However, warnings about failed implementations of this type of software are becoming more common. Gartner recently forecast that through 2015, a staggering 80 percent of social business efforts will fail to achieve their intended benefits, due to what the company called "inadequate leadership and an overemphasis on technology." At the same time, Gartner predicted that by 2016, 50 percent of large organizations will have internal enterprise social networks, of which 30 percent will be considered "as essential as email and telephones are today."
Microsoft said on Wednesday that Yammer almost tripled its sales in its 2012 fiscal year, compared with 2011, and that it quadrupled them in the fourth quarter year-on-year, but it didn't provide specific dollar figures for Yammer's revenue. It also said that Yammer increased its paying customers 165 percent in 2012, and topped 7 million registered users. Among the new customer wins in the fourth quarter are GlaxoSmithKline, TGI Friday's and Woolworths.
Juan Carlos Perez covers enterprise communication/collaboration suites, operating systems, browsers and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Juan on Twitter at @JuanCPerezIDG.
