The Integration of Microsoft Yammer in Office 365 Groups is Under Way

The Microsoft Yammer Team announced the start of Microsoft Yammer Enterprise’s integration in Office 365 in its blog article in March. The aim is to make an even stronger connection between Yammer Enterprise and Office 365 Groups, as Yammer Enterprise will no longer be available as a standalone license. This article takes a look at changes that customers will have to accommodate.

This announcement has far-reaching consequences for customers who use Yammer Enterprise. For instance, it means that an Office 365 group will be created each time they set up a Yammer group. The integrated services like OneNote, Planner and SharePoint team sites will also be connected to the group. To ensure that this automatic function is not introduced haphazardly and companies are able to plan their integration of Yammer Enterprise in Office 365 Groups, the Microsoft Yammer Team has published a blog article containing all the important information. Read a summary below.

• Only one Yammer network is needed to connect an Office 365 tenant
• The Office 365 credentials must be used to sign in to Yammer
• You will find additional information on the configuration requirements in this support article

At the moment, only newly created Yammer groups that satisfy the rollout requirements will be converted into Office 365-connected Yammer groups

• Existing (unconnected) groups will be connected in the near future
• Disabling the Office 365 group creation function means that newly created Yammer groups will not connect to Office 365

• No. The messages are only shown in the communication channel that the Yammer group defined when it was set up; messages are not displayed on both channels
• Users sending an Outlook message to an Office 365-connected Yammer group will receive a confirmation e-mail that their message was posted in Yammer
• All replies to the message come by e-mail as standard Yammer notifications of posts.

Source: Microsoft

Microsoft retired the independent Yammer Enterprise subscription at the end of last year. On its support pages, the vendor explained what this means precisely for customers: The plan retirement has implications for both new and existing customers.

New customers will be unable to purchase the retired plan through the following channels after December 31, 2015:

• Enterprise Agreement (EA)
• Microsoft Products and Service Agreement (MPSA)
• Open
• Web Direct

In contrast, current customers have various options, depending on:

• Selected program/channel
• Enrollment terms
• Length of subscription
• Special offers

*EA customers with Yammer Enterprise SKUs locked on the customer price sheet (CPS) can purchase the SKUs any time before the end of their current EA enrollment.

Source: Microsoft

Microsoft is offering the following transitional options so that companies can continue to use Yammer Enterprise: