Microsoft introduces Copilot in Viva, to boost workforce engagement and performance

Following last month’s announcement of Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft has now announced Copilot in Microsoft Viva, along with the introduction of Viva Glint. Microsoft believes this will help organisations create a more engaged and productive workforce. 

With Copilot, Microsoft Viva will use next-generation AI to accelerate this new performance equation, where engagement and productivity together will lead to better business outcomes and success, said Kirk Koenigsbauer, Corporate Vice President for Microsoft 365. “Copilot in Viva is built on the Microsoft 365 Copilot System, which combines the power of large language models (LLMs) with your data in the Microsoft Graph and the Viva apps to give leaders an entirely new way to understand and engage their workforce," said Koenigsbauer.

Copilot in Viva Goals will simplify goal setting by guiding leaders through the process of creating objectives and key results (OKRs) as well as simplifying goal management across the organisation. Copilot can suggest draft OKR recommendations based on existing Word documents – such as an annual business plan or a product strategy paper. Once created, Copilot saves employees time by summarising the status of OKRs, identifying blockers, and suggesting next steps. Lastly, Copilot can consolidate existing data to generate more comprehensive check-ins so teams can leverage a breadth of knowledge across different sources of truth.

Microsoft believes high-performing organizations benefit from strong leadership communications and engagement with employees. As a result, Copilot in Viva Engage is designed to help leaders create compelling and inspiring posts, either from simple prompts or from trending topics within workplace communities and storyline conversations. Copilot will offer suggestions to personalize messages with options to adjust tone and length and to suggest relevant images, all to help drive authenticity and engagement. Further, leaders can utilize Copilot to analyze engagement metrics, assess sentiment, and recommend responses.

In addition, Copilot in Viva Learning will suggest curated learning collections and concise knowledge summaries tailored to specific roles or development needs - making it easier/effortless for leaders to help skill and train the workforce.

Microsoft claimed just like Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot in Viva is built on Microsoft’s comprehensive approach to Responsible AI. Copilot automatically inherits your organisation’s security, compliance, and privacy policies for Microsoft 365, so you know it’s enterprise ready. “Our work is guided by decades of research on AI, grounding and privacy-preserving machine learning as well as our Responsible AI Standard and core set of AI principles: fairness, reliability and safety, privacy and security, inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability,” added Koenigsbauer.

The Copilot in Microsoft Viva will begin rolling out later this year and Viva Glint will be available starting July 2023.