With Microsoft Viva, employee experience takes centre stage

On February 4, 2021, Microsoft unveiled Microsoft Viva, a platform that leverages the power of Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams to create a better, more integrated employee experience.

Viva is arriving at just the right time. After rapidly adapting to COVID-19's disruptions, organizations are now thinking about how they can evolve their workplaces to support hybrid experiences, and it’s clear that technology will play a pivotal role. “We need to stop thinking about work as a place, and start thinking about how to maintain culture, connect employees and harness human ingenuity in a hybrid world,” says Jared Spataro, head of Microsoft 365.

“The launch of Microsoft Viva is a strong affirmation of the role technology can play in empowering and engaging employees to bring their best selves to work,” says Habanero President Steven Fitzgerald. “This could mark an important turning point where technology can truly help us make workplaces more human and help turn the tide on the isolation and cultural decay that employees have been experiencing since the COVID lockdown.”

As an employee experience–oriented partner in Microsoft’s Content Services Partner Program, Habanero has a unique role to play helping organizations understand the new direction and to bridge employee experience strategy with Microsoft’s ever-changing technology stack.

Microsoft is launching Viva with an initial set of modules that includes tools for employee engagement, learning, wellbeing and knowledge discovery:

• Viva Connections provides a single customized app in Microsoft Teams where employees can access internal communications and company resources and participate in communities.
• Viva Insights offers actionable insights to help individuals and managers balance productivity and wellbeing while protecting privacy and security.
• Viva Learning surfaces training and professional development opportunities in the flow of work by aggregating learning resources in one place.
• Viva Topics uses AI to help people connect to information and experts across the company, with the ability to integrate third-party services like ServiceNow and Salesforce. 

Creating exceptional employee experiences is built into the way we work and at the core of our products, like GO Intranet for modern SharePoint. GO is natively integrated with Microsoft 365 and designed to work in modern platforms like Viva.

We’re excited about Microsoft Viva and the role it can play in making workplaces more human and businesses more successful. To receive our ongoing insights, sign up for our newsletter.