Microsoft readies more modules for its Viva employee-experience suite

At this time Microsoft took the wraps off new apps that it plans so as to add to its Viva employee-experience platform within the coming 12 months. The corporate additionally introduced that its Viva Gross sales CRM companion app might be typically accessible on October 3. Officers made these bulletins throughout a digital occasion on September 22.

Viva is supposed to assist firms onboard and work together with workers, whether or not these workers are on website, working remotely or in some type of hybrid-work mode. Microsoft first went public with Viva, which runs on Groups, in February 2021. The suite included a mixture of already accessible and new Microsoft applied sciences, together with Yammer, SharePoint, and items of its “Challenge Cortex” data administration work.

Viva features a rising household of modules: Viva Connections for broadcasting inner communications and firm sources; Viva Insights, private well-being providers like Digital Commute, Headspace integration and advisable actions primarily based on analytics; Viva Matters, which is supposed to assist individuals join with consultants found via Individuals Playing cards; and Viva Studying, a hub for customers to entry company-provided and third-party studying supplies. For the reason that preliminary launch of Viva, Microsoft has added different modules to it, together with Viva Objectives, Viva Have interaction and Viva Gross sales, the primary of a lot of role-based apps coming to the suite.

Microsoft is revising the Viva Connections dwelling web page in order that customers will be capable of see all of the Viva apps in a single place. Viva Pulse is a brand new suggestions app coming to the suite in 2023 that builds on and extends the Microsoft Varieties ballot capabilities. Viva Amplify, one other new app within the suite, is designed for “communications groups and leaders” to allow them to broadcast their messages and campaigns extra constantly and broadly.

Microsoft is also including new integration factors in Viva Objectives, together with an enhanced Groups app that permits customers to verify in and collaborate on Aims and Key Outcomes (OKRs); an integration with Azure DevOps for mechanically updating work gadgets; a hyperlink to Energy BI datasets for monitoring Key Efficiency Indicators (KPIs) and outcomes; and integrations with Microsoft Planner and Challenge. Extra integrations between Viva Studying and LinkedIn Studying are on the roadmap as nicely, permitting customers to see all their LinkedIn Studying Hub content material synced inside Groups.

Viva Have interaction, its rebranded Groups Communities app, is getting a brand new “Management Nook” the place workers can work together immediately with administration and host Ask Me Something (AMA) occasions. And whereas the idea of profile playing cards already exists in Microsoft 365, Microsoft is including a brand new Individuals functionality in Microsoft Viva functionality to those playing cards so as to add extra info to them, corresponding to pursuits, areas of information and targets.

Officers reiterated as we speak that the corporate remains to be planning so as to add the Glint HR instruments that Microsoft purchased in 2018 to the VIva suite someday in 2023.  

Viva Gross sales, which might be typically accessible October 3, is a CRM “companion” app that’s meant to combine with Groups, Outlook and Workplace apps together with Phrase, Excel and PowerPoint. Officers mentioned that it will work with Microsoft’s personal Dynamics 365 Gross sales CRM app/service and CRM programs from different firms, beginning with Salesforce’s CRM system. Whereas officers would not disclose future plans, I would not be stunned to see Viva-branded apps for customers in advertising and marketing, finance and IT sooner or later.

Microsoft additionally revealed as we speak  its newest Work Development Index findings, primarily based on interviews by Edelman Information & Intelligence with 20,000 full-time or self-employed data employees in 11 markets this summer time. Highlights included methods to handle ongoing mistrust by many in administration about how productive distant employees will be and the necessity to “re-recruit and re-energize” workers.