ABB deploys Office 365 and Yammer worldwide

Power automation firm ABB is to deploy Microsoft Office 365 and social networking tool Yammer to its 145,000 employees around the world.

The contract will see ABB replacing multiple IT collaboration and messaging solutions with Microsoft's cloud-based productivity suite and enterprise social networking and collaboration tool Yammer.

“Office 365 and Yammer will enable us to transform communication and collaboration among our employees, surfacing the best and most innovative ideas across the organisation,” said Andy Tidd, chief information officer at ABB Group.

Microsoft said that the cloud-enabled Office 365 integrates its email with meeting scheduling and video conferencing, allowing firms such as ABB to reduce travel costs by up to 20 per cent. ABB is also implementing Yammer as its company-wide platform to increase collaboration and knowledge sharing across the organisation. ABB also plans to take full advantage of the planned integration between Office 365 and Yammer.

"ABB’s decision as a global technology leader to deploy Office 365 and Yammer will help it realise its vision for empowering employees with new ways of working via enterprise social and the cloud," said Microsoft’s chief operating officer Kevin Turner.

ABB recently developed the world's first hybrid breaker for high-voltage direct current, enabling a new generation of super transmission grids.