Workplace by Facebook: The next big office tool?

Facebook is ready for going business: As about 1,6 billions of people use the social network already in private, the business version is now about to be released. Read here which features the new tool named “Workplace” will have.

Skype, Yammer and Co. will get some new competition very soon. Since 2015, Facebook-founder Mark Zuckerberg has been testing an office version of his platform in about 1.000 companies. Now, the release of his new tool is right around the corner: Workplace by Facebook.

Zuckerberg sees the advantage over his rivals in the force of habit. He’s convinced that all the people that use Facebook in private already will be able to adapt to the very similarly structured business platform very quickly – because besides changing colors from blue to gray, a lot of functions will stay the same.

As an additional boost in success, Facebook plans to start a price war in the still growing market. Companies with less than 1.000 employees will pay three dollars per user, with up to 10.000 employees two dollars, and with more than 10.000 employees even only one single dollar per user. On top, the companies will be billed only for active users.

What will the new business Facebook actually?

It was just a matter of time when Facebook’s office-suitable version would be released. Usability and amount of functions may be quite convincing at first. But by having a closer look, some questions have to be asked:

✔ How can Workplace by Facebook be connected with other applications?
✔ What about the handling of sensitive data?
✔ What is the additional benefit of the platform that justifies a switch-over?

Prospect

At the end of the day, we have to raise one big question: Can a secure and usefull business tool emerge from a social media platform? Until now, we’re quite sceptical of the new Workplace by Facebook. The upcoming months will show if Zuckerberg’s expertise is big enough to establish Facebook in companies as well.

Source of titel image: Evernine