M365 Toronto User Group May 2021

Editor's Notes

• #3: Security, Compliance and Identity
• #5: Security, Compliance and Identity
• #6: So a little bit about Habanero This idea of bringing life to work is really part of our DNA, and sums up the work we do, and how we orient around ourselves customer needs And I think this is such an important time to focus on this idea, as many of us continue to experience blurred lines between our work and home lives… To prove that point, I’m willing to bet half of you, including myself, are wearing sweatpants right now But these blurred lines are having a dramatic impact on employee experience… high performance is masking exhaustion, and we are all looking for ways to create a bit more balance in our lives… we see Viva Insights as one of the tools to help us get there
• #7: We seek to help organizations create amazing employee experiences and do this by bringing our strengths in both workplace culture and knowledge of the digital workplace together… with a focus on the Microsoft technology stack, where we’ve been a partner for over 20 years Extras from Brian: How can we help employees connect to the purpose of their organization and give meaning to their work by way of their digital experiences How can we amplify employee connection when we aren’t all working in the same room How can we use technology indicators, such as your employees use of teams to look for signals of burnout or ways our culture isn’t’ serving high performance
• #8: And we’ve been recognized as a leading organization in this space… partially because of our unique balance of culture and technology ALM Vanguard and Gartner especially have called us out as leaders in this space
• #9: We are also a great place to work… and this is such an important aspect of how we think about helping other organizations, as we first want to make sure we are doing that hard work for ourselves
• #10: And that’s a really nice Segway into this idea… With the the world of work really going through a massive transformation over the past year and a half… with those changes likely accelerating as we roll through, and hopefully out of this pandemic
• #11: About a year and a half ago, there was a once in a lifetime event that’s really acted as a catalyst for this massive shift… With organizations scrambling to transform their businesses to enable things like remote work and ensure business continuity… What we saw last year really was years of transformation, taking place over several weeks… And while there have been many successes and benefits as a result of this rapid digital transformation, there are also some side effects or impacts being felt
• #12: If organizations don’t act on these new challenges, there are some potentially monumental impacts Microsoft recently published some of their own research in their Work Trend Index, and it’s a great example of the data and insight that’s coming from the ground up, highlighting what employees want in the future The top two numbers highlight what to expect in the future with 73% of employees wanting flexible work options to continue and 36% of employees planning to move now that they can work remotely The market is reacting to this change with a dramatic increase in remote job postings on places like LinkedIn, and 40% of employees across the globe considering leaving their employer this year So, there is a real opportunity to address these trends by leaning into new tools and capabilities that are emerging
• #13: And there’s a real need to address these issues, as there are some staggering numbers when looking at the impact burnout is having on people 34% of employees are feeling more burned out than one year ago, with 90% reporting a negative impact on their performance There’s also evidence out there that highlights the impact burnout, exhaustion and other forms of stress can have on productivity Meaning there is inherent value to employees AND organizations to create a more balanced experience at work
• #14: All of this is what led to Microsoft Viva, which is Microsoft’s take on an employee experience platform… and includes 4 key pillars, all of which are focused on employee engagement While there are new tools and capabilities here, these pillars are also made up of existing capabilities or products in the Microsoft ecosystem, and have been re-branded under the Viva umbrella… including Insights, which brings in capabilities from tools like My Analytics and Workplace Analytics, which we’ll be talking about shortly We will be focusing today’s session on the Insights Pillar… but if you are interested in learning more about the rest of the Viva experience… you can check-out our last webinar, where we provide an overview of each pillar and share more about our perspective and experience around each area
• #15: Viva insights aims to tackle these challenges, providing visibility into how work is happening, while also delivering personalized and actionable insights that act as valuable data and evidence to drive informed decision making These targeted insights help make sense of working patterns and trends, highlighting impacts on things like wellbeing and productivity The platform also allows for extensibility, connecting to other data sources to provide a more holistic picture of people's experiences at work by conducting deeper analysis across the various tools employees and organizations might be using
• #16: So, I’ve briefly mentioned this already, but Viva Insights is a newly branded experience that is the evolution of two existing concepts that exist today, complimented by a new set of wellbeing features and capabilities Microsoft is introducing, all of which will surface in Teams
• #17: How Viva Insights works, is that it aggregates data from various sources like Teams and Outlook that are captured in the Graph, providing an objective view of these collaboration habits. The overall experience is driven by MyAnalytics, which produces individual insights, paired with Workplace Analytics, which generates team and organizational views of networks and collaboration trends. Both tools have several safeguards in place from a privacy perspective, including anonymizing employee information when data is processed, respecting minimum thresholds, as well as aggregating this data, making it impossible to pinpoint or view information associated with an individual employee. These personal and organizational insights are incredibly helpful on their own, but they can also be paired with other sources like CRM or HRIS data, as well as other qualitative research like survey data, helping you stitch these various data sets together. This powerful combination not only provides an objective view of people's experiences from a collaboration perspective, but also empowers employees and people leaders by arming with them helpful insights and evidence to chart a path forward in this new world of work
• #18: The two existing concepts or products I’m referring to are MyAnalytics, and Workplace Analytics. How these tools work, is they capture and aggregate everyday data from various sources like Microsoft Teams and Outlook to deliver a set of metrics, dashboards and reports to help visualize data being captured This data is captured regardless of your use of these tools, but My Analytics and Workplace Analytics provide a more structured way to consume and digest the various data that is being collected and analyzed My Analytics is specifically targeted at individuals and delivers more personalized insights that are unique to each user, and are only available and viewable by each individual Workplace Analytics focuses more on teams and organizations, providing visibility into broad collaboration trends and behaviours These capabilities will be paired with a new set of wellbeing features and capabilities to compliment the data and insight MyAnalytics and Workplace Analytics are able to produce All of this is ties together to form what is now known as Viva Insights. Extras: These tools produce insights based on objective collaboration behaviours… and provide targeted recommendations or actions that can be taken to adjust habits to unlock things like productivity and wellbeing How Viva Insights works, is that it aggregates data from various sources like Teams and Outlook that are captured in the Graph, providing an objective view of these collaboration habits. The overall experience is driven by MyAnalytics, which produces individual insights, paired with Workplace Analytics, which generates team and organizational views of networks and collaboration trends. Both tools have several safeguards in place from a privacy perspective, including anonymizing employee information when data is processed, respecting minimum thresholds, as well as aggregating this data, making it impossible to pinpoint or view information associated with an individual employee. These personal and organizational insights are incredibly helpful on their own, but they can also be paired with other sources like CRM or HRIS data, as well as other qualitative research like survey data, helping you stitch these various data sets together. This powerful combination not only provides an objective view of people's experiences from a collaboration perspective, but also empowers employees and people leaders by arming with them helpful insights and evidence to chart a path forward in this new world of work
• #19: The good news is Viva insights has several safeguards in place from a privacy and trust perspective Microsoft is already a leader in compliance and security, with several privacy safeguards in place across the M365 suite of tools, and has also structured Insights in a way that allows organizations and analysts to go beyond the existing privacy safeguards by doing things like limiting scope or building in exclusions and exceptions Insights is also constructed in a way way that ensures all employee information is immediately de-identified when processed, with all data being aggregated, meaning it’s impossible to pin-point individual information Things like bodies or content of emails cannot be accessed, and there is a minimum group size of 5 required for any measurement to be produced, meaning a team of less than 5 would not actually show up in the reports Privacy legislation is also a top priority…. with Viva Insights compliant with leading legislation out there like GDPR
• #20: I realize that’s a lot of information to throw at you, so a simple way to think about Viva Insights, and the different components that drive the experience… Is that it aggregates everyday collaboration data in M365, surfaces a variety of dashboards and visuals to make sense of collaboration trends and habits And delivers targeted and actionable recommendations to drive positive change and enable things like employee wellbeing
• #21: All of these targeted recommendations…. and the platform as a whole, are really intended to serve three distinct audiences or personas Something I do want to call out early, is some licensing considerations for these various experiences. Personal insights are generally available to all users at no cost, but the manager and leader insights, which are primarily driven by Workplace Analytics, do require a premium license, so something to keep in mind as we continue exploring the Insights experience
• #22: When we look at personal insights… the idea is to deliver individual insights to help employees understand how they are working, as well explore actionable recommendations to evolve meeting practices to help create more balance at work There are components of this feature available today, including weekly digest emails and targeted recommendations, but the Insights experience will evolve over time and aims to level up the personal experience with some exciting new features coming this year
• #23: While only a handful of these features are available today, this is a snapshot of what we expect the experience to look like by summer of this year On top of the ability to book focus time, or make sense of your network and to-do list, Viva Insights aims to create a more mindful and intentional experience for employees through things like guided meditation and a virtual commute… which studies have shown can help our brains disconnect and allow us to be our best selves There will also be a set of features to help people reflect on their day, and carve out time for valuable activities like coaching and personal development We continue to learn more about what this experience will look like as Microsoft continues to announce new updates and features, but this is gives you an idea of what to expect…. For the sake of today’s session, we’re going to focus more on the manager and leader experiences, all of which is available today
• #24: As you plan for the days ahead, Viva gives you personalized recommendations help you be more intentional, to prioritize time for focused work and coaching [CLICK] [OPTIONALLY on Learning]
• #25: and to set time aside for learning. [CLICK] [OPTIONALLY on Headspace]
• #26: During the day, Insights reminds you to   take regular breaks, with a short meditation from Headspace   so you can come back to your work refreshed and recharged [CLICK] [OPTIONALLY on Virtual Commute]
• #27: At the end of the day, Viva helps you mindfully wrap-up your workday with a virtual commute guiding you to reflect, disconnect, and unwind [CLICK]
• #28: We’ll start with manager insights, which help provide visibility into work patterns across teams, helping managers understand team norms or trends that impact things like burnout or stress… while also highlighting potential actions that can be taken to better support and enable team members.
• #29: So, here’s an example of what managers or team leads might see… with Viva Insights surfacing a variety of dashboards and metrics which are based on common use cases or business goals that have come up These pre-baked dashboards and views are available out of the box but do require a heavy lift behind the scenes from an onboarding and configuration perspective To produce these views, Viva Insights, specifically Workplace Analytics… needs to ingest a variety of organizational data, which includes several mandatory fields or attributes Workplace Analytics will also need to be configured in a way that aligns with each unique business to ensure the reports and metrics being produced accurately represent an employee base There’s a ton of documentation out there from Microsoft, but we’ve also been working on an onboarding guide with lessons learned from our experiences… so feel free to reach out if you’re in the process of evaluating insights, and we can dig into some of the onboarding tips and steps to ensure you’re setup for success What’s great about this experience though, is once these onboarding steps are complete… there’s some helpful dashboards Insights produces, including gaining visibility into how teams are doing for example, and if there there are areas that might be worth investigating further One area that we continue to hear more and more about is connected to this idea of predicting and managing employee burnout I mentioned earlier the impacts burnout, stress and exhaustion can have on wellbeing and productivity, so it’s a very relevant topic you can investigate in Viva Insights [CLICK]
• #30: This example highlights a team that is at risk of burnout as a result of longer work weeks, as well as an increase in time spent collaborating after hours and on weekends It’s important to remember to compliment this data with other forms of research and evidence… like interviews , workshops or surveys…. really to validate what the data is telling us, but Viva Insights is providing a helpful starting point, and also surfaces actionable recommendations to address area if it a concern [CLICK] Potential extraThis is actually a great example to highlight the importance of an idea I just shared… ensuring Workplace Analytics is configured in a way that accurately represents an employee base This chart really captures time being spent in collaboration after hours, which by default, means outside of standard working hours like 9 - 5. But we know this isn’t the lived experience for everyone, so it’s critical to configure the tool to ensure groups that might work shift work that might work odd hours or shift work are included
• #31: As we shift gears and focus more on leader insights, you’ll start to see similar dashboards and views, this time spanning across an entire organization. The idea is to gain more visibility into broad work patterns and trends and make sense of how the organization Is functioning.
• #32: So, as we look at this experience, leaders will gain insight and visibility into broad organizational norms and trends … This out of the box dashboard provides a ton of insight into various themes, including how to drive engagement, improve agility or just make sense of the overall meeting culture within an organization This is just one of the many baked dashboards that are available in Viva, with dozens of others available out of the box… all of which are are complimented by the ability to run more custom queries and reports based on specific areas or opportunities leaders might be trying to investigate or address Another common use case we frequently hear about, is wanting to make sense of the change in collaboration that happens as a result of big changes or interventions, including the shift to remote work last year… and the impact it has on people As a leader in the Insights experience, there’s already a baked view that provides this visibility. [CLICK]
• #33: In this example, Insights shows us there was a 20% increase in overall collaboration hours when this organization shifted to remote work in February of last year These reports and dashboards are all dynamic in Teams, but are also accessible in PowerBI, with the ability to drill deeper, slicing and dicing the data to focus on things like certain times of the year, or gain much needed visibility into how specific teams or roles were impacted I’ve mentioned this already, but the accuracy of this data is really dependent on the cleanliness of your organizations information and ensuring you’ve setup the tool in a way that truly reflects your unique business… So, it’s important to start making sense of these activities, and even think about organizing your Azure Active Directory or HRIS platform as these are the most common tools used to feed Viva Insights the information it needs to function While these are not easy or straight forward activities, doing this will unlock a set of insights that can be paired with other qualitative research activities, which in turn will help your organization take a data and evidence-based approach around designing employee experiences [CLICK]
• #34: Here’s a snapshot of what the workplace analytics homepage looks like. This isn’t a view employees will have, it’s more so for administrators and analysts but it gives you an idea of what the tool looks like. This is all sample data from Microsoft, but WpA starts to highlight various data you might want to action or investigate further. How we get to this point is compiling specific information about an organization into what is called an organizational data file.
• #36: Security, Compliance and Identity
• #46: Research Proves Your Brain Needs Breaks (microsoft.com)