Microsoft Viva – Employee Experience Platform

What is Microsoft Viva?

Due to, the need for more collaboration within the workplace, Microsoft have released their latest product, Microsoft Viva. Together with Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Viva, delivers four key elements – Viva Learning, Viva Connections, Viva Topics and Viva Insights. As well as access through Microsoft Teams, these apps also form a brand new Microsoft Viva mobile app. All four apps in Microsoft Viva mostly include features that already exist within Microsoft. However, these features now sit in one source location, Microsoft Teams and enhanced to provide more features.

Firstly, we will introduce Microsoft Viva Connections. The Viva Connections app makes your SharePoint intranet present through Microsoft Teams. Through Viva Connections you can bring your collaboration tools together in one place. Giving news, conversations and resources in a company branded display. Eventually, Viva Connections will add more features and it will be the complete package for workplace comms.

• Chiefly, the purpose of Viva connections is to make your main intranet available through Teams.
• Also, users can access the apps through the Microsoft Viva mobile app, which includes more features.
• Custom adaptive cards can also be add to the desktop and mobile apps.
• Organisation wide search is available, in both in Teams and SharePoint.
• News posts can appear for staff, based on the location, groups, or teams.
• Finally, Viva Connections through home button in SharePoint mobile app.

Secondly, Microsoft Viva brings us ‘Viva Topics’. Despite having a great search feature, content in SharePoint can still reach sizes that are not easy to manage. As a result, data can go unused, this can cause wasted storage space.

This app uses the data it scans, to build knowledge and display to the right people, at the right time. Viva Topics uses AI to scan all content in SharePoint, then picks out phrases, to create a Topic. In short, a Topic is data, organised to help staff find knowledge. Wherever the Topic is mentioned in Teams, SharePoint or Outlook, people are able to select it, to be given extra information. Users can then add to and edit the information, providing your organisation with an organic database of useful information on your business.

• An AI driven, knowledge sharing system, to allow users to find subjects of interest.
• Built to make company data show for the right person at the right time.
• Need to have over 10k pieces of content (preferably millions) and lots of user activity for Topics to work.
• Available in Teams, Outlook and on SharePoint news/content pages.
• Topics are created and maintained through both of AI and user management.

Thirdly, we bring you Viva Insights, Microsofts tool to help staff become more ‘Zen’ at work. This app looks at how to become more productive at work, by using breaks and taking proper rest. By doing these things in the right way, you can have more of an effect.

• App in Teams that uses data driven insights to help increase productivity and wellbeing.
• Can record your mood and send praise to colleagues.
• When Teams chats are muted, an set ‘focus time’ to help you concentrate.
• Also supports use of the ‘headspace’ app to give users time to take a break from working.
• Extra licence – Team leaders can use the data gained from these insights, to detect trends like burnout to help manage their team.
• However, each member of staffs insights are kept private from team leaders.

Lastly, we bring you Viva Learning, where Microsoft bring some of the most common learning platforms together, in one place. This tool helps staff build skills, while at work. Team members and team leaders can assign and review training courses.

• App within Teams to bring together various learning platforms. Including Microsoft Learn, Pluralsight and LinkedIn Learning.
• Can add a learning tab to any Teams channel.
• Team leaders can assign courses to members of their team.
• Can search course library and share courses with team members.
• AI used to deliver custom advice for users.

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