12th May 2021
3 Min Read

Digi-Digest. Teams and Yammer – what‘s the difference?

Tony Stewart
Tony Stewart
IC & Engagement

Have you ever tried to use a screwdriver on a nail?

Clients often ask “what’s the difference between Yammer and Teams?” It’s a fair question – they’re both communications platforms and, from the outside, they look very similar. But a bit like screws and nails, which look similar from a distance, they both serve a unique purpose. And a good builder knows the difference.

When communicating with your colleagues, the way you want to communicate really is the deciding factor when it comes to choosing whether to use Yammer or Teams.

Find your focus with Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is a perfect platform to bring together a group of people with a focused and specific goal. There may be a business problem that needs a solution, a campaign you’re looking to build together or a new product you want to co-design.

Open the conversation with Yammer

Yammer shines when you’re looking to have ad-hoc interactions with people from across the business. You might use Yammer to ask a question, when you’re not sure who might have the answer. Or, you might have praise for a colleague and you want the wider business to see it.

Simply put, Teams is for your ‘inner loop’ of people that you work with regularly. Yammer is for your ‘outer loop’ of people across the business that you want to interact with.

The best of both worlds

Sometimes Teams will feed into Yammer, and sometimes it’s the other way round.

Imagine you have a specific business problem. You create a channel in Teams to act as a dedicated working group, focussed on solving the issue. You can then use Yammer to put out a call to the wider organisation, asking for experts, who might be able to help, to join the Teams channel.

Once the problem is solved in your Teams working group, you can then go back to Yammer and let the wider business know that you’ve solved the problem, praise your colleagues and also share the learnings so that others, who might also encounter the problem in the future, can find an easy solution.

The flexibility of these two platforms gives you powerful communications tools at your fingertips. But to make sure you’re getting the most out of them, ask yourself before you share: “is this for my inner, or outer loop?” That’ll help you pick the right tool for the job.

Still not sure how to best make the most of these channels? Get in touch for a chat about getting the most out of the communications platforms in your organisation.

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