Using Yammer to improve collaboration between organizations. Yammer is an enterprise microblogging service that allows for real-time sharing of status updates, links, and comments within and between organizations. It provides benefits like improving awareness, requesting help, finding people, and coordinating work while reducing email traffic. The presentation focuses on how to use Yammer to quickly create an inter-organizational collaboration space and provides examples from a project undertaken by Zipipop for the Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy. It discusses best practices for usage rules, community structures, and customization to facilitate collaboration across boundaries.

1. Using Yammer to improve
collaboration between
organizations
27.12.2010 Richard von Kaufmann // co-founder // concepting director

2. What is Yammer?
This presentation explains what Yammer is and how it helps.
And it will specifically focus on how it can be used to quickly
create an inter-organizational collaboration space.
And it will use examples from the OSKE collaboration
environment project currently being undertaken by Zipipop for
the Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy (TEM).

3. Why Yammer?
“Yammer is use by over 100,000
organizations, including over 80% of the
Fortune 500 companies” Yammer (Dec,
2010)
“Yammer was the simplest to use and had a
stable of applications and even some 3rd
party apps. They seem to have the most
momentum and the largest user base.”
thenextweb.com (Oct, 2009)
There are also open-source
enterprise micro-blogging services:

4. Enterprise Micro-blogging
Yammer is one of the post popular enterprise micro-blogging
services.
Enterprise micro-blogging uses conventions developed from
consumer social media: most notably Facebook and Twitter.
The difference is that enterprise micro-blogging services are
closed and invite only.

5. Facebook pioneered the development of the live
“Needs Feed”. This interaction format is now
widespread in many services and it is fast
becoming a standard part of business software.

6. News Feed
components:
• Real-time
• Status Messages
• Links
• Likes
• Comments

7. Micro-blogging
Business software has
now adapted the News
Benefits:
Feed and micro-blogging
practices to improve • Improving awareness
collaboration within and • Requesting help
between organizations.
• Finding people
• Sharing tips and links
• Coordinating
• Reduces overall email
traffic
• Makes important email
standout

8. Without an audience,
we are not motivated… http://www.besser20.de/english

9. Makes giving feedback easy : )

10. Usage Rules
Yammer is highly likely to fail if you do not define the usage rules in advance.
The number one problem is if people start having private discussions in the
middle of a large Yammer network, as this quickly makes the space feel spammy.
However, if the right usage rules are set in advance, it is fine to have detailed
discussions in smaller networks.

11. Yammer Usage:
Large Communities
EXAMPLE: OSKE Community
NEED: Generate better awareness and share
information within the community
BASIC RULES: Posts should mostly be of
interest to the majority of the community and
should be kept shortish.
THINK: “Notification news stream”

12. Yammer Usage:
Project Groups
EXAMPLE: OSKE Admin
NEED: Detailed knowledge sharing and
generation through more in-depth
discussion.
BASIC RULES: Initial discussion topic or
question is posted and comments are given
in reply. All comments should be given as
replies to keep them attached to the
original topic.
THINK: “Micro-forum”

13. Creating a wider network
X Cluster
Yammer Community OSKE Admins cluster members
Networks are a great way to cluster managers
expand a collaboration “community”
“community”
community. network
network
OSKE.net
admins only
“parent”
OSKE Community X Cluster
network
Network cluster members
Zipipop used Yammer open “community”
Community Networks to all OSKE users
create a linked network of
network
13 OSKE competence “community” network X Cluster
clusters consisting of 22
cluster members
different organizations –
which could use their own
work emails to get access. (“community”
network)

14. Community
Networks
• Members of the “parent” network
are able to create new Community
networks.
• Create new community
• Manage community membership
• See all communities

15. Design Customization
If people are following multiple networks it is a good idea to modify the designs
to help people be aware of which network they are looking at.

16. Admin Power
• Community settings
• Remove users
• Invitation settings
• Only admin can invite
• All members can invite

17. Community Support
Multiple people can provide usage support.
Initially expert advisers should be hired to get things
up and running smoothly, however, the goal is be
enable the community members to support each
other.
In a survey conducted for the OSKE project the
majority of users said that they would always ask a
colleague first to solve an IT problem – micro-
blogging facilitates this natural instinct.

18. Yammer Networks Notifications
Always use the same email with your
Yammer accounts to keep them tied
together in one space

19. Thanks!
Richard von Kaufmann
Concepting Director, Co-founder
+358 45 11 222 73
richard@zipipop.com

20. Community
Managers Only
Sometimes Community Managers of
shared inter-organizational Yammer
communities will have two email
accounts linked with Yammer:
domain email
For accessing “parent” network for
admin and creating new
communities.
normal work email
For uniting many Yammer networks
into one space.