Back in 2013 (three years is a long time in tech time), our Chief Product Officer, Patrick Goodman, wrote a blog differentiating Yammer from Red e App . . .
One of the most popular internal social media platforms is Yammer. I should state up front that I have used Yammer for both internal and external networks. I like the software for what it was made to do, which is to provide social collaboration among employees and partners. Yammer, however, was built for desktop and cubicle-based employees.
Wait, before you say, “Hey, Yammer has native mobile apps though!” Yes, I know, but the mobile app isn’t the key difference between Red e App. It’s how an employee accesses an internal private company network.
In Yammer’s own words: Company networks are based on email domains. Only employees with a verified company email address can join.
Who typically receives a “company” email address? It’s the manager or desk employee who is managing communication and collaboration via email. But what about the non-desk employee?
– Patrick Goodman, 2013
During the last three years a lot has happened to our company and Yammer. When the article was first published Yammer had been recently acquired by Microsoft. Since then, we both have been working hard to innovate and adapt. One thing has stayed true though, we have different user focuses.
While Yammer does have a place in the digital workplace, there are two primary differences worth noting between Red e App and Yammer’s Enterprise Social Network.
| Access | Behavior |
| Yammer access is based on your corporate email domain. An employee must sign in using their corporate email address in order to access company communications.
Red e App does not require a corporate email address. Most hourly workers are not provided with corporate email. We connect to the company’s HR system in order to authenticate users. |
Email is necessary for the corporate workforce. Desktop workers use email on a daily basis for external and internal communication with clients, prospects, suppliers, co-workers, and more.
Hourly employees are mostly mobile, on their feet, and speaking to customers during their shift. Red e App is a communication and workflow tool that is real-time and accessible from anywhere. |
For large enterprises, the “mobile” employee is often not provided with a company email address and thus could never join a private internal Yammer network, even if he/she wanted to.
Yammer is not the best solution for an enterprise with hundreds or even or even tens of thousands of non-desk employees. Providing that many company email addresses isn’t a sustainable IT project both financially speaking and due to limitations of IT resources at the enterprise level.
Going back to Jonathan Erwin’s Cats and Dogs analogy, “the same way that we provide dogs and cats with different toys and food based on their behaviors and needs, desktop and non-desk workers need access to different tools to be successful in their jobs.”
The mobile hourly workforce does not sit at a desk all day, and they require an entirely different approach for communicating and connecting. They do not want to log in to an intranet portal on their mobile device and do not need collaboration platforms that desktop workers have become accustomed to using.
Hourly workers’ primary needs are simple messaging and quick access to information. Many of these workers have resorted to personal group texts (SMS) or Facebook groups for internal communication because they have not been given a secure and private alternative.
Red e App provides a focused communication channel for every employee in your organization, even those who do not have @company.com email. Our managed and measurable platform is designed specifically for enterprises that have high turnover, frequent staffing changes, remote workers, and non-desk employees.
Red e App solves problems specific to this workforce including instant connections with specific groups and the ability to broadcast announcements directly from corporate. A Red e App deployment requires minimal initial IT resources and nearly zero ongoing support.
