Copilot in Microsoft Viva: Features for the Employee Experience

Microsoft Copilot in Viva: an introduction

Microsoft has recently started integrating Microsoft 365 Copilot into the Viva suite to bring its new generative AI-based technology into the employee experience. For those who are still unclear, Copilot is Microsoft’s next-generation technology built on advanced language models like GPT-4, designed to understand user context, analyze business data, and generate personalized content that helps simplify work.

Copilot stands out for its ability to

• respond naturally to requests
• automate repetitive tasks
• provide valuable insights

For example, it can process large amounts of information from multiple business sources, summarize it in a single, easy-to-read report, and provide real-time suggestions to tackle challenges or meet specific goals.

According to research conducted by Microsoft to test the effectiveness of its product, implementing Copilot allows organizations to save up to 30% of time on daily tasks, while increasing the speed of project delivery by 20%.

In the case of Microsoft Viva, Copilot focuses on the experience of the people within an organization to help them:

• improve communication with colleagues, partners, and customers
• create training paths based on the real needs of workers
• manage the exchange of information through the company knowledge base

And that’s not all. In addition to offering many other benefits, Copilot’s integration with Viva is driving the emergence of more and more new products, such as Microsoft Sales Copilot, which supports the activities of individual professionals and departments (in this case, the sales department).

With Microsoft 365 Copilot embedded in Viva modules including Viva Goals, Viva Engage, and Viva Learning, companies can equip their people with the tools they need to boost productivity and well-being while reducing the risk of burnout, errors, and talent loss.

Whether it’s about optimizing workflows or enhancing engagement strategies, Copilot positions itself as the solution for organizations that want to put people at the center of their growth journey.

 

What is the employee experience and the role of Microsoft technology

The employee experience represents the set of perceptions, emotions and interactions that each worker experiences daily within their organization. It is a concept that has become increasingly important in recent years and lies at the foundation of many business growth strategies.

These strategies go beyond simply providing tools that allow employees to do their jobs. Instead, the goal is much more ambitious: to create an ecosystem where people can feel valued, supported and motivated to give their best, both individually and within their team.

This new vision of work and human resources management stems from the awareness that employee wellbeing, engagement and professional growth are now essential factors for attracting and retaining the talent a company needs to stay competitive and continue to evolve.

A positive work experience, in fact, not only improves employee morale but also translates into tangible benefits for the organization. Recent studies show that employees who feel strongly supported by their company are 50% more likely to stay in their role and 30% more engaged in projects and initiatives within the organization.

Higher engagement leads to increased productivity, reduced turnover and a more collaborative environment, creating a virtuous cycle that strengthens the entire corporate system.

It is therefore essential to adopt the right tools to implement employee experience strategies. Among these, the Microsoft 365 digital workplace stands out, always focused on providing the best technology to promote collaboration, simplify access to information and increase productivity in a sustainable way.

At its core is the company intranet based on SharePoint Online, a platform that allows communications, resources, services and activities to be centralized, making the user experience more intuitive and personalized. SharePoint Online, in particular, serves as the foundation for a complete digital work environment, where various Microsoft applications integrate natively to support employees in every aspect of their work.

From here, we connect to the role of Microsoft Viva, which extends Microsoft 365 capabilities to embrace the employee experience vision and enable its effective adoption. Viva not only integrates modules dedicated to training, communication and goal achievement, but also leverages all the power of generative AI through Copilot.

Thanks to this synergy between Microsoft 365, Microsoft Viva and Copilot, companies can build a truly people-centered digital workplace.

How to access Copilot in Microsoft Viva

Accessing Copilot in Microsoft Viva requires a suitable combination of appropriate licenses, specific configurations and a clear understanding of the technical requirements needed to enable this powerful AI-based integration in the employee experience suite.

Microsoft has reorganized access to Copilot to ensure that any type of organization can adopt it without difficulty and can maximize its investment by integrating the features of this new technology into the digital work environment without friction or data security risks (as long as the environment is based on Microsoft 365).

The first step, therefore, is to verify that you have the appropriate Microsoft 365 licenses. Copilot in Microsoft Viva is available as an add-on for organizations that already have the base licenses required to access Viva.

Compatible licenses include:

• Microsoft 365 E3 or E5, which offer the advanced management, security and collaboration features required to enable Copilot.
  
  
• Premium Viva Engage licenses, included in the Microsoft Viva Suite or in the Microsoft Viva employee communications and communities plan.
  
  
• Copilot add-on for Microsoft Viva, to integrate AI features into the active Viva modules.
  
  
• Licenses for related applications, such as SharePoint, OneDrive for Business, Teams, Planner, Project and Visio, needed to ensure a fully integrated ecosystem.
  
  

From a technical perspective, Copilot requires that the organization has already configured the core Microsoft 365 tools. This includes enabling Microsoft Graph, essential to allow Copilot to securely access company information, and Azure Active Directory, which ensures secure access management and allows workers to use Copilot with their personal account. An optimal configuration of company data is also necessary to ensure that Copilot can analyze relevant information and generate context-based responses and suggestions.

Regarding operational steps, the process begins with the purchase of the Copilot add-on for Microsoft Viva. Once obtained, the IT administrator must configure Copilot through the Microsoft 365 Admin Center, ensuring compliance with the company’s security and compliance policies. This includes defining permissions for the data made accessible to the AI and assigning licenses to the workers who will use it.

The whole process, although simple, requires strict adherence to official guidelines to ensure a configuration as risk-free and trouble-free as possible.

If the company lacks the necessary technical skills to manage the adoption of Copilot, we remind you that the intranet.ai team can provide the necessary support and guide users not only in configuring the company’s digital workplace but also in training them to make the most of Copilot in their daily work.

In fact, a proper adoption of Copilot does not only mean integrating a new technology, but also preparing the staff to fully exploit its capabilities. Training employees to use Copilot is essential to gain the greatest benefits, improving productivity and collaboration within the digital workplace.

Copilot in Microsoft Viva: What features does it offer?

Microsoft 365 Copilot is revolutionizing the concept of employee experience across Microsoft Viva modules. Thanks to the many features born from this recent integration, which we will explore shortly, Copilot not only automates repetitive tasks that drain time and energy from any professional, but also provides enhanced support through personalized insights that help users improve:

• communication with colleagues
• development of personal skills
• management of time, stress and priorities
• tracking of individual and team goals

From interactive conversations in Viva Engage to continuous learning with Viva Learning, from strategic analysis in Viva Insights to goal setting with Viva Goals, Copilot aims to enhance every aspect of the work experience.

Microsoft 365 Copilot in Viva Engage

Copilot in Viva Engage offers specific features for internal communication. Among the main ones:

• Post drafting
• Feedback management (announced, but not yet available)
• Creation of questions and answers (also coming soon).

Starting with drafting, Copilot uses user prompts to generate draft posts to be published in Viva Engage communities. For example, if a prompt is given like: "Create a template for a post that explains the benefits of smart working in the company", Copilot responds by providing a structured draft that might include a catchy opening, a central section highlighting the main benefits of remote work, and a final call to action, such as an invitation to participate in a survey on the adoption of smart working.

The generated posts can then be refined by adjusting:

• length
• tone of voice
• attached content, suggested based on the topic

In our example on the smart working post, Copilot might suggest attaching the results of an internal study or an infographic summarizing the benefits of this new approach.

A feature related to drafting involves the analysis of ongoing conversations with suggestions on topics to address in future posts. If discussions often focus on new company projects, for instance, Copilot might propose creating a post to answer frequently asked questions or to preview some details.

Regarding feedback management, Microsoft has announced that Copilot will be able to provide a summary of comments received on a post, along with an overview of the sentiment expressed by colleagues. In this case, an example might be an announcement about the introduction of a new company policy.

According to the company, Copilot will soon be able to highlight the main points of interest and concerns expressed in comments to help the organization tailor its strategies to employee needs.

Finally, even the creation of FAQs for the Answers section of Viva Engage will benefit from Copilot.

When a user begins typing a question, the AI will suggest the best way to express it clearly, making it easier for colleagues to understand. In addition, Copilot can propose answers with relevant resources such as links to documents or video tutorials, helping to quickly resolve any doubt.

 

Drafting a post with Copilot in Viva Engage

Microsoft 365 Copilot in Viva Sales:
here is Microsoft Sales Copilot

Microsoft Sales Copilot was created through the integration of Microsoft 365 Copilot and Viva Sales, the module dedicated to customer engagement and outreach activities. It is a new product that offers business teams concrete support to manage sales activities more efficiently.

In Teams, during meetings, Sales Copilot provides suggestions to answer customer questions based on information from shared materials and company documents. The goal is twofold: to ease the management of customer meetings and quickly turn agreed actions into tasks recorded in the company CRM, thereby improving follow-up processes.

In Outlook, this latest version of Copilot simplifies communication with customers. Among the available features, the conversation recap stands out, providing a clear overview of previous interactions with the same customer, along with the CRM card, which allows users to view opportunities and account records directly from their mailbox.

The ability to write emails is another strength, especially considering that, first of all, Sales Copilot can retrieve information from:

• Microsoft 365
• Dynamics 365 Sales
• Company CRM

With this information, the AI can then generate content relevant to the conversation the team is having with individual customers, significantly speeding up response times.

 

Generating content with Microsoft Sales Copilot

Microsoft 365 Copilot in Viva Learning

Copilot in Viva Learning expands the capabilities to manage internal training through:

• building learning paths
• summarizing the contents of a course
• searching for learning resources relevant to the user

In addition to highlighting that these features are currently in preview, it is important to know that Copilot also allows you to perform natural language queries on learning content. This means it can rework the information contained in the Viva Learning environment to answer any question on a topic.

 

Learning with Copilot in Viva Learning

Microsoft 365 Copilot in Viva Insights

Viva Insights provides access to a dedicated dashboard on the use of Copilot in the company, designed to give business leaders valuable insights on how to maximize the adoption of this new technology based on the actual needs of employees.

Through the dashboard, you can:

• identify the employees who can benefit the most from Copilot by analyzing their daily use of Microsoft 365;
• understand how Copilot is being used in the company, highlighting any areas for improvement in its adoption;
• monitor the overall sentiment towards the introduction of Copilot.

In addition to offering a clear view of adoption success, Viva Insights leverages its integration with Copilot to further analyze the working habits of corporate teams, identifying key trends and suggesting ways to improve productivity and well-being.

However, the suggestions are not limited to management alone. On the contrary, ​they are intended to support employees themselves in optimizing their time and resources, with the goal of better balancing all the tasks that make up their professional routine.

 

Copilot adoption dashboard in Viva Insights

Microsoft 365 Copilot in Viva Goals

Copilot in Microsoft Viva Goals guides business leaders in the creation of OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) through features such as:

• Creating goals, from scratch or based on company strategies
• Creating the key results needed to achieve the goals
• Summarizing progress status for teams and individual users
• Suggestions for planning and achieving assigned goals

To get useful outputs for business strategies, it is necessary to be extremely precise when writing prompts. It is important to specify details such as the industry in which the organization operates, your department, team members, tasks to be carried out and expectations.

An example of a prompt? Here it is below:

"I work for a retail company in the Marketing department. By the end of the year, we want to expand into Europe, Asia and Latin America. To do so, we plan to expand the product catalog that you can find in the attached document. Please generate goals and key results to help us plan the team's activities."

 

Generating new OKRs based on a document with Copilot in Viva Goals

Microsoft 365 Copilot in Viva Glint

Viva Glint is the Microsoft Viva module designed to collect and analyze employee feedback, helping organizations measure and improve staff engagement.

With targeted surveys and interactive dashboards, Viva Glint provides a clear view of the workplace climate, identifying the dynamics that most influence motivation and productivity levels. It then offers the necessary tools to turn this data into concrete actions.

Viva Glint has expanded its capabilities by integrating with Copilot, and can now further simplify feedback analysis to guide leaders toward faster and more informed decision-making.

For example, after a survey on team satisfaction, Copilot can generate a summary of the results highlighting the main positive factors, such as the perception of support from managers, and the critical areas, such as the widespread need for flexible hours.

Here is a more detailed overview of what Copilot in Viva Glint offers:

• Automated data analysis that provides quick summaries of employee sentiment. For instance, the artificial intelligence can report that the Sales department has shown a significant drop in morale over the past six months and suggest potential causes.
  
  
• Personalized insights that connect survey results with business strategies. A practical example could be identifying opportunities to improve employee well-being through training programs or team-building initiatives.
  
  
• Recommendations for targeted actions based on the collected data. If the feedback highlights difficulty balancing workload and personal well-being, Copilot can suggest actions such as introducing a new flexible work policy.
  
  
• Conversational support that allows users to get answers about the data. For example, a manager could ask: "What are the most common concerns in the IT department?" and receive a detailed list of issues along with related suggestions on how to address them.
  
  

These features not only reduce the time required to analyze large volumes of data, but we emphasize that their true value lies in helping business management rely less on intuition and subjective opinions, and instead make evidence-based decisions.

 

Analyzing colleagues' feedback with Copilot in Viva Glint

 

Here is what Microsoft 365 Copilot allows us to do in the main modules of Microsoft Viva, the new suite that promises to revolutionize the employee experience within organizations.

To conclude our overview, we propose the following table that summarizes the main features offered by Copilot in Viva to improve productivity and well-being in the workplace.

 

The main Copilot features in Microsoft Viva

 

Viva module integrated with Copilot	Feature description
Viva Engage	Generates drafts for publishing in Viva Engage communities, suggesting topics based on user activity and colleagues' interests. Analyzes comments on published posts and provides a sentiment summary of corporate communications. Coming soon. Assists in creating FAQs by suggesting improvements to the clarity of questions and the quality of answers. Coming soon.
Viva Sales	Provides suggestions for answering customer questions during Teams meetings, based on shared materials and company documents. Summarizes customer conversations in Outlook, turning agreed actions into tasks within the company's CRM. Helps with writing customer emails by suggesting relevant content and information.
Viva Learning	Assists in creating learning paths by grouping Viva Learning content based on themes of interest. Summarizes corporate training course content. Recommends the most useful Viva Learning resources for individual learning.
Viva Insights	Provides access to a dedicated area for using Copilot in the company, offering insights to increase adoption rates. Supports management in analyzing how teams work, with suggestions to improve productivity and colleague satisfaction. Helps employees balance productivity and personal well-being, reducing the risk of stress and burnout.
Viva Goals	Assists in creating objectives and key results (OKRs), suggesting how to organize activities to achieve them and summarizing progress at both team and individual levels.
Viva Glint	Supports business leaders in collecting and analyzing colleague feedback to identify common issues and potential areas for improvement. Recommends actions to address the issues raised by employees.

FAQ about Microsoft Copilot in Viva

What is the purpose of the integration between Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft Viva?

The integration aims to enhance the employee experience through the use of generative AI, enriching Microsoft tools designed for productivity and workplace well-being.

What are the main features of Copilot in Viva Engage?

The main features include draft generation for posts, feedback analysis, assistance in creating FAQs, suggestions for post topics, and summaries of colleagues' comments.

What are the main features of Copilot in Viva Sales?

The main features include suggestions for answering customer questions during Teams meetings, summaries of customer conversations in Outlook, and help with writing emails to customers.

What are the main features of Copilot in Viva Learning?

The main features include building learning paths, summarizing course content, and searching for relevant learning resources.

What are the main features of Copilot in Viva Insights?

The main features include a dashboard dedicated to the use of Copilot in the company, allowing business leaders to identify colleagues who could benefit from Copilot and understand the overall sentiment towards AI adoption.

What are the main features of Copilot in Viva Goals?

The main features include assistance in creating objectives and key results (OKRs), providing suggestions on how to organize activities to achieve them, and summarizing the progress at both team and individual levels.

How can I get support for adopting Microsoft 365 Copilot in my company?

You can get support by contacting intranet.ai for customized services such as data migration to the Microsoft cloud, security and permissions assessment, user training, and extension development. You can also join the community of practice to ask questions to experts and receive new content.