Microsoft officially renames Yammer to Viva Engage

Last year, Microsoft announced that it was intending to expand Microsoft Viva with a new Engage module. The module is deeply integrated with Teams to help build community and connections.

Viva Engage later hit general availability featuring a Communities Hub, Storyline, and Stories, all in place to enhance engagement at the workplace. The module is an enhanced version of the Yammer Communities app, and today, Microsoft has announced that Yammer is officially evolving to Viva Engage featuring new experiences.

Alongside the rebrand, during the Inspire event, Microsoft also announced a host of new experiences and capabilities coming to Viva Engage. Today’s announcement indicated that these capabilities have now begun to ship worldwide for Viva suite and Microsoft Viva Topics customers.

The new capabilities consist of a leadership corner “a space for leaders to connect with employees, showcase employee resource groups, and foster culture through discussions, storyline posts, events, and more.” It will also feature a new event style dubbed Ask Me Anything (AMA) events, designed to enhance engagement further.

Microsoft is also incorporating new Advanced Analytics to help users understand their reach and engagement in Viva Engage over a period of time. This will help them keep track of progress and establish trends.

Next month, the rebrand will also be reflected in the existing Communities app for Outlook. During the same period, “the Yammer mobile apps for iOS and Android will also be updated to Viva Engage to provide a native mobile-first experience that’s optimized for social sharing and rich media,” says Microsoft. However, you’ll need to update your app to access the new experience.