Dive Brief:

• Tuesday, Microsoft announced that Yammer will soon fully integrate into Office 365.
• The announcement marks “the culmination of our foundational efforts—including moving Yammer into Microsoft managed datacenters and undertaking identity work with Azure Active Directory—to bring Yammer fully into Office 365,” the company said in a blog post. 
• Microsoft said the new offering will allow employees to share ideas and further collaborate in a flexible workspace. 

Dive Insight:

Microsoft said Yammer will be available in the first half of 2016. Among other things, the new capability can integrate into a Skype call, schedule meetings on Outlook calendars, access files in OneDrive and create tasks in Planner, the company said. 

Competition in the enterprise productivity suite market has been intensifying, with Microsoft and Google both announcing several new features designed to entice businesses in recent months. Last month, Microsoft said it was expanding the Cloud Storage Partner Program and launching further integration with Box, Dropbox, Egnyte, Citrix and ShareFile.

Companies like Slack have platforms that allow clients to seamlessly collaborate in a much more lean environment than email. Now, enterprise technology providers are trying to keep up with the adaptable technology and create similar offerings for their clients.