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Close to four-and-a-half years after the general launch of Facebook at Work, the social media platform operator’s Workplace offering, as it is now known, comes with its own partner program.
It seems Facebook is following in the footsteps of other consumer-turned-enterprise technology players, such as Google, turning to the channel in an effort to build out its business prowess – and no doubt tap into the services revenue opportunities presented by corporate customers.
By its own estimates, Facebook already claims more than five million paying subscribers to its Workplace solution, which is designed to offer a collaborative space online for organisations and their workers, where business users can tap into familiar Facebook tools like Groups, Chat Rooms and Live Video.
Clearly, Facebook wants to further boost its enterprise play and snap up more business subscribers, with the social media platform provider now actively seeking new reseller, service and technology partners to help it turn “more companies into communities”.
Credit: Facebook The so-called Workplace One Partner Program (OPP) comprises two flavours, one for resellers and service partners, the other for technology partners.
For resellers and service partners, the program offers incentives, sales enablement solutions and go-to market support to scale quickly and build sustainable long-term relationships.
Partners can access Facebook’s comprehensive partner training and certification program to sell and deploy Workplace – and provide ongoing customer support.
Moreover, partners can connect with Facebook’s product specialists and get early access to application programming interfaces (APIs), beta programs and product roadmap. They can also gain direct access to the company’s dedicated global and local alliance support managers to help customers succeed.
For technology partners, the program represents a way for their products to be leveraged by millions of Workplace customers around the world.
“Workplace is a platform that is deployed to every employee in an organisation, driving visibility, relevance and stickiness of your applications, integrations and bots,” the company said in a statement.
"Our partners are helping organisations transform the employee experience, including how companies communicate with their people, build community and get work done. Partners can help companies solve problems including remote working, employee engagement and a lack of two-way communication."
From Facebook’s perspective, Workplace integrates easily with many of the business tools that that partners are already selling, meaning customers and partners alike are in a position to leverage existing investment in Microsoft Teams, G Suite, ServiceNow and other product suites of that ilk.
“In short, deploying Workplace makes your existing tech stack better,” the company said.
