, which recently launched a “likes” feature, threaded conversations and a new push-enabled iPhone app, is rolling out “Yammer For Outlook,” a Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 plug-in that afford users much of the same functionality as Yammer desktop app. From a secure, separate pane within the Office client, Yammer users can post status updates, view feeds, reply to messages, upload attachments, send messages to Yammer groups, and invite colleagues.
Yammer’s CEO and founder, David Sacks, told me that Yammer is even integrated into Outlook’s email system, allowing users to address an email to their Yammer network using the drop-down menu. The user can choose either “CC Yammer”, which posts a regular status update by email to their Yammer network, or “CC Group”, which posts a message to a Yammer group, with the members optionally receiving it by email.
Yammer’s Windows Mobile app is similar to its Blackberry app, but is has a sleeker interface. You can view feeds, post updates and replies, look up colleagues, and place calls to colleagues from your Yammer network.
It’s not surprising that Yammer is now integrating with big-time enterprise apps like Outlook. The company has grown incredibly fast in a year, with employees at more than 40,000 companies worldwide using Yammer. Not to mention, Yammer’s product is solid and continues to improve. A few months ago, Yammer released a new, sleeker version of its desktop app (built on Adobe Air). And Microsoft definitely stands to benefit from helping Yammer build innovative applications on top of productivity software or products. Sacks said that Yammer is currently developing a plug-in for Internet Explorer, similar to the plug-in the startup created for Firefox.
Any word on when the Outlook add-on will be available? This is just what I need to get the others in my company to use it.
Hopefully soon. This is the impetus that will finally integrate my office.
As a large format print company, this means being able to update status of a job through the whole office.
Both apps are available for download now:
https://www.yam...ny/applications
Personally, I prefer Thunderbird over Outlook I’d really like to see IM integration with MSN Messenger rather than the limited support through gtalk and jabber.
This setups a nice acquisition move for MS and their battle with Google’s Wave.
I was going to say the same. Isn’t Yammer basically the same as Google wave?
Oh dear no. Google wave is no where near yammer. It is more than yammer and outlook put together. Best to view the demo video again….
Yammer’s integration into Outlook and Windows Mobile via plug-ins only makes sense. Micro-messaging, like any other online communication technology is most effective when it is integrated into an individual’s workflow. Communication and collaboration should happen, whenever possible, in the user’s primary work interface, not in a separate application. We will increasingly see social technologies integrated into existing systems as Enterprise 2.0 and Social Media adoption grows and social software implementations mature.
This sounds like the tipping point before Yammer goes to a charge model. Any word on when we are all going to have to pony up?
Any chance that this would work in Office 2003? My company is behind on the times.