Microsoft Viva is a new employee experience platform that has been recently launched by Microsoft. Viva is split into 4 pillars which are 4 different tools that can be used via Microsoft Teams. Some parts of Viva come included with Microsoft 365 licensing and some require additional licensing costs. The 4 pillars are:
- Viva Connections
Viva Connections brings your SharePoint Communication site as a tab into the Microsoft Teams client. It brings together SharePoint news and Yammer announcements into a dashboard where you can view announcements and updates in widget form. The dashboard you can see in the below image (on the right) pulls out relevant apps, images, videos or URLs.
As someone who uses an Intranet, Yammer and Teams, I can now have everything in my Teams client without needing to navigate to different applications.
A great feature is the search. When I search in Teams, I can decide whether to search for content within Teams, or the Intranet. The below image shows the Teams search and now the option to search in just Contoso, which is the Intranet connected to Teams via Viva Connections:
Viva Connections is generally available to all Microsoft 365 organisations who are licensed with SharePoint and using SharePoint Communication sites.
2. Viva Topics
Viva Topics is a knowledge management system that connects knowledge and information across my organisation. Topics uses AI to automatically search for and identify topics in your organisation. It will bring information together such as a short description, people working on the topic, sites, files and pages that are related to it.
For example, if I am new to a project called Saturn, and someone has mentioned the topic in a SharePoint site or search, I can click on the word and it will bring up a card with the information like the example below
The recommendation is to ensure you have a large amount of files in SharePoint for the AI to work as best it can.
In Teams, I can add a Topics tab so I can view my topics, topics suggested for me and all of the information regarding those topics:
Viva Topics is an additional license cost at £3.80 per user/month and is available now.
3. Viva Learning
Viva learning creates a central hub for learning in Microsoft Teams where I can discover, share and assign content across the organisation. It brings together learning content from LinkedIn learning, Microsoft Learn and third party content providers.
If you are someone who is trying to include training into a busy schedule, Learning makes it easier, bringing all content into one tab in Teams:
I can view videos, PowerPoint and do courses at my own pace and I no longer need to have 5 different tabs depending on the training I am looking at. Learning can be added as a Tab to a channel within a Team, and shared via Teams Chat.
Viva Learning is currently in preview, with a release date of Summer 2021. 3rd party Learning add-ons may require additional licensing.
4. Viva Insights
Viva Insights provides personalised information to change how I work to be more productive. It generates insights to build better work habits, helps protect focus time and helps remind me when I need to follow-up with colleagues.
Insights can be added as a Tab to Teams where I can view my recent collaborators and any files or tasks I need to follow-up on. I can set meeting reminders, reschedule meetings and pin important tasks or contacts.
I can use the Protect Time tab in Insights to schedule focus time so I can have meeting/call free work time.
From a manager perspective, you can get insights about your team; potential burnout, how often your team work after work hours and how engaged they are to help better manage and support team members:
Insights is targeted at larger organisations and has a continuous roll-out throughout the year. The personal insights comes as part of Mi
