Forum Discussion
Roman_Handl
Jun 08, 2023Copper Contributor
A question about licensing for the topics function in Viva Engage/Yammer
Approximately at the beginning of April of 2023 Microsoft announced in the message center that the topics in Yammer will be moved to Viva Topics. Microsoft also mentioned that there would be no change in the behaviour in Yammer unless there would be licenses for Viva Topics in the tenant.
Silly us, we had these licenses for some users, they were bought more than a year before the announcement of Microsoft. Nobody could have known then that there will be dependencies between Viva Topics and Yammer.
Now our users don't see topics in Yammer anymore, those who could create topics before, can't do this anymore because they have no Viva Topics license.
We asked Microsoft support, if we really have to have licenses for all of our users so that they can at least see the topics in Yammer again. There was no clear answer, we only got links to the Viva Topics documentation which was of no help
We could live with the nuisance, that those who create or manage topics, need a Viva Topics license. But what about those user who only need to see the topics.
In the Viva Topics settings is an option that the "Topic visibility" could be allowed for everyone:
Does someone know if we could activate this without needing licenses for Viva Topics for all of our users?
- Unfortunately, you do need to have a license even to be able to see the Topics. I can see the frustration though with the impact to hashtags and definitely think it needs addressing for these scenarios.
- Roman_HandlCopper Contributor
kevmcdonk : thx for the reply and Your support.
this is just not right from the Microsoft side. Now we would be forced to cough up thousands of dollars a month just to have the same functionality as before and as those still have who don't use Viva Topics.Well, only thing left for us seems to not use topics in Yammer any more until Microsoft has corrected this error.
Some good news for you Roman_Handl - a fellow Viva Explorer noticed that there is a change coming to have a lightweight Topics license for use in Viva Engage. According to the roadmap, this should be rolling out shortly so worth you or your admins keeping an eye on the updates.