The short answer – YES. The demand for social interaction tools and social learning management systems are on the rise.
And, the market is responding.
Microsoft Corporation announced its purchase of Yammer, Inc. on Monday, June 25, 2012 for $1.2 Billion and announced it will fold Yammer into its Microsoft Office business unit.
So what does this mean?
Yammer calls itself “the enterprise social network” – a Facebook for businesses. Essentially, it is another business tool – with familiar Web 2.0 type user interfaces – that allows employees to collaborate with each other in a private network. The fact that Microsoft is catching up and will most likely add Yammer to its suite of Office products makes a lot of strategic sense.
It also reinforces what has been coming for a while – the complete adoption of social collaborating tools in the workplace.
As baby boomers continue to retire, the remaining younger staff is demanding change within the enterprise. And the good news is the enterprise is listening. From IT leader evolving from everything “must be behind the firewall” – we now have more efficient and economical SaaS/cloud offerings. No longer do we have corporate issued BlackBerrys, we now have “BYOD” – we bring our own device.
With workers becoming less tethered to physical offices while needing to compete globally, the need to engage one’s colleagues all over the world, in different time zones is de rigueur in today’s highly competitive environment.
Now, we finally have the most penetrated software company in the enterprise space offering social tools alongside Excel, Word and PowerPoint. We could not agree more with this vision and congratulate Microsoft to coming to this conclusion.
With TOPYX®, we had the same vision for the past four years and still do. We apply the critical elements of social to the learning process. We do not believe traditional eLearning platforms need to be boring, monolithic learning experiences where employees feel forced to complete an obligatory course. We believe corporate training is an opportunity for teammates to learn with their peers through informal learning, wherever they may be in the world, while utilizing rigor of traditional learning management systems (LMS).
Old style LMS strategies do not fully embrace the “new normal” that is changing right now at many organizations, and that Microsoft proved they needed to get relevant – thus the Yammer purchase.
We believe that social engagement is critical to the training and development of new and existing staff. By embracing the social elements that can be integrated into the eLearning experience and within a social LMS, employees will be more engaged, able to learn with their colleagues and ultimately, become more productive and enriched.
TOPYX has gained acceptance as an award winning, affordable, easy-to-use eLearning technology that combines traditional learning management system functionality with integrated social learning and eCommerce all-in-one user-friendly, feature-rich software as a service (SaaS) application. The result is a collaborative, engaging learning experience for users, whenever they wish and wherever they may be.
We include one of the most compelling LMS value propositions in the online learning space along with outstanding customer service.
To learn more about TOPYX social LMS business software solutions for corporations, small and medium-sized businesses, associations, not-for-profit organizations, and academic institutions of any size, anywhere in the world, please visit interactyx.com or call 888.575.2266 x101.
About Interactyx Limited:
Founded in 1995, Interactyx Limited is a global eLearning software company providing engaging and collaborative learning experiences to learners whenever and wherever they want it.
Interactyx, the developer of TOPYX, is at the forefront of developing social eLearning software solutions that provide an engaging, online learning environment by integrating collaborative learning resources into traditional learning management system functionality. The result is TOPYX, an easy to use, fully-hosted social LMS that allows learners to collaborate and communicate like never before.
Alfred R. Novas
Chief Executive Officer
+1.888.575.2266 x205 or +44.020.7084.6244 x205
al.novas@interactyx.com
