Overview of the Viva Engage update
Microsoft has announced changes to how Copilot, its artificial intelligence assistant, interacts with Viva Engage. Viva Engage is the social networking platform within Microsoft 365 designed for internal company communication. Previously, Copilot in this environment was primarily used for summarising missed conversations or catching up on threads.
This update introduces a deeper level of integration. The assistant will now be able to synthesise complex discussions and identify specific themes from employee feedback or leadership posts.
Cross-platform data integration
A significant part of this update is the integration with 'Work IQ'. This is Microsoft's term for the system that tracks your activity and context across various applications. By using this data, Copilot in Viva Engage will have a broader understanding of a user's role and current projects.
For example, the tool will be able to take feedback gathered from an internal post and automatically draft a PowerPoint presentation based on those points. This means data will move more freely between the social aspects of the network and productivity applications like Word and PowerPoint.
Practical considerations for business owners
For small and medium businesses, this update may reduce the time spent manually collating employee feedback or internal survey results. However, it also means that the AI assistant has broader access to internal communications.
It is important to note that the effectiveness of these summaries depends on the quality of the data provided. If internal discussions are informal or lack clear structure, the resulting summaries or decks may require significant manual correction.
Next steps
Microsoft has not provided a specific date for when this will be enabled for all UK tenants, but it is expected to roll out as part of the standard Microsoft 365 update cycle. Businesses currently paying for Copilot licences will receive these features automatically.
We recommend that administrators review their current data governance policies. You should ensure that staff are aware that their contributions to internal discussions can now be processed by AI to create external-facing documents or reports for management.