We are halfway through 2022 and where did that go?
I felt now was a good time to reflect on the Viva Explorers journey so far this year, where we’re going next and take in the latest big Viva news!
We have been enthusiastic to say the least and presented at many brilliant events: Collabdays Bletchley Park UK | Teams Nation | Tech(k)Now Day – International Women’s Day | Viva Days India | Scottish Summit.
Upcoming: Commsverse UK, ESPC22 Copenhagen, Teams10X, South Coast Summit UK | Microsoft 365 Conference US.
Delighted to announce two more MVPs joined us. A Viva Wizard with an Information Architecture-SharePoint Governance wand, Sue Hanley in US. And in Finland Katja Jokisalo a Viva Connector, connecting a better work life with ribbons.
On the features front Viva Goals is now the official name for the 5th module intended to connect teams to your strategic priorities, mission and purpose, aligning an OKR (Objectives & Key Results) framework. Integrated into the employee experience through the lens of Teams. You can pre-order a new book: OKRs For All by Vetri Vellore, Ally CEO to find out more.
And to all our surprise Microsoft just announced the 6th Viva module! Viva Sales integrating Salesforce and other CRMs into the Viva suite . Ben Lee shares his excellent insights on this immense “cross solution intelligence”.
Note: IBM finally decommissioned Lotus Notes and now using Teams (I kid you not). And IBM partners with Salesforce. The Viva Teams jigsaw puzzle is remarkably interesting indeed.
What next?
I predict Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) will be another cross-solution Viva integration. At Microsoft they use a wide variety of SAP applications including ERP/ECC, E-Recruiting, GRC, GST, CPM, SCM, OER, MDG, and SMG, amongst others. “No wonder they integrated Viva Topics!” – we thank you Marten (;o)
Notably, former Microsoft CVP Julia White joined SAP last year.
ERP is a huge part of the Manufacturing Supply Chain Logistics Operations across the globe and crying out for a connected, integrated, collaboration productivity hub that Teams is.
Viva now has MANY exciting moving parts in super bright product engineering groups to keep an eye on. This is not a simple one product story to keep tabs on so follow the enthusiastic #VivaExplorers for the latest insights as we touch every aspect of M365 features and tools.
The Viva Explorer Mission: People are the heart and soul of every digitalization project. Viva Explorers are passionate, and we draw on our diverse origins to influence a serendipitous employee-centric technology movement, enabling a modern, empathic, enthusiastic workforce mindset!
MVP, Lesley Crook is a Viva Visionary 
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