This article was originally written by Avanade alum Tracey Seward.

This blog post is the first in a two-part series exploring the powerful potential of Microsoft Viva. Head here to jump directly to read part 2, which summarizes the key Viva takeaways and features.

We’re witnessing a generational change in the way we work and in the employee/employer dynamic – the likes of which we’ve only previously experienced following huge disruption (global conflicts) or industrial and technological revolutions (like the PC entering the workplace).

Accenture’s Net Better Off Research indicates that, in a world turned upside down, leaders are being tested in real time to keep their business viable while navigating an unimaginable social and economic crisis. At the heart of many conversations is the question: “How can we take care of our people?” Prior to the crisis, Accenture’s research found that only 35% of C-suite executives (CXOs) felt responsible for leaving their people better off. In just six months, that jumped to 50%.

Now more than ever, preserving and protecting employee experience (EX) is a responsibility shared across the board and throughout leadership. Our Workplace Experience framework establishes the importance of IT, HR and lines of business collaborating to adopt a holistic approach to the workplace – leaving both the employee and the business better off.

A bold new era for employee experience

And that’s why – at Accenture and Avanade – we’re so excited about Microsoft Viva. Because it’s the type of progressive and comprehensive EX platform that can accelerate the Workplace Experience journey for many organizations.

Microsoft Viva is an EX engine that can drive the future of work forward and ensure a seamless, consistent experience for every type of employee: frontline, knowledge or desk-based, on-site, off-site, hybrid, flexible, full time, part time or job sharing. Whatever way you work, Viva has the potential to make your work life better.

Viva confirms that EX is a business asset

You’ve heard the cliché that people are an organization’s most important asset. With Viva, Microsoft is making this a reality.

There are countless tools, platforms and services that address individual elements of the employee experience ecosystem. But until now, there hasn’t been a single solution that delivers an integrated EX – truly and intelligently connecting employees to each other and to the information they need when they need it – to help companies and teams unlock their full potential.

Viva capitalizes on Microsoft’s unique position as the home of the workplace to deliver an integrated employee experience – where individuals and teams are already working and using platforms they’re familiar with. Together, Microsoft, Accenture and Avanade are global leaders in workplace transformation, and Viva represents a huge opportunity for our clients.

By caring for people and meeting their fundamental human needs through work, organizations can help employees unlock their full potential. When we connect the best of technology, the best of innovation and the best human capability, entire industries – indeed, the entire world – is transformed.

Viva allows us to cohesively accelerate the people-first transformation imperative by addressing core employee experience concerns, such as:

• Balancing well-being and work-life integration in a privacy-minded fashion
• Empowerment, inclusivity, diversity and the democratization of insights
• The deep underlying purpose of work – a substantial motivator for employees
• An empathy-driven approach to helping people focus on what really matters and filter noise
• Re-establishing the human connections that we're all missing in the remote or hybrid world

The employee experience imperative

Viva will empower employees and teams by bringing together communications, insights, learning and knowledge within the familiar flow of the Microsoft workplace. The platform has been built to empower employees to be their best – putting people at the center of the organization and giving them the tools and support to survive and thrive.

Accenture research shows that 40% of the workforce doesn’t trust their employer to do the right thing when it comes to meeting the workforce’s needs. What’s more, over half of workers are thinking about career changes. There’s never been a more critical time to build trust.

But nothing changes if people don’t change. So, to prepare for the future, companies will need to embrace new ways of working that put people at the core of change.

Learn more and discover how you can build a workplace that leaves your employees net better off: Read Accenture's latest employee well-being research. Then discover the benefits that await both businesses and employees when IT, HR and Line of Business leaders collaborate to drive a holistic Workplace Experience: Explore our Rethink WX guide.

Read part two of the Microsoft Viva announcement.