Switch from Microsoft Yammer to Zoho Connect
Once you have made your switch to Zoho Workplace from Google Workspace, your organization's admin should create a Network in Zoho Connect. To set up a Network for your organization, navigate to Zoho Connect from your Workplace Dashboard. When your admin has created a Zoho Connect Network and added you as a member, you’ll receive an email notification. Click Access Network, update your profile details, and you're good to go.
Sign Up NowGet started with Zoho Connect
Log in to your Zoho Workplace account from workplace.zoho.com using your email address and password. Navigate to Zoho Connect from the Workplace dashboard. Since this is your first time using Connect, you can start by updating your Profile details and adding your picture. You can also access Connect from connect.zoho.com with Workplace account credentials.
Here's a list of things you can do to get started:
Other Zoho Connect features you'll love
Zoho Connect offers a lot of helpful features that not only help you transform internal communications, but also guide you at every step of the way—from ideation to successful planning and implementation of work. Here are some of the important features that you can explore:
Feeds & Groups
Share ideas and updates, run polls, ask questions, post announcements, @mention co-workers and teams, and use hashtags to group relevant posts. Organize teams into Groups to provide them the ideal space to work together. Groups have a set of built-in apps for file and knowledge sharing, and can create simple form-based apps to automate and gather data. Additionally, the integrated Cliq chat bar at the bottom allows members to reach out to any co-worker directly, and make audio or video calls without having to switch apps. With customizable notifications, you can stay up to date on all relevant activities.
Forums
Initiate company-wide discussions around a topic through Forums. Forums is also a great place to source solutions from multiple teams in your organization. Categories in Forums help organize the discussions. Members can follow topics to receive updates about discussions in them, and bookmark posts they want to revisit.
Manuals
Manuals serve as your team's knowledge repository. You can use manuals to curate and organize company policies, best practice guides, and other relevant materials. You can share these manuals within your Group or Network and even with members outside your Network.
Town Halls
Use the Town Hall feature to interact effectively with your network members. Regular town halls with leadership help build transparency and trust, while Q&A sessions with topic experts can develop a culture of learning and sharing.
Boards
Execute work plans by breaking them into simpler, actionable units through Boards. The Kanban view provides an overall picture, while Sections and the tasks under them help divide, assign, and track work progress. With customization options, teams can tailor the Board to suit their work.
Comparison between the features of Microsoft Yammer and Zoho Connect
If you have previously used Yammer, this feature comparison guide will help you learn more about Zoho Connect and get started right away.
| Microsoft Yammer | Zoho Connect |
|---|---|
| Start a conversation | |
You can start a conversation from your feed. | The Rich Text Editor Create a Post for your group or a forum and customize the style with rich text formatting. Format your text with the relevant formatting icons or click Markdown help for keyboard shortcuts. To create a post in a group, go to the group and enter text in the "What's on your mind right now?" field. To create a post in a forum, go to forums and click the + icon in the top right corner of the window to enter the text. |
You can @mention a person anywhere in the conversation to send a private message, or you can send a private message from the inbox on the left. | Private Conversation If you need to start a private conversation in your Feed with specific members or groups, you can use the lock icon in the text editor and tag them. Go to Feeds > click on the text editor > click on the lock icon to start a private conversation > Enter members/group name click Share. You can also use the smart chat option at the bottom of your page to reach out to someone directly through messages, audio, or video calls. |
| Feeds | |
All conversations in your Groups and trending messages in your Network are listed in your Discovery Feed. | My Feed Your My Feed displays updates from Groups you're part of, your Company Wall, and members you follow. Company wall Only updates posted directly in the Company Wall are listed here. To ensure you don't miss any important news, announcements are pinned at the top of your Company Wall for a selected period. You can also filter posts by announcements, polls, questions, and more. |
| Private messages | |
Yammer Inbox contains the messages that you are following. That includes private messages, announcements, and conversations you have participated in or have been @mentioned in. | The Private tab lists the posts that have been privately shared with you or your Groups. The @mentions tab lists the Posts or conversations where you've been tagged. The @Group mention tab lists the Posts and conversations where the Groups you're part of are tagged. |
| Search | |
The search field in Yammer is found in the left pane. You can type the keywords in the Search bar to search for files, people, conversations, and notes in your network. | Advanced Search The Advanced Search tab is found on top of your page. Everything from posts to an articles within a Manual is searchable in Connect. You can narrow down your search through advanced filters, as well as search across the Zoho products you use. |
| Notifications | |
Yammer notifications are found in the left. | Zoho Connects' notification icon is in the top-right corner. Click the Bell icon to see all your notifications. You can filter your notifications for a particular feature from the dropdown and mark them as read/unread. |
| Group chats | |
Yammer's group chats are limited to the Communities where you post a message and reply. | Channels Powered by Zoho Cliq, chat channels guide your team's instant. Channels can be accessed from the panel in the left or the chat bar at the bottom. All Channels created in Connect are automatically synced with Cliq. |
| Community and groups | |
The Community in Yammer is a place where members come together and share ideas. | Groups Organize your teams into Groups to provide them an ideal virtual space to work together. In addition to their social features, Groups also includes a set of built-in apps for file management, knowledge sharing, and automation. To create a new Group, click + in the bottom-left part of the left menu |
| Task management | |
Microsoft Planner is a task management software available in Office 365. The members of a Board in the planner can be integrated into a Yammer Group. However, you have to switch between two different apps to get your work done. | Boards Connect's Boards help you break down and organize your team's work. Work can be divided into sections and tasks can be assigned under each section. Set due dates, priority levels, and track the progress of work. Boards can be associated to a particular group, used by a set of members, or created for personal tasks. |
| Document sharing | |
Yammer lets you attach files to a Post. However, these documents must be stored in the SharePoint Document library. | Files You can attach files to a post on Connect from your desktop. Connect includes built-in file storage powered by WorkDrive. This storage is available at the group level for members of the specific group and at the network level, accessible to all members. New documents, spreadsheets, and presentations can be created through Writer, Sheet, and Show, all from within Zoho Connect. |
SharePoint Site in Office 365 lets you store information related to your Community. | Manuals Manuals in Connect acts as a knowledge base for your organization to share policies, guides, APIs and other relevant materials. Curate and organize your team's information through Chapters and Articles. Manuals can be group-specific, available to all members of an organization, or they can be created for a set of members. |
| Events and Town Halls | |
Yammer lets users stream an event, and people can view it live or access it later. Events are also used to conduct town hall meetings. | Events In Zoho Connect, Events helps you manage personal and team commitments. You can create an Event, send the invitation to people within the network, track RSVPs, and sync them with your Zoho Calendar. Learn more about events in Zoho Connect. Town Halls Zoho Connect has a dedicated module that allows you to conduct a town hall session—an AMA with the management, or a Q&A session on a topic with the subject matter experts in the company. Sessions can be scheduled and synced with Zoho Calendar, and completed sessions can be archived for reference. Members can follow sessions and bookmark Q&As that are relevant to them. |
| Forums | |
Yammer does not have a feature where you can hold discussions and crowd source ideas. | Forums Forums is an internal discussion space that allows members of your organization to share their thoughts, hold discussions , or crowd-source ideas and solutions from within the company. Forums are not group-specific and can be accessed by any member within the network. Categories in Forums help organize discussions into groups. Members can follow categories and follow or bookmark posts to stay up to date on relevant discussions. |
| Conducting Surveys | |
You can create surveys in Microsoft Forms and share the link in Yammer, but cannot create surveys within Yammer. | Surveys You can create surveys within Zoho Connect itself. Use the drag-and-drop builder to create your survey from scratch or you can choose from a list of templates. |
| Webtabs | |
Yammer does not offer a way to save frequently used websites. | Add websites your teams frequently access as web tabs. Click the + icon found below the Group name to add a Web Tab. |
| Video conference | |
Yammer does not offer team chat and online meeting features. | Hold a video conference with other network members without leaving Zoho Connect. You can also use the Zoho Meeting integration to conduct audio/video calls and screen sharing sessions. |
| Live streaming and training sessions | |
Yammer integrates with Microsoft Teams to hold and stream live events. | Zoho Connect integrates with Zoho ShowTime to make it easy for you to conduct online training sessions and deliver interactive presentations with your network members. You can also schedule a session and send the invitation to people in your network. Learn more about live streaming and training in Zoho Connect. |
| Notes | |
OneNote can be integrated with Yammer to take notes and store information. | Notebook Take notes associated to a post or independently, and sync them with your Notebook app. Click the notes icon in the left menu to save your ideas, thoughts, links, and images, and sync them with your Notebook. You can also share a note as Post in Zoho Connect. |
| Integrations | |
Yammer offers many third-party app integrations. | Integrations Connect integrates with numerous Zoho apps to increase efficiency. Connect also integrates with multiple third-party apps like Trello, MailChimp, Zapier, and many more. Click the plug icon from the right-side menu to explore the list of integrations. |
| Mobile Apps | |
Microsoft Yammer's mobile app is available on Android and iOS. | Download the mobile apps Download Connects' mobile apps for iOS and Android devices to keep your organization connected. |