Comparing Microsoft Teams with Yammer – which is the best ‘Inner Loop’ and ‘Outer Loop’ Communications system?
Office 365 offers a variety of different communication channels, too many for a single blog post. So, for now, let’s focus on Microsoft Teams (Teams) and Yammer – highlighting their differences and when best to utilise them.
Teams
Teams is Microsoft’s version of an ‘Inner Loop’ communication platform. ‘Inner Loop’ is suitable for any group of people who regularly work together. A project team involving, for example, a project manager and architects and developers will find Teams very beneficial. With separate channels, and quick communication between colleagues, Teams is an excellent product. Teams provides the capability for short, sharp communication – as opposed to email, which generally requires more effort when a simple sentence will do. That is what is so brilliant about Microsoft Teams: it is designed for quick and informal communication without the need for in-person meetings and allows everyone to work remotely.
Teams is designed to be used by a small, tight-knit group of people who can use this ‘Inner Loop’ mentality: Teams excels when used by people within the same department, or who are working on a project together. It’s a great way to ask quick questions, give an update or share info. For example, you may be looking for the location of the document to review, or are going to be late in the office and want to relay a message. Alternatively, you might be planning a coffee run and wanting to know everyone’s order (BTW mine’s a Latte, no sugar!). Teams is great at all of these things. Instant and to the point…
Because of the audience Teams is designed for, the expected speed of communication is fast. Really fast. Vamosa specialise in content management migration processes, and would definitely recommend Teams to any company looking to improve their communication systems. To make that clear: the ability to share documents and files with Teams is extremely simple. Add this to the fact that Teams allows it’s users to connect to OneNote, Outlook and even Yammer, and Teams starts to look especially versatile.
So, to summarise: Teams is a more informal form of communication. It is more personal and more conversational, so it is better suited for smaller teams of colleagues – because they are likely to know how each other works, and this relationship goes hand-in-hand with Teams.
Yammer
Yammer differs in the way it is used, and in comparison to how people use Teams; it is more of an organisation-wide product. It is better suited to keeping employees involved and up-to-date with different departments within an organisation. If Teams is for the ‘Inner Loop’, then Yammer is for the ‘Outer Loop’.
Yammer can function very well with large groups. For example, one person attempting to solve a problem can utilise the network of colleagues within an organisation on Yammer, and might receive help from someone on the other side of the world once the post is read, so a different type of use rather than the instant use case employed by Teams. The wealth of knowledge that Yammer has the potential to deliver cannot be overstated. Additionally, a large group of diverse people can engage and discuss ideas, and these encounters can help to improve the company’s cohesiveness as a whole. Yammer can increase an employee’s access to different parts of a company, and in doing so, it can make the company feel smaller and bring employees closer together. This can also have the added effect of increasing an individual’s identity within the company.
Sticking with the theme of contacting people across the world; Yammer can be used to keep an entire company up to date with noteworthy endeavours. This allows colleagues within a company to network with people in remote locations, when previously this might not have been possible. It also can open up discussions to more than just a specific department by extending the audience reach.
Unless a group has been made private, all of the content on Yammer is viewable – and even if a user isn’t a member of the group, they can still view the content and add a comment or a question. Because of this ability to talk to people who aren’t necessarily dependent on each other, Yammer is a more relaxed form of communication. Quick responses should not be expected, but considered responses can be one of the advantages.
A niche for both in your organisation?
Given their respective niches, these two products work together exceptionally well, and will find a complementary rather than a competitive place in any organisation. Trying to pick between them is nigh impossible as they are designed for very different purposes. Both Teams and Yammer are accessible within the Office 365 environment, so can be utilised well together. Teams, for example, has an ability to connect to Yammer. There are a variety of settings that can be configured; one of the more important settings is ‘notifications’. A user can connect a Yammer group to their Teams channel, then decide when they will be notified in Teams about something happening in Yammer.
In conclusion, Yammer and Teams serve such different purposes, and both can be very useful. Teams is for smaller groups of close colleagues who work together often, and are regularly on the same project; Teams is for the ‘Inner Loop’. Yammer is well suited to a wider audience of people who don’t necessarily know each other or often work together, but would still like to be able to collaborate. Yammer is for the ‘Outer Loop’.
When used together, colleagues become more collaborative, and that is something both applications strive for. With extensive experience involving email migration among many collaboration migrations, the T-Systems’ Vamosa team can help you get the most from your journey into Office 365.
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A division of T-Systems, Vamosa Technologies specialises in content migration to cloud, on-premise and hybrid cloud systems. With over 20 years of customer migrations, Vamosa Technologies has experience with a comprehensive range of leading enterprise content management systems. To learn more about services from Vamosa Technologies, please read our case studies and whitepapers or contact us.
