Julien Lesaicherre, Director of Workplace by Facebook for EMEA, and Geoff Perfect, their Global Director for Online and Channel, join Patrick for this episode of Out Loud.
[caption id="attachment_16111" align="alignright" width="150"]
Julien Lesaicherre, Director of Workplace by Facebook for the EMEA[/caption]
Firstly Julien gives Patrick a background on the history of Workplace by Facebook. Used first as internal tool within Facebook, Workplace was then modified and amplified as the team added more and more features that would enable it to be used generally within the enterprise. These enterprise functions and features make Workplace a dramatically different proposition to Facebook itself.
"We knew for years that people were using Facebook Groups for work."
Addressing the problems associated with the consumer Facebook platform being used unofficially within businesses was a critical focus for the Workplace team. The development team still wanted to be able to leverage the universally recognised Facebook user interface (UI) whilst maintaining the security and compliance features required by businesses. Julien also explains that Facebook's innovative use of machine learning (ML) tools within its news feed were also vital for Workplace. Another ML enhancement in their auto-translate feature allows organisations to communicate through Workplace globally regardless of the language of origin.
"Most of the communication technology used in the enterprise is stuck in say 2002 or 2003."
The shift in work habits has undoubtedly placed a greater focus on mobile communications and Workplace addresses this with its mobile-first approach, leveraging the success of the Facebook mobile applications. Creating a simple and intuitive experience for users on their smart phones has been an afterthought for many collaboration tools, but not for Workplace.
Patrick then spoke to Geoff Perfect to understand more about Workplace's position within the unified communication and collaboration market. Geoff explains that his main focus has been enabling the growth of Workplace within the enterprise space. One of Workplace's main advantages, in a competitive industry, will be their approach to engage the next generation of workers with rich communication and collaboration experiences that they already know how to use within Facebook.
