With Viva and new Dataverse apps, Microsoft aims to keep Teams front and center

Employee communication and collaboration has been put to the test in the COVID era. Microsoft has benefited from the surging demand in that time, building out an already robust portfolio of cloud-based tools and services based on new and urgent requirements of businesses looking to operate virtually.

Microsoft Teams has become an unqualified success so far, easily out-performing competitors like Slack. The latest reports from Microsoft indicate over 60 million daily active users on mobile devices alone and over 115 million daily active users overall. But Microsoft foresees the collaboration platform becoming an even more entrenched part of work life. Last week they announced Microsoft Viva, an employee experience platform, or EXP, and this week the business applications team revealed announced two new Teams apps built on Power Apps and Dataverse for Teams.

These updates serve to route more activities and processes through Teams rather than through traditional enterprise systems like an employee portal, a project management tool, a HCM system, or even a custom mobile app.

Viva: Better employee experience by way of Teams integration

Microsoft Viva will include four modules: Viva Connections, Viva Insights, Viva Learning, and Viva Topics. And while each one focuses on a different element of employee experience, one of Microsoft's frequent themes in its reveal was the ways in which Viva will tie into external systems, both Microsoft's own like Dynamics 365, and popular third-party solutions.