Workplace by Facebook begins to take shape. Just this week, at TechCrunch Disrupt in London, the company announced a new platform to integrate enterprise applications with Workplace, putting it in direct competition with Slack, the enterprise social darling of the moment. “We look at it this way: we try to connect whole companies. Other products try to connect teams,” he said — taking a swipe at Slack and Microsoft’s recently announced Teams app. “We’re bringing a set of tools to employees who never had them. The more people you have using the system, the more valuable the network — and you can’t achieve that with siloed systems. — Sean Ryan, Facebook at Work. Integration is key The application integration announced this week takes that to the next step. By building integration points — APIs — into Workplace, Facebook is providing the means to bring work product into the tool. While Ryan makes it clear that Workplace wants to connect the entire company, Pelz-Sharpe says Facebook still faces some serious challenges achieving that goal.
Workplace by Facebook has been in general release for just two months now, but it’s clear that Facebook has big plans for its enterprise social product. Just this week, at TechCrunch Disrupt in London, the company announced a new platform to integrate enterprise applications with Workplace, putting it in direct competition with Slack, the enterprise social darling of the moment.
But Workplace hopes to differentiate itself from the enterprise social pack by being more than a tool for teams of knowledge workers to share information. Sean Ryan, VP of platform partnerships at Facebook, says Facebook wants Workplace in use across the organization, from the warehouse to the front office. “We look at it this way: we try to connect whole companies. Other products try to connect teams,” he said — taking a swipe at Slack and Microsoft’s recently announced Teams app.
Just as Facebook’s consumer mission is to connect the world, Ryan sees Workplace’s mission to connect all employees in all companies, many of whom might not have traditionally used these kinds of tools. “We’re bringing a set of tools to employees who never had them. Most companies [in this space] are not focused on that area,” he says. It only makes sense from a social-network-building standpoint in Ryan’s view. The more people you have using the system, the more valuable the network — and you can’t achieve that with siloed systems.
Reaching all the people, all the time
That’s all well and good, says analyst Alan Pelz-Sharpe from Digital Clarity Group, who has been following enterprise social since its earliest days, but this is an approach that previous generations of enterprise social products tried and failed. “No doubt Facebook does want to be a social tool for the entire company — but so did Jive, Yammer and countless others,” he said.
— Sean Ryan, Facebook at Work.
While he acknowledges…
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