How to Make Microsoft Viva a Strategic Communication Asset

Over the last decade, organisations have incorporated more and more tools into their digital workplaces. As technology evolved and an increasing number of specialised platforms entered the market, it became the norm for IC teams to have different standalone platforms for things like the intranet, colleague collaboration, campaign management, analytics, etc.

I’ve seen first-hand how tempting it is to invest in tools that do one particular thing very well, and there’s certainly some benefit to that approach. But there are a few obvious downsides – most notably high costs, a heavy admin burden, complex maintenance schedules and a disjointed digital employee experience (DEX).

In my conversations with internal communicators across industries, I’m witnessing a clear shift – dispersed, distributed multi-platform approaches are making way for more simplified, streamlined models that consolidate platforms into a unified toolkit. In fact, 42% of organisations currently using multivendor solutions say they would switch to an all-in-one platform if they could, highlighting a strong appetite for simplification.

This post explores the different ways that internal communicators can use M365 to build a fully integrated comms toolkit that maximises ROI by keeping things simple and consolidating platforms.

Let’s go.

Making the most of what you have

This change of approach presents a significant opportunity for organisations using M365 to maximise the value of pre-existing tools by making Microsoft Viva a strategic communication asset. If consolidation, simplification and greater ROI are the aims, it’s first important to understand the key – and often underused – applications and features that are available to M365 organisations at no extra cost.

The two most important applications within Viva to highlight here are Viva Engage and Viva Connections, the standard versions of which are included with all M365 Enterprise plans. Let’s dive into some of the ways that you can use these platforms to increase visibility, leadership reach and engagement without the need for any additional spend:

Viva Engage

Viva Engage Standard provides an internal social hub, focused on collaboration, connection and productivity. It includes basic features to support effective internal communication across the organisation, such as community creation, posts, stories, discussions and polls. Without the need to upgrade, Viva Engage offers a space for geographically dispersed workforces to connect and engage – with each other, with leaders, and with the organisation as a whole.

An increasingly popular new feature within Viva Engage Core is ‘Storylines’, a personalised publishing stream for each employee and leader. The ‘Storylines landing page’ aggregates content from the people each employee chooses to follow – such as their head of department or country lead – along with other relevant and trending Storyline content from across the company.

Also included as standard is the ‘Internal Communications Dashboard’ within Viva Engage – a central dashboard that pulls together important news, community conversations and resources for employees. For me, this centralisation is a game changer, and I know it’s something comms teams have wanted for years.

Viva Connections

Viva Connections provides a central, unified hub where employees can access everything they need to start their day. Essentially, it’s a free, customisable ‘front door’ to your digital workplace that punches well above its weight in terms of unifying and simplifying the DEX. Available either as a standalone app or integrated within SharePoint, Connections pulls personalised news, updates and content from right across the M365 ecosystem.

An often overlooked and underused feature within the standard version of Viva Connections is the dashboard. It provides a set of tool or task-based ‘dashboard cards’ that can be targeted to support different employee groups with daily tasks, such as logging a time sheet or accessing specific training materials. Administrators can create cards that integrate with third-party platforms, such as Workday or ServiceNow.

When and why to upgrade

Getting comfortable with using the standard versions of Viva Engage and Viva Connections is your first step in creating a 10 out of 10 employee experience. When IC teams, leaders and employees begin to proactively engage with the Viva applications that are already available, a solid foundation of effective communication begins to emerge. But it’s only the starting point.

Upgrading to the premium version of Microsoft Viva lets internal communicators take the next step. The ‘Microsoft Viva Employee Communications and Communities’ licence bundle has been designed specifically to enhance internal comms and engagement. It provides premium access to Microsoft’s key employee experience applications – Viva Amplify, Viva Engage and Viva Connections. Working together, the premium version of each tool in the C&C bundle enhances the employee experience by simplifying, uniting and connecting.

Let’s explore some of the premium features available with each application to consider if an upgrade is the best next step for your organisation:

First up is Viva Amplify – Microsoft’s campaign management tool, allowing IC teams to manage employee-facing communication campaigns from one central hub with multi-channel publishing opportunities and enhanced analytics. There’s no free version of Amplify – it’s a fully premium application that can only be accessed with an upgraded Microsoft package.

It works across other platforms within M365, including Outlook, SharePoint, Teams and Viva Engage, to enable IC teams to centrally publish content and drive engagement more strategically, removing the need to post multiple times in various places. Adding Viva Amplify into the mix really takes things up a level for internal communications.

From my perspective, this is one of the most valuable evolutions in the Microsoft suite for communicators in years. I’ve spoken with enough comms teams in complex organisations to know how transformative true campaign management can be when it’s baked into your existing ecosystem. Amplify is still evolving, but I’m excited to see where it goes in the future.

Next is Viva Engage. Offering advanced analytics, custom branding and personalised experiences, Engage Premium gives internal communicators significantly more power to make strategic decisions based on data-driven insights.

And while we’re big fans of Viva Engage Standard, it really can’t compete with the added value that comes with the upgrade. In particular, I’ve seen how ‘Leadership Corner’ can completely change the dynamic between leaders and employees. It increases leader visibility and supports two-way communication by automatically aggregating content from leaders right across the company, including discussions, announcements, ‘Ask-Me-Anything’ events, and campaigns.

‘Answers in Viva’ is another standout feature of Viva Engage Premium, making knowledge sharing easier by connecting employees with experts and past discussions. Pre-assigned ‘Community Experts’ can flag an answer as ‘Verified’, bringing clarity and creating a single source of truth.

Finally – Viva Connections. The premium version provides IC teams with a deeper level of data, feedback, and functionality for further personalisation. While the standard version has some brilliant out-of-the-box functionality, Viva Connections Premium presents the opportunity to create multiple, customised Viva Connections experiences – perfect for decentralised companies with different brands, business units or legal entities that need their own look, feel, and content within the platform.

Essentially, it gives internal communicators increased flexibility to more effectively segment their audiences and target content, which we know is a central part of effective internal communications.

Building an all-in comms toolkit

Viva’s ‘Communications and Communities’ licence bundle gives IC teams everything they need to build an all-in comms toolkit. Gone are the days of working between multiple different third-party platforms, manually aggregating analytics from different places, and pitching for huge budgets every year that need to stretch between various platforms.

On top of significantly reducing the admin burden placed on IC teams, consolidating internal comms platforms within a central M365 toolkit brings an array of unignorable benefits, most notably across budgets, employee experience and measurement –

Budgets 

While there is a cost associated with the C&C licence bundle, it presents organisations with an opportunity to significantly reduce expenditure by phasing out other standalone tools and platforms. Viva Amplify, in particular, offers a huge cost-saving opportunity with its built-in email management functionality – allowing IC teams to create, schedule, and distribute email communications as part of larger, multi-channel campaigns.

In my experience, it’s far easier to make the case for investing further in a platform you already own – like M365 – than to keep maintaining or introducing multiple external tools. When you’re building on a trusted, familiar foundation, it’s a smarter way to evolve your digital workplace and leadership confidence tends to follow naturally.

Employee experience 

Time and time again, employees tell us they want simplicity. They don’t want to click through seven different platforms to perform a simple task, or waste hours trawling through emails or intranet pages to try to find what they need. Proactively pulling everything together and uniting key tools and platforms is a practical way you can remove barriers and improve the employee experience. The ‘front door’ offered by Viva Connections and its personalised Dashboard Cards are game changers for how employees experience their company’s digital workplace.

Measurement 

Measurement comes in two parts – firstly, being able to measure the efficacy of the tools and channels within your toolkit to demonstrate ROI. Secondly, using feedback and data-driven insights from across your applications to measure the impact of the IC strategy and adjust approaches as required. Things become tricky when your IC tools are dispersed, and a significant level of manual intervention is often required to build the ‘full picture’. Pulling your comms toolkit together within M365 is the most effective way to enable holistic measurement of efficacy and impact across the entire digital workplace.

While SharePoint and Viva might not yet match every feature offered by some third-party platforms, it’s important to remember that Microsoft is continuously evolving its suite. In my view, the pace of development here is faster than ever – and it’s why I always encourage teams to think long-term about the direction they’re heading, not just where they are today.

New functionality is being added all the time, and for many organisations, the benefits of consolidation, cost-efficiency and a simplified experience can outweigh the gaps. Depending on how heavily you rely on external tools, an all-in M365 approach might already be within reach – and if not now, it’s worth keeping an eye on, especially when renewal dates with third-party providers are approaching.

And, as with any digital transformation programme, it’s important to consider a phased approach to the transition. 

Lay the groundwork first by encouraging leaders to start using the free versions of Viva Engage and Viva Connections, while inviting different employee groups to begin creating communities within Engage. Start building different dashboard experiences for different departments in Connections, providing a sample of the time-saving opportunity it can present.

It’s really helpful to create a roadmap that tracks the transition to M365 over a number of different phases. The aim is for familiarity and comfort levels across the organisation to increase gradually, ensuring the best possible adoption and engagement within Viva once everything officially switches over.

I’ve supported plenty of organisations through this kind of change, and one thing I’ve learned is that success rarely happens overnight. But when you take your people on the journey – step by step – the payoff is huge.

If you’re ready to find out more about Microsoft Viva’s suite of applications, or would like to look into upgrading to the ‘Employee Communications and Communities’ licence bundle, get in touch. Whether you’ve got a clear brief, a rough idea, or just want to see how you can maximise your existing M365 tools –  we’ll meet you where you are and help you explore the art of the possible.