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Karl_Brooks's avatar
Karl_Brooks
Copper Contributor
Feb 18, 2020

Deploying Yammer to 10,000's of colleagues that don't have corporate email

Does anyone know if Microsoft are going to allow employees that don't have corporate email to be able to have accounts on Yammer?

 

These frontline workers are mobile-first (in fact mobile-only), spread around the world, grouped by location and by brand (so dynamic group/community assignment would be useful).

 

This would be a cost effective way of including and engaging with our frontline workers without having to licence them for Office 365.

 

I suspect that now Yammer files are on SharePoint this isn't going to be possible.

 

btw Workplace by Facebook (and other competitor products) do have this capability.

    • Karl_Brooks's avatar
      Karl_Brooks
      Copper Contributor

      jhobdell thanks, but moving away from using personal email addresses is a goal.

       

      The way I saw it working at a Workplace by Facebook demo was we'd create profiles for prospective employees (which could be automated from the HR system), they then access a published link, enter details we already know about them (e.g. name, location, NI number, etc.), then they'd enter a phone number to receive an activation code, and if they don't already have the mobile app a link to it. That way there is no activity at all on our part for them to gain access ( no lists to create and maintain).

       

      Just seems to me that something like that for a Yammer only solution could be a cost saver over an F1 licence, which then provides tools that aren't required (like email ... it's 2020 !!)

    • Karl_Brooks's avatar
      Karl_Brooks
      Copper Contributor

      Cian Allner thanks, but my understanding of Kaizala (which is not extensive!) is that it's for companies that don't have any Firstline worker systems.

       

      What I'm after is a social business tool which can dynamically create communities, and is self-managing in terms of joiners and leavers ... we have 10,000's of firstline workers (in 35 countries and many different brands) and the nature of the business means that there's a relatively high turnover.

       

      I don't get integrating Kaizala with Teams, unless it's intended for small companies.

  • jhobdell's avatar
    jhobdell
    Brass Contributor

    Karl_Brooks I don't know the detailed answer I'm afraid, but based on SharePoint Online learning and similar bits and pieces I've picked up, I would imagine that you can federate users by one method or another - I believe there are login options that use Google, for example.

     

    I have field workers in a similar situation so I'll be interested to see what more detailed answers gradually appear here.

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