“Workplace by Facebook” Rolls Out Raft of New Features

[Matrix]

 

Workplace by Facebook gets upgrades; doubles users in a year

Workplace by Facebook has had an upgrade, with a range of new features including the ability to find co-workers faster via a more sophisticated search function, greater control for workplace system admins, and enhanced personal fields.

The new features, announced late last week, come as the company continues to promote the business collaboration app, which it launched in 2016 as a rival to established enterprise software from companies like Microsoft, and newer collaboration-based platforms like Slack.

Julien Codorniou, VP at Workplace by Facebook, told Computer Business Review: “More than 30,000 companies are using Workplace by Facebook around the world – across every industry and in every region. This includes retail, technology, telecommunications, financial services, media, entertainment, food & beverage, transportation, real estate, utilities, shipping and more.”

The figure represents a doubling of its user base in less than a year, with Facebook reporting some 14,000 companies using the software this time last year.

Codorniou added: “[It] is particularly useful for deskless employees, like those in farming or manufacturing, which now make up 80% of the global workforce. Only a fifth of the world’s workforce sit at a desk in the office, and not all employees get given a ‘work laptop’ or even a company email address…Workplace has familiar features to consumer Facebook like a News Feed, Chat and Groups, but with the same security and privacy certifications that you’d expect from a enterprise-grade SaaS product.”

New Features 

The company said: “We want to make people profiles the place to go to learn more about a coworker. Not just their name and where they sit, but what they do at work – and what they like to do outside of work, too.”

“It’s an easier way for people to visualize and interact with the entire organization. It’s also a one-click connection via Workplace Chat to anyone in the business. So today you’ll see: support for multiple phone numbers & extensions so anyone is only a click and a call away, Division & Organization fields on profiles so your organization can provide more details about roles, responsibilities, and skills. A biography section on your Workplace profile to share a little more about yourself with your colleagues.”

With customers including Campbell’s, Danone, Spotify, WalMart, Starbucks and Virgin Atlantic, Workplace by Facebook has muscled its way into the market with a familiar interface to anyone (which is almost everyone) who’s on Facebook.

It has some way to go to catch Slack however, which has over eight million daily active users from 500,000 organisations, according to the company and, as the Financial Times reports, more than three million paying customers including IBM, eBay, BuzzFeed, and the Financial Times.

 

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