Gartner Research

What's New in SharePoint 2013 and Yammer for Social Software, and Should You Move to It?

Published: 16 January 2014

Summary

Microsoft launched SharePoint 2013 with new social software features shortly after acquiring the cloud-based social network site Yammer. This updated assessment examines Microsoft's progress with integration and guides enterprises on what to do with these seemingly competitive solutions.

Included in Full Research

  • The Future of Social Software in SharePoint Will Be Based on a Yammer Foundation
    • Yammer Also Brings a New Mindset to Microsoft
  • Microsoft's Progress Since Acquiring Yammer
    • Microsoft Is Aggressively Integrating Yammer With Office 365
    • Near-Term Integration Plans and Progress
    • Long-Term Integration Opportunities
  • The Roles That Enterprises Should Expect SharePoint and Yammer to Play
    • Microsoft's Continuing Differentiation Is Superficial and Confusing
    • Both Products Facilitate Collaboration, but Each Has Distinct Strengths
    • Yammer Is a Personal Productivity and Social Software Platform
    • SharePoint Is a Customizable Content Platform
  • Mapping Enterprise Social Software Workloads to Yammer or SharePoint
    • Social Software Workloads That Should Be Serviced by Yammer
    • Social Software Workloads That Should Be Serviced by SharePoint
    • Conflicting or Overlapping Workloads
  • Microsoft's New Social Software Platform's Impact on Different Audiences
    • Users
    • Administrators
    • Developers
  • To Upgrade or Not to Upgrade to SharePoint 2013?
    • This Is Not the Time to Re-evaluate the Enterprise Social Software Market
  • Strengths
    • Microsoft Is No Longer Playing Social Software Catch-Up
    • Microsoft Can Now Focus on Improving SharePoint's Strengths
    • Open Graph Strengthens Office's Productivity Layer
  • Weaknesses
    • Microsoft Has Not Clearly Differentiated SharePoint and Yammer
    • SharePoint Is Still Not a Competitive On-Premises Social Network Site
    • This Is a Big Change for the Microsoft Office Server Team
    • This Is a Big Change for the Yammer Team
  • Choose Yammer Over SharePoint for Social Software
  • Use SharePoint 2013's Collaborative Building Blocks Where Appropriate
  • Do Not Assume That Microsoft Will Stabilize the Social Software Market
  • Look Beyond Technology to Be Successful With Social Software
  • There Is No Difference Between the Goals of Enterprise "Social" and "Collaboration" Technologies
  • Single Sign-On vs. Server-to-Server Identity Integration
  • Open Graph, OpenSocial and Business Application Integration
  • SharePoint 2013's Social Software Improvements
    • A New Personal Site and Social Network (Activity Stream) Experience
    • New Community Templates and Changes to Team Site Templates
    • Task Management
    • SharePoint Lists and Applications
    • Workflow

Analysts:

Larry Cannell

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