Viva Engage Copilot: How to boost Employee Engagement

The integration between Microsoft 365 Copilot and Viva Engage represents a significant step forward in corporate productivity and digital collaboration. By combining Copilot's advanced artificial intelligence capabilities with Viva Engage's social and collaborative platform, users gain enhanced tools to improve communication, share knowledge, and foster team interaction.

In this article, we will take a closer look at the integration between Microsoft's AI-powered digital assistant and one of the most widely used Viva modules, exploring the benefits this integration offers.

Viva Engage Copilot: an introduction

Effective internal communication networks in the workplace are not just useful but essential for fostering a connected and engaged team. In the era of remote work and digital collaboration, creating a community where every member feels informed, valued, and actively involved is more important than ever.

Microsoft has long recognized this need, and its Viva Engage (formerly Yammer) is a cutting-edge platform designed to bridge these gaps, ensuring that employees feel like an integral part of the team.

Employee Experience Platforms (EXPs), such as Microsoft Viva Engage, continuously provide insights into employee engagement, helping organizations understand how their workforce interacts and their overall level of satisfaction.

One of the biggest innovations in Viva Engage recently has been the introduction of Copilot, the revolutionary AI-powered assistant that Microsoft is integrating into all its major applications, including every module within the Viva suite.

But how does this AI assistant from Redmond operate specifically within Viva Engage, and what benefits does it offer to its users? Let’s explore these aspects in the following sections.

What are Copilot and Viva Engage?

But first, for those who may have missed some details or are unsure about what we're talking about (or only have a general idea), let's take a moment to get everyone up to speed and better understand what Microsoft Copilot and Viva Engage are individually.

Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft Copilot is an AI-powered chat service that integrates with many Microsoft applications and services to enhance user efficiency and productivity.

Microsoft Copilot leverages OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4o and DALL-E 3, along with Microsoft’s proprietary Prometheus model. The details of Prometheus are considered confidential by Microsoft, making it difficult to compare its architecture with other tools. According to the company, the model does not generate content independently but focuses on improving efficiency and ensuring that searches and queries adhere to privacy guidelines while providing the most relevant information.

Copilot generates content, offers suggestions, and automates tasks to assist users across various Microsoft technologies, such as Windows, Microsoft 365, and GitHub. Microsoft continues to develop new features and integrations for Copilot.

From the perspective of end users interacting with Windows and Microsoft productivity applications, there are three versions of Copilot:

• Microsoft Copilot: A lightweight, free edition available to users of Windows, Microsoft Edge, or the Bing website. It is suitable for general users and small businesses looking for AI assistance without deep workflow integration.
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• Copilot Pro: Designed for advanced users, it provides priority access to the latest AI models during peak times, with faster response times compared to the free version. It also includes Image Creator from Designer, formerly known as Bing Image Creator.
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• Microsoft 365 Copilot: Available as an add-on for Office applications in Microsoft 365 through Business Standard, Business Premium, or Enterprise plans. It leverages company data and other internal sources to deliver specific, detailed responses.

As an assistant, Copilot's main advantage is improving work productivity and overall efficiency. Much of Microsoft’s marketing strategy emphasizes the time saved in performing various tasks and workflows.

Copilot enhances productivity by automating repetitive tasks, such as drafting standard emails or summarizing documents, allowing users to focus on more critical work. Beyond productivity benefits, Copilot can suggest new ideas, formats, and content based on context and user preferences. It also helps users improve communication by quickly sending critical emails or Teams messages and streamlining Microsoft 365 application workflows.

Additionally, there are various Copilot versions designed for specific Microsoft tools. For example, Copilot solutions are integrated into Microsoft Dynamics for sales and customer service teams, and security-focused Copilot solutions are embedded in Microsoft Purview.

A key distinguishing factor of Copilot is its extensive integrations and overall connectivity within Microsoft’s enterprise technologies. Users can also develop familiarity with Copilot through its multiple integrations, applying the skills they acquire to different technologies.

Recently, Microsoft has started launching and updating a series of specialized “Agents” for specific business sectors such as finance, customer service, and marketing, with tailored training and functionalities for these areas.

In October 2024, Microsoft also announced several new features for Copilot. For example, Copilot Voice allows users to input commands by speaking to a device, receiving responses in audio format instead of just text. Copilot Vision, on the other hand, tracks web browsing activities on Microsoft Edge, providing suggestions, answering questions, and performing searches based on the content and context of user actions. Users can enable or disable Copilot Vision as needed.

Microsoft offers users the opportunity to test Copilot Vision and other upcoming features through the new Copilot Labs. This platform serves as a hub for Copilot’s experimental features and allows users to provide feedback.

While many Windows 11 users were initially skeptical when Microsoft began focusing on Copilot, the service has grown significantly since its preview release and is now considered one of the best productivity tools in the AI era.

Microsoft Viva Engage

One of the key factors in ensuring the success of hybrid work in a corporate environment is employee engagement, which includes both a sense of belonging and motivation to achieve set goals.

To foster effective engagement, business leaders must maintain a constant presence and enable employees to interact with one another, providing them with the necessary tools to create and manage communities based on shared interests.

A concrete response to the communication needs of hybrid work comes from Microsoft Viva Engage, a digital employee engagement solution designed to offer companies a simple, intuitive platform that is fully integrated with Teams and Microsoft 365 productivity applications—in other words, the software employees use daily to perform their tasks.

Viva Engage can greatly facilitate leaders' work by enabling employees to communicate with one another, build strong and lasting relationships, and feel more connected to the organization they work for.

According to Microsoft’s own definition:

Microsoft Viva is the platform designed to enhance the employee experience, seamlessly integrated into Microsoft Teams. It consists of a suite of apps that help you connect, gain insights, learn, and achieve your goals directly within the flow of work—anytime, anywhere.

Microsoft Viva offers various features specifically designed to enhance communication and collaboration among employees within their usual work environment. Among the key functionalities Microsoft Viva enables, we find:

• A personalized portal that aggregates the most relevant information based on each employee’s role and preferences, helping them improve their knowledge and connect with colleagues who share their professional interests (Viva Connections).
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• Customized learning paths, powered by AI-driven recommendations that identify the most useful resources based on each employee’s professional needs and personal interests (Viva Learning).
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• A monitoring system that generates real-time insights to assess sentiment analysis and measure employee engagement transparently, while fully complying with privacy regulations (Viva Insights).

Viva Engage Copilot: What are its main features?

Copilot in Viva Engage officially became available at the end of April 2024. While it is not a brand-new feature, as autumn progresses, it is useful to revisit what this tool can do.

Within Viva Engage, Copilot serves as an AI-powered personal assistant, supporting managers and employees in crafting posts and providing recommendations to enhance their online presence and engagement in the Engage app within Teams or on the web.

Key features include:

• Post and conversation suggestions: Copilot automatically generates topic suggestions, post ideas, and relevant images. These suggestions help leaders communicate more frequently and consistently, encouraging employees to actively participate in discussions.
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• Employee sentiment analysis: It provides leaders with insights into employee sentiment by analyzing feedback and responses received. This enables a better understanding of the company’s work climate and allows proactive responses to employees' concerns.
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• Customization of tone and message length: Copilot helps tailor the tone and length of messages to make them more empathetic and authentic, increasing engagement and fostering trust in corporate dialogue.

These capabilities support the development of a work environment where communication is open, transparent, and fosters a sense of belonging.

Copilot in Viva Engage allows users to start with the "Draft your post" option, a process that enables the creation of a draft based on existing documents, providing an initial version of the text.

Within seconds, managers can generate a document without having to write it from scratch, significantly reducing the time required for publication. By reviewing the proposed text and interacting with the prompt in the designated side panel, managers can immediately request modifications related to both content and the tone of communication—ranging from a highly professional approach to a more informal and motivational style. Copilot responds to these requests with great ease.

Additionally, Copilot can manage all subsequent steps after the initial communication is sent to employees. A particularly useful feature allows managers to anticipate potential questions that employees might ask, enabling them to prepare responses in advance and avoid being caught off guard.

A key value that Copilot brings to Viva Engage is feedback management on sent communications. For every published post, Copilot can summarize comments, track engagement trends, and provide detailed sentiment analysis, helping managers understand how employees are reacting to the shared communication.

Like all Microsoft 365 Copilots, Copilot in Viva Engage does not store or retain any generated or modified text. User-generated content is not used for model training, and Copilot processes only the text explicitly provided—such as when typing in the Copilot box, clicking on a suggestion, or requesting feedback.

Microsoft’s AI assistant respects user privacy and does not share texts or data with third parties. Additionally, Copilot in Viva Engage adheres to an organization's data governance policies and settings, including data residency, retention, and deletion policies.

The Copilot Adoption Community

The latest feature of Copilot in Viva Engage is the Copilot Adoption Community, available since July 2024. This community can be set up to help employees learn more about Copilot in Viva Engage, share experiences, ask questions, and receive tips and best practices from other users and experts. It may also include training resources such as videos, articles, and courses to help employees fully leverage Copilot in Viva Engage.

Creating the community is simple: just launch a new community using the guided setup that appears in Viva Engage. Predefined selections are available and can be adjusted to fit specific needs. Once created, the community serves as a foundation within the organization’s communication networks to encourage, promote, and facilitate Copilot adoption.

In essence, the Copilot Adoption Community functions like any other community in Viva Engage, with the key difference being a guided setup process and a “Welcome to your new community” banner that reminds users to pin important resources, add members, review suggestions, and write their first post.

A notable feature within Viva Engage communities is the Intelligent Importer. This built-in tool allows users to easily import questions and answers from Word, PDF, or .txt files. The Intelligent Importer is part of Viva Answers and is available with a Viva Suite or Communities & Communications license. Therefore, if using Copilot in Viva Engage, users will also have access to the Intelligent Importer.

Viva Engage Copilot: What are the benefits for users and businesses?

For users who regularly engage with Viva Engage, Copilot can become their secret weapon—whether they are team leaders needing to craft a corporate announcement or employees sharing an update on a new project they are working on.

How does it work? Let's take a look below:

• Effortless writing: Eliminate writer’s block and speed up writing with Copilot’s intelligent suggestions. Struggling to find the right words? Copilot provides contextual prompts to spark your creativity.
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• Enhanced clarity: Ensure your message resonates with your audience. Copilot helps refine your text for better readability and impact.
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• Communicate with confidence: Send messages with peace of mind. Copilot’s grammar and style checks ensure your content is accurate and professional.

Thanks to its integration with Microsoft 365 applications, Microsoft Viva Engage is the most natural solution for companies investing in an engagement-driven culture. It helps provide employees with the best possible conditions to perform their work in an environment of enthusiasm and well-being—stimulated by continuous learning and interaction with colleagues.

With Viva Engage and the new Copilot features, companies can:

• Enhance long-term employee retention by significantly reducing turnover risks and lowering the costs associated with high staff turnover.
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• Motivate employees to work together towards a common goal—improving company performance and competitiveness.
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• Support the adoption of emerging technologies in business processes, driving end-to-end innovation based on a data-driven culture, digital transformation, cloud adoption, and AI-powered analytics applications.

Viva Engage Copilot: How to get it?

Copilot is available globally for Viva Engage users who have a premium license, included in the Viva Suite and Communities & Communications plans. This means that to use Copilot in Viva Engage, a specific license covering the advanced functionalities of Viva Engage is required.

Here are the licensing options for Copilot in Viva Engage:

• Microsoft 365 Copilot + Viva Suite‍
• Microsoft 365 Copilot + Viva Engage Communications & Communities‍
• Viva Suite or Viva Engage Communications & Communities (without Microsoft 365 Copilot)

If you only have a Microsoft 365 Copilot license (without Viva Suite or Viva Engage C&C), you will not have access to Copilot in Viva Engage.

This approach ensures that only users with a combination of tools designed for enterprise communication and collaboration can fully leverage the advanced functionalities offered by Copilot in Viva Engage. Pairing Microsoft 365 Copilot with licenses such as Viva Suite or Viva Engage Communications & Communities reflects Microsoft's vision of integrating advanced AI into a comprehensive productivity and collaboration ecosystem.

Important note: If you want access to Copilot in Viva Engage, be sure to verify the details of your current license to avoid missing out on its unique features. Investing in Viva Suite or Viva Engage C&C not only unlocks Copilot but also grants access to a broader set of tools designed to enhance communication, engagement, and efficiency within your organization.

Conclusion

The arrival of Copilot marks a significant step forward for Viva Engage. This integration with Microsoft's Gen AI-powered digital assistant fosters a more dynamic and effective communication environment within your organization.

A lot has changed since the former Yammer was brought under Microsoft's wing. Over the years, Microsoft has continuously expanded and enhanced its capabilities, transforming it into a versatile, comprehensive enterprise communication platform filled with options to streamline and improve communication between employees and team leaders.

FAQ on Microsoft Copilot in Viva Engage

What is Copilot in Viva Engage?

Copilot in Viva Engage is an AI-powered assistant designed to support employees and business leaders in content creation and internal communication management. By integrating with Viva Engage, it provides intelligent suggestions for writing posts, analyzes employee sentiment, and offers tools to enhance engagement and collaboration within the organization.

What are the main features of Copilot in Viva Engage?

Copilot helps generate posts by suggesting ideas, titles, and relevant images. It analyzes conversation sentiment to provide useful insights for managers. It allows users to adjust the tone and length of messages to fit the corporate context. It enables quick drafting of posts from existing documents, speeding up publication. It offers feedback management tools, summarizing responses and helping improve internal communication.

Is Copilot in Viva Engage available to all users?

Copilot is only available to users with a premium Viva Engage license. It is included in Microsoft 365 Copilot plans bundled with Viva Suite or Viva Engage Communications & Communities. Users with only a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, without either of the two Viva Engage options, cannot access Copilot in Viva Engage.

How do you activate Copilot in Viva Engage?

Users with a compatible license can access Copilot directly in Viva Engage. To check availability, they can review their assigned license in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center, access Viva Engage to see if Copilot features are available, or contact their IT administrator if the features are missing.

Does Copilot in Viva Engage respect data privacy?

Yes, Microsoft ensures that Copilot does not store or retain user-generated content and does not use data to train the AI model. All processed information remains within the organization's data governance policies, including data residency, retention, and deletion policies.

How does Copilot enhance employee engagement?

Copilot facilitates internal communication by providing content creation suggestions, eliminating writer’s block, and making messages clearer and more effective. It helps managers write engaging posts that encourage participation and track employee sentiment to tailor communication strategies accordingly.

What is the Copilot Adoption Community in Viva Engage?

The Copilot Adoption Community is a dedicated space to support Copilot adoption within Viva Engage. It allows users to share experiences, receive tips, and access training resources such as articles, videos, and courses. It also includes the Intelligent Importer, which enables importing questions and answers from existing documents to enrich the community's content.

How do you create a community for Copilot adoption?

Creating a Copilot Adoption Community is simple and can be done directly within Viva Engage using the platform’s guided setup. During configuration, users can customize settings, add members, and pin useful resources to encourage Copilot adoption across the organization.

What benefits does Copilot in Viva Engage offer to businesses?

Copilot helps businesses improve internal communication by making it clearer and more targeted. It enhances employee engagement, increasing their sense of belonging and reducing turnover. It speeds up content creation, eliminating wasted time in drafting announcements and company updates. It provides tools to analyze employee sentiment and refine internal communication strategies. It supports continuous learning by generating personalized and relevant content for each user.

How do you get Copilot in Viva Engage?

Copilot is available only to users with a premium Viva Engage license, included in Viva Suite or Viva Engage Communications & Communities plans. Users with only a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, without Viva Suite or Viva Engage C&C, will not have access to Copilot in Viva Engage. To verify your license, check account settings or contact your IT administrator.