Bitrix24 vs Yammer

2017. Microsoft retires Yammer as stand-alone service



Microsoft has made the decision to replace the standalone enterprise social network Yammer in favor of achieving more extensive integration with Office 365 services. In the previous year, Microsoft made Yammer the default option for all eligible Office 365 customers, resulting in the majority of Yammer users utilizing it as part of their Office 365 subscription. Going forward, new customers interested in using Yammer will be required to sign up for an eligible Office 365 plan. In an official notice regarding Yammer, Microsoft stated its objective of "strengthening Yammer integration" with various collaboration tools within Office 365, including SharePoint, OneNote, and Planner.


2016. Yammer now allows to create External groups



Microsoft has introduced a new feature called external groups in Yammer, facilitating collaboration with individuals outside your organization. This feature enables the inclusion of external team members in a Yammer group, simplifying teamwork for extended teams. With external groups, team members from outside your company, who have the appropriate permissions, can actively participate in projects and initiatives by accessing all the group's conversations and content. This capability enhances existing methods of collaboration with external individuals, such as external networks and external messaging. These options allow you to directly add individuals from outside your organization to a thread within your organization's Yammer network.


2014. Yammer adds conversations to OneDrive and SharePoint Online files


Today, Microsoft has introduced a new social feature for Office 365 called document conversations. This feature integrates the collaborative capabilities of Yammer directly into the Office apps. Here's how document conversations work: when you access a file in your browser from your cloud storage, you will see the file displayed on the left side, accompanied by a contextual Yammer conversation pane on the right. The Yammer pane can be expanded or collapsed according to your needs. In addition to joining conversations from the Yammer pane, you can also post messages, @mention your coworkers, and publish to a Yammer group, whether it's public or private. Since it's powered by Yammer, you can also view and participate in discussions beyond the scope of the document, using your mobile device, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, or any other application where a Yammer feed is embedded. Document conversations are being gradually rolled out to customers throughout the summer and will eventually be available across all sites within a tenant.


2014. Bitrix24 launches inter-company social messenger



The social collaboration tool Bitrix24 is introducing a new, complimentary instant messenger called Bitrix24.Network. This messenger facilitates seamless communication and collaboration among users from various companies, similar to the concept of "Skype for business." Users can establish free collaboration workspaces with both private and group chats, as well as engage in audio and video calls. Additionally, Bitrix24.Network will soon incorporate features such as file sharing, online document editing, and other tools that are already available in Bitrix24. Furthermore, Bitrix24 has incorporated an internal email server, powered by Yandex Mail, enabling the creation of mailboxes under the domain @bitrix24.com (or any custom domain) for each employee, with the option to add business mail to the portal menu.


2013. Bitrix24 adds VoIP-webphone, live CRM stream, collaborative folders



Bitrix24, the versatile social intranet service, is launching its latest version. This new version introduces the ability to make customer calls directly from the system's web interface using a webRTC-softphone. These calls are recorded and logged in the customer profiles, and you also have the option to store call records. Bitrix24 utilizes Zingaya as its VoIP provider, offering even lower VoIP fees compared to Skype. Previously, Bitrix only allowed internal calls between colleagues within the company and relied on other desktop IP telephony applications like Skype, Lync, or others for external calls. The second new feature is the introduction of a separate activity stream in the CRM section. This stream enables real-time tracking of deals, salesperson activities, and customer interactions. Additionally, Bitrix24 Drive, the app that facilitates file synchronization between local machines and the intranet, has added a new collaboration feature. Previously, it allowed you to store all documents and files in the cloud, edit them offline, and sync changes once you connect to the internet. Now, this functionality extends to shared folders as well, enhancing collaboration within the platform.


2013. Microsoft social networks: Yammer vs SharePoint Newsfeed



Last year, when Microsoft acquired Yammer (the service for building enterprise social networks), it already had own the own social network based on SharePoint (now it's called SharePoint Newsfeed). And that's OK, because Microsoft bought Yammer not for the engine, but for the customer base and the image of  social vendor. But now, it seems, Microsoft doesn't know what to do with two almost identical solutions. In June, Office 365 users got the opportunity to replace SharePoint Newsfeed to Yammer, and Microsoft continues to insist that Yammer - is its future and that soon Yammer will become the platform for all its business apps. But on the other hand SharePoint Newsfeed also continues to evolve. For example, today SharePoint Newsfeed app for Windows 8 has been launched. And it's very similar to Yammer app for Windows (guess where is what on the screenshots). ***


2013. Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online adds iPad, Yammer support



Recently Terrasoft released mobile (iOS and Android) apps for its BPMonline CRM, and may be it remembered to Microsoft that the users of its CRM system also want to have a normal mobile access to customer data. Microsoft promised to release the mobile client for Microsoft Dynamics CRM back in May 2012, then at the end of the last year, then by February 2013. It's now March and Microsoft has really launched something. But it's not a full-fledged mobile app, but just a web interface for the iPad browser, which of course, can't work offline and has many limitations. When the normal mobile CRM app will appear? Microsoft promises "in the first half of this year." ***


2012. SharePoint 2013 will integrate Yammer, provide platform around the online version



At the  SharePoint Conference 2012 Microsoft revealed some new facts about the upcoming SharePoint 2013. But nothing specific has been announced - just few promises. The exact release date is also still unknown. Microsoft's corporate vice president of the Office Division Kris Koenigsbauer promises a launch during the first fiscal quarter of 2013, which falls between October 1, 2012 and December 31, 2012. Now about the Yammer. As expected, Microsoft will integrate this social intranet service (acquired in June) into SharePoint. The integration will be done via Yammer Web Parts and Yammer Open Graph. Got it? And soon (Microsoft says) SharePoint will become a system "powered by Yammer". Ok, let's look what is the real sense of integration between SharePoint and Yammer. ***


2012. Microsoft buys Yammer to protect SharePoint



Of course, it wasn't a secret that Yammer (the service that invented social intranet) - is a successful startup. But no one could imagine how successful it is. Microsoft is buying Yammer for as much as $1.2 billion. Most likely, it's too big price, but Microsoft has to overpay in order to protect its flagship product - SharePoint. We have already noted that after the rapid start, SharePoint has stopped in development. And lately two threats for SharePoint have appeared. The first threat is called "DropBox for business" - the new class of tools that sync files between computers and mobile devices. And the second threat - are these solutions for building enterprise social networks (Chatter, Yammer, Socialcast, Jive, etc.). For the first threat Microsoft has an answer - SkyDrive, but the social component in SharePoint it very weak. ***


2012. Bitrix24 - the most pumped up Facebook for Enterprise on the market



Russian intranet portal maker 1C-Bitrix is taking on Chatter, Yammer, Socialcast and other social intranet services with its latest product Bitrix24. And this service is not just yet another "Facebook for Enterprise" clone. It's created in the unique style of 1C-Bitrix. In fact Bitrix24 looks like "Facebook for Enterprise" only at first glance - on the home page there is an activity stream where you can post messages and comments and see the latest actions in the system. But under the hood of this home page you will find the common (for 1C-Bitrix) set of million functions: tasks, file storage (with version control), calendar, photo galleries, instant messager, extranet, CRM, workflow builder, time tracker, profiles, reports, mobile version ... Of course, it's cool on the one hand. But on the other - too heavy for SaaS. And during the first real stress test (on the release day) the service experienced big problems with scalability. ***