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An employee experience platform brings communication, community, learning and feedback into one place that people already use, so staff aren't hopping between half a dozen apps to find news, ask a question or complete training. For organisations on Microsoft 365, the platform is usually SharePoint and Microsoft Teams, with Microsoft Viva apps and, where needed, an intranet product such as Omnia or Involv on top.
What is an employee experience platform?
The term covers the tools that shape someone's day-to-day working life beyond their core line-of-business systems. That typically means:
- internal communications and company news
- communities and conversations across teams and locations
- access to policies, guides and the systems people need
- learning and development
- surveys and feedback
- insight into working patterns and wellbeing
The point of putting these together is that people find what they need in one place, rather than learning a separate tool for each, and that communications teams can reach everyone, including frontline and remote staff, through the channel they already have open.
What does Microsoft offer for employee experience?
Microsoft Viva is Microsoft's employee experience platform, built on Microsoft 365 and Teams. The parts we see used most are:
- SharePoint app in Teams, formerly Viva Connections. It brings your SharePoint home site, news, a dashboard of cards and a set of resource links into Teams on desktop and mobile. One experience is included with Microsoft 365 enterprise, frontline and education licences.
- Viva Engage, the successor to Yammer, for communities, leadership communication and Q&A. The core experience comes with Microsoft 365, and premium features such as leadership corner, AMAs and analytics need a Viva Suite or Viva Employee Communications and Communities licence.
- Viva Learning, which brings learning content from your own libraries and other providers into Teams.
- Viva Insights and Viva Glint, for insight into work patterns and organisation-wide engagement surveys.
- Viva Amplify, for planning and publishing communication campaigns across Outlook, Teams and SharePoint.
Viva Goals, which some earlier EXP guides recommended for goal alignment, was retired by Microsoft on 31 December 2025, so don't plan around it.
How does an employee experience platform improve engagement?
Engagement improves when people feel informed and connected, and when the information they get is relevant to them. An EXP helps in a few practical ways.
Targeted news means people see what applies to their role, location or department rather than everything. SharePoint audience targeting does this using Microsoft 365 or Microsoft Entra ID groups, and intranet products such as Omnia add more detailed targeting and translation for multilingual organisations.
Recognition and wins should be visible. A news post or an Engage community thread celebrating a team's work reaches far more people than a mention in a meeting, and it costs nothing.
Fewer tools means less friction. If someone has to remember which of five apps holds the holiday policy, they will message a colleague instead, and that colleague loses ten minutes too.
How does it help hybrid and remote staff feel connected?
People working remotely or on the front line miss the informal conversations that happen in an office, and they often miss information too, because it was shared in a room they weren't in. Viva Engage communities give people somewhere to ask questions, share updates and talk about things other than work, such as hobbies, wellbeing or employee networks, across locations.
The SharePoint app in Teams helps on the information side, because news and resources appear in Teams on a phone without anyone needing to remember the intranet address. We have written more about technology for hybrid working if that is your main concern.
How does it support learning and development?
People are more likely to complete training when it is easy to find. Viva Learning brings courses from your own content and connected learning providers into Teams, where people can discover, share and recommend courses and track what they have completed. The intranet can carry the rest: induction guides, how-to pages and links to the learning management system if you have one.
What do you need in place before rolling out an EXP?
The technology is the easier part. Before rolling out new apps, check that:
- your SharePoint home site and intranet are in good shape, because the SharePoint app in Teams is built on them
- someone owns internal communications and has time to keep content current
- Microsoft 365 groups reflect your real departments and locations, so targeting works
- you know which licences you have, so you don't design around premium features you haven't bought
Frequently asked questions
Is Microsoft Viva included in Microsoft 365?
Partly. Microsoft 365 enterprise and frontline plans include one SharePoint app in Teams experience (formerly Viva Connections) and Viva Engage core features, and some personal Viva Insights features are available to all Microsoft 365 users. Premium features, more than one SharePoint app in Teams experience and the full Viva modules need a Viva Suite or individual Viva licence.
What happened to Viva Connections?
Microsoft has renamed it the SharePoint app in Teams. It still brings your SharePoint home site, news, dashboard and resources into Teams, and existing Viva Connections configurations keep working.
Is Viva Goals still available?
No. Microsoft retired Viva Goals on 31 December 2025 and has not replaced it with another Microsoft product, so organisations that used it have moved to third-party OKR tools.
Do we need an intranet product as well as Viva?
Not always. Standard SharePoint with the SharePoint app in Teams covers news, targeting and resources. An intranet product such as Omnia or Involv makes sense when you need richer design, translation, approval workflows, mandatory reads or a dedicated mobile app without custom development.
If you'd like to talk about the right employee experience setup for your organisation, get in touch, or read more about our intranet services.
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