Discover Microsoft Viva - Viva Pillars

Employee Experience Program

In part one of our Discover Microsoft Viva blog, we looked at two of the four Viva pillars: Connections and Learning. In part two, we look at the remaining two pillars, Topics and Insights, explain how you can get Viva and share which parts are already accessible. 

Viva Insights

When it comes to improving employee wellbeing and productivity, guessing what your staff might need just isn’t enough. This is where Viva Insights comes in. Viva Insights takes data from user activity in your organisation to create actionable insights and recommendations on how you can improve productivity and employee wellbeing, based on what’s happening with your teams, right now.

There are two key parts to Insights: My Analytics and Workplace Analytics. MyAnalytics gives individual users personal insights into their productivity. Workplace Analytics gives insights into how the company as a whole is working together, and how these patterns are affecting wellbeing, productivity and business performance. Armed with this data, your organisation is empowered to suggest and make changes that can improve work/life balance for staff and achieve better business outcomes, because everyone's time is being used more effectively.

Viva Insights integrates with other tools and data sources too, so you can perform a deeper analysis of work patterns and address more complex challenges around them.

Viva Topics

A recent study commissioned by Microsoft found that people spend around an hour or day, or seven weeks per year, searching for or recreating information at work; that's a lot of time that could be put to better use.

Being able to access, use and share knowledge freely is key to the success of any organisation. Viva Topics makes it really easy to do that by using AI to mine your company information, then choosing what it thinks are the most relevant, timely and important messages and topics to present to staff. These topics are submitted to an administrator who can decide which topics should be displayed on the Topics page. Viva Topics also identifies the most relevant documents that go with a certain topic, so you’re left with a rich repository of information for your company’s most important topics that can be quickly, easily and securely accessed. The topic pages are also highly searchable, and Viva Topics is built on and integrates with Microsoft search so employees can find what they’re looking for quickly.

Core's Client Solutions Director, Eamon McGann, is particularly enthusiastic about Viva Topics: “In my experience, search and taxonomy have historically been a challenge for organisations using SharePoint and Office 365 as part of their wider document and knowledge management requirements", he says. "Viva Topics is a game changer for organisations that are looking to drive value and knowledge from their content repositories in M365 and beyond. It will ensure we acquire the maximum benefit from both the explicit and tacit knowledge whilst avoiding unnecessary duplication and rework."

How can I get Microsoft Viva?

Microsoft Viva is part of Microsoft 365. This means that depending on the type of licences you have, Viva could be included in your M365 subscription. However, not all parts of Viva are available yet. Some elements have been launched as preview versions; elements that don’t require extra licences or subscriptions are available now.

Viva Topics is widely available now as a user-based add on. To access Viva Topics, commercial customers need to buy additional licences.

A preview version of Viva Insights is available now through the Teams app, but this doesn’t include all of its features. It’s thought the full-featured version will be launched in the second half of 2021. Workplace Analytics is part of Viva Insights- you’ll need additional licenses to access this feature.

Viva Connections is launching soon for desktop, and the mobile version will follow. No extra licences or add-on plans will be needed to access Connections.

Viva Learning is perhaps the most comprehensive element of Viva. A preview has been available since April 2021 and the full version will be available towards the end of the year. You can create content, videos and pages without buying any additional licences, but if you want to integrate Learning with a third-party learning app like LinkedIn Learning, you’ll need a subscription for your organisation.

For more information on Microsoft Viva and how Core can help you access and use Viva to its full potential, contact us.