The power of Viva Engage – a voice for all
The core business case for Viva Engage is that it gives every employee a voice.
This was the resounding consensus when we asked the best in the business to tell us what they believed to be the business value of Viva Engage.
The platform also breaks down hierarchical organisational structures, destroys business silos and gives employees direct access to connect with their leaders.
SWOOP Analytics contacted about 40 people we believe to be the world’s experts in managing and facilitating Viva Engage networks as part of the research into our 2024/25 Viva Engage Benchmarking Report*. We asked a series of questions, starting with:
In your experience, what’s the core business value Viva Engage
brings to your organisation? What was the business case?
Almost everyone replied that they launched Viva Engage (previously Yammer) because they wanted their employees to have a voice, and in doing so, feel connected with their colleagues.
Fiona Roberts, Senior Digital Engagement Manager at Westpac NZ, sums it up nicely.
“We were clear from the start that we wanted to build a local community where every employee at the bank had a voice, everyone could be heard, and traditional organisational and hierarchical divides no longer existed.”
One of the benefits of giving employees a platform where their voice is heard is the direct link to employee engagement, and the trust that can be built on Viva Engage between leaders and their employees.
“Viva Engage is all about giving colleagues a voice and employee engagement research tells us that employee voice is a key factor in employee engagement,” said Sally Jackson, Senior Manager, Content and Channels, at National Grid.
“And, as we all know, organisations with engaged employees perform better, and (there is) a strong correlation between employee experience and customer experience.”
Sally Jackson, Senior Manager, Content and Channels, at National Grid, says Viva Engage is also an open collaboration platform where leaders have the opportunity to communicate (both ways) with teams, and be authentic in their communication style.
Another important point Sally makes is the need to adapt workplace communications to younger generations who have grown up in the digital era, a task Viva Engage achieves.
Evita Puccio, Senior Communications Manager, Internal Engagement, at Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, said Viva Engage is used across the bank to enrich the employee experience. She also talks about the importance of using authentic voices.
“Through Viva Engage, we connect and engage our people around key strategic initiatives and conversations.”
“Authentic voices set the tone and tell our stories with impact.”
Andrew Clarke, Manager, Employee Social Media Communications at Air Canada, said the core business value Viva Engage brings to Air Canada is its ability to foster real-time collaboration, information, and knowledge sharing among its 40,000 employees, and connect colleagues around the globe.
Air Canada’s workforce is primarily mobile, either reporting to work at their airport or in the sky.
“The Viva Engage app enables them to interact with each other and ask questions from wherever they are in the airline’s vast network, including in the air using onboard Wi-Fi,” Andrew said.
“For our employees, getting quick answers from tagged subject matter experts is a crucial platform attribute.
“Employee engagement is also crucial for mobile workers. It allows employees to learn and engage directly with other employees and leaders around the company on essential company initiatives related to their branch.”
Sean Zintl, Global Intranet & Channels Manager at Sage, said before Yammer was launched in 2020, they had consistently heard from colleagues that top-down communications were performing well, but there was no platform to connect directly with one another around business objectives and topics of common interest. You could comment on intranet news articles but the feedback from colleagues was that it felt restrictive.
“Our stated objective at the time was to give colleagues a platform – a voice – where they could launch and shape the conversations around the topics that mattered and resonated with them,” Sean said.
“We wanted colleagues to feel part of a larger Sage family and to know what was going on across the business at a worldwide, regional, and local level.”
Rajinder Pryor, Head of Business Partnering at Network Rail in the UK, says Viva Engage allows colleagues to connect despite their role (whether it by frontline or office-based), their shift work and their dispersed geography.
“Viva Engage is a channel which everyone can access at their leisure. Pull rather than push.”
“Colleagues can engage with colleagues in groups within their own business areas or engage with others they would not usually get the opportunity to engage with.”
Cecile Kozinski, Global Brand and Communications, Channel Owner – SPICE+ and Viva Engage at Schneider Electric, said after carefully analysing all the other digital channels, the decision was made to launch Viva Engage back in 2018 with the impetus to improve employee engagement.
“Within Schneider Electric, Viva Engage is one of the most important digital channels and the only enterprise social networking channel which focuses on connecting employees, enabling them to have dialogues, fostering a sense of community, and providing tools for collaboration and communication.”
Schneider Electric uses Viva Engage to leverage internal campaigns and to create a buzz around campaigns using strategically curated topics, hashtags and engaging leaders to maximise the reach (seen) and engagement (reactions and comments).
Kevin Crossman, IT Manager and Content Collaboration Service Owner at Juniper Networks, and Microsoft MVP, says the core value of Viva Engage is the visibility and discovery of messages and activities. He says the feed and ability for users to naturally discover activities happening around the company is valuable for inclusion and awareness.
Another benefit is reducing the number of emails across the organisation by using Viva Engage for announcements, leadership updates, and community building.
“Deeper connections are being made using this platform.”
For the Queensland state government Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR), Yammer was launched in 2014 with the primary goal of fostering collaboration, driving innovation, and facilitating knowledge sharing across the department.
However, as TMR’s work environment changed, so too did Yammer, now Viva Engage. Leonie Challacombe, Principal Advisor (Digital Culture) at TMR, said;
“It is still the best way for employees to discover and share knowledge across TMR, but its core business value now lies in enhancing employee engagement and cultivating a connected and inclusive culture across our diverse organisation, in a hybrid and digitally enabled working environment.”
“Viva Engage connects employees to TMR’s purpose, empowering everyone to contribute and learn from each other, regardless of their role or location.
“It helps break down organisational silos and brings people together across the department – from frontline workers to corporate employees – allowing us to deliver on our Digital Strategic Plan objectives by developing our digital culture and unleashing the potential of our people, enabling them to navigate and thrive in a digital and data driven world to deliver better outcomes for Queenslanders.”
Microsoft Viva Engage Adoption and Training Consultant Bernie Murtagh also highlights the financial business case for adopting Viva Engage. As it’s already included in the Microsoft 365 licence, most organisations are paying for it whether they use it or not, making it a cost-effective solution to modernise internal communication.
Bernie says there’s so much more to Viva Engage than cost savings.
“The core business value of Viva Engage lies in its ability to create a more connected, engaged, and collaborative workforce,” she said.
“By offering a platform for open communication at scale, Viva Engage significantly enhances knowledge sharing, innovation, and employee engagement across the organisation.
“Beyond improving communication, Viva Engage helps break down silos, allowing employees to look beyond their immediate Teams channels and engage with the broader organisation. It offers a community lens through which everyone can participate in and observe the wider business activities, fostering a sense of belonging.”
Bernie points out another key business case for Viva Engage - the enhanced connection between leaders and employees.
“In an era where visibility and accessibility are key, Viva Engage enables leaders to ‘show up’ and actively listen, no matter where they are working,” she said.
“It humanises leadership, making leaders more accessible and engaged with the wider business.”
Stephen Adam, Senior Communications Advisor, Digital Experience and Solutions at NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, brings with him the experience of a successful migration to Viva Engage from Workplace from Meta.
When the state government department migrated to Viva Engage from Workplace, Viva Engage was positioned as the place for staff to connect, collaborate and share, with a strong focus on two-way communication and engagement.
“This position helped us build on the success we saw when using Workplace, where staff could engage directly with their leaders, connect and collaborate with colleagues around shared interests and projects, and share their stories with one another.”
Importantly, Stephen says success has nothing to do with the actual platform – Viva Engage or Workplace – but from people building direct connections with their leaders, and each other, and sharing stories and updates with the authentic person at the heart of the conversation.
*The experts contacted by SWOOP Analytics for this research are people who have been top performers in our previous benchmarking studies and recipients of a SWOOP Analytics Award for Outstanding Collaborative Performance or nominated by peers for the annual SWOOP Analytics Community Manager Award.
