Since the beginning of the pandemic, Microsoft has been putting notable efforts to empower organizations to create a collaborative environment for remote workers. Now, to start 2021 with a blast, Microsoft has launched Viva - a brand new employee experience platform (EXP).  

Fremont, CA: No one would have thought such rapid digitization would happen in 2020. Even MSMEs have transformed their operations by going digital. Even though a very small portion of the world’s workforce was already working from remote offices, the coronavirus pandemic caused a massive migration to work from home setup. Though the situation has been mitigated, many organizations are planning to adopt remote work culture permanently for certain groups of employees. They are also investing their capital in training and wellness programs to increase the productivity of their employees and foster a collaborative culture.

Microsoft, following a similar path, launched the brand new Microsoft Viva - an Employee Experience Platform (EXP). Viva is an integrated solution that has all of Microsoft’s resources, learnings, and knowledge. The platform aims to help teams attain productivity and wellbeing while working from remote locations in an intranet setting. Viva is supported by Microsoft 365 and Teams.

At the initial stage, Viva will have Viva Connections, Viva Insights, Viva Learning, and Viva Topics. It will be upgraded later to include more modules in the future. Let us understand what these modules will do:

Viva Connections:  Viva connections were designed to be a single platform in Microsoft Teams to enable employees to get a customized portal that will be an inclusive workplace. The portal will allow its users to utilize all the relevant resources such as news, benefits, policies, conversations, and more. This will increase the productivity of the employees as well as efficiency. Connections App will be made available for public preview in the first half of 2021. The mobile application will be released shortly after that. 

Viva Insights: This app is currently available for public preview in Microsoft Teams. This tool can be utilized to find one’s shortcomings and where they can improve. Personalized and actionable insights will be available in it that will help the employees form better work habits, find the areas to focus and improve productivity. The Insights dashboard will let the company combine feedback from LinkedIn’s Glint along with other data to recognize the weak spots within the team and modify the operations accordingly. In the future, the Microsoft Workplace Analytics and Microsoft MyAnalytics will be accumulated in Insights. Integration with third-party applications such as Zoom, Slack, Workday, and SAP SuccessFactors will also be done.

Privacy protection is also a part of Viva Insights. All the insights are only visible to a particular employee. Insights also provide de-identification, aggregation, and differential privacy policy.

Viva Learning: Viva Learning will be used by organizations to improve their training process and development opportunities. These training resources will be more visible to employees through Learning. Employees will be allowed to utilize this app to identify the key-skill they are looking to master and provide them with the necessary information. Employees can explore libraries, share knowledge, and learn about other skills as well. Viva learning will have all the learning materials of Microsoft Learn and several other contents from third-party providers, such as Skillsoft, EdX, Coursera, Pluralsight, and many more. Viva Learning is available for private preview and will soon be offering integrations with leading management systems, such as Saba, SAP SuccessFactors, and Cornerstone OnDemand.

Viva Topics: Viva Topics uses AI to help people get relevant topics, and resources and help them connect with people with similar interests. Topics use Microsoft 365 data and integrate it with the resources from other third-party organizations, such as ServiceNow and Salesforce. Relevant topics will automatically come up in topic cards within team conversations across Microsoft 365 and Teams. The topic cards will provide important information, documents, and resources such as Videos to the user. This tool is currently available for commercial use.

Microsoft has always played a crucial role in helping organizations utilize their tools to improve their operations and productivity. Microsoft Viva will enhance the connectivity between employees and the company by providing a powerful Employee Experience Platform. This product of Microsoft would truly change the way remote working happens and improve employee wellbeing.