We built Answers in Viva to help address one of the biggest challenges of the modern hybrid workplace: connecting to the right information, person or conversation you need to do your work, fast and smoothly. We aimed to reduce interruptions at work by automating the discovery of repeated questions and answers and allow employees to discover the knowledge they need in the flow of work.
Answers in Viva launched in February 2023 and quickly garnered interest from customers facing these very problems. Over the past year we have worked to further enhance Answers, integrating Answers deeply into Viva Engage communities and surfacing content from Answers within other areas of Microsoft 365 and (coming soon) Copilot. We are excited for what the future holds and want to share what’s new and what’s coming next for Answers in Viva.
Answers in Viva Engage communities
One of the most significant changes is bringing Answers into Viva Engage communities. We are excited to share that this capability is now available to all Viva suite and Employee Communications and Communities (C&C) licensed users. Through this integration, the robust capabilities of Answers in Viva – including AI-driven related questions – are now an integral part of the Viva Engage community experience. This means every community member can leverage the collective intelligence of their organization to find answers, connect with experts, share insights, and solve problems collaboratively. Starting this month, we will also index existing community questions into Answers.
We have seen that Answers in communities provides an immediate answer to nearly 40% of questions being asked by directing the user to an existing similar question and answer. The resulting reduction in duplicate questions allows community admins and SMEs to devote their time to more meaningful efforts while still ensuring that community members get the information they’re looking for. The ‘Best Answer’ feature automatically highlights the correct answer without needing to pull in additional people.
Answers in Viva Engage can be used within both public and private communities. This allows customers to separate sensitive information saved in Answers without having to visit each private community to get information. They can access all Answers content that they are authorized to see within the Answers tab in Viva Engage. In the future, Answers content will also be available through search (see below).
Answers returning top related questions while within a community.
Answers in the Flow of Work
Copilot
We aim to meet users in the flow of their work. To that end, Answers will be a companion app to Copilot, enriching AI with timely, employee sourced information, verified and validated by subject matter experts.
The content from Answers – both the Answers tab in Viva Engage and communities – will become part of Copilot’s knowledgebase. This means Answers will contribute to the ever-evolving information in Copilot. And what’s more, should users wish to confirm the accuracy of the content provided by Copilot, Answers will power the ability to verify Copilot responses with a real person.
Search
Starting early March 2024, Answers content will appear in search locations across M365. Answers content already appears in the Viva Engage search, but now Answers content will also appear in office.com, sharepoint.com and Bing at Work searches. If users do not find the information they are looking for in their search, they will be prompted to try posting their question into Answers.
Answers in Microsoft Search
Email Digests
Answers users also receive the Answers digest, which collects relevant questions recipients may be able to answer into one convenient, interactive email.
Topics & Answers
Topics help organize information across communities and enable questions to be asked outside of communities on the Answers tab. While Microsoft is retiring Viva Topics in February 2025, core topic experiences in Answers and Viva Engage, such as creating, adding or following topics will remain in place.
Importing Content into Answers
A common request from customers was to make it simpler to add content to Answers. The Answers Intelligent Importer creates Q&A pairs automatically from documents, boosting knowledge management productivity and efficiency. The importer lets you upload a text file, Word doc, or PDF. The system scans the document and creates question and answer pairs, which the user can then check, modify, and publish to either Answers or directly to a community. Answers Intelligent Importer is currently in private preview.
We are still in the initial stages of our journey, but we also have plans to enable customers to link knowledge from different systems into Answers. Watch for future announcements of the new Answers MS Graph APIs and connectors to third party apps.
Connecting to Knowledge and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)
Answers makes it easy to connect to knowledge and get your questions answered by subject matter experts. By following Viva Engage topics, SMEs can see personalized feeds in the Answers tab in Viva Engage of questions relevant to their expertise: "Questions for me".
In the future, we are looking at ways to make it even easier for SMEs to help their colleagues. These include ways to identify SMEs in a community and recognize their contributions. We are also looking at ways to indicate Official Answers from more crowdsourced answers and conversations.
Introduction of Code Snippets in Answers Posts and Replies
At the end of February, users will be able to insert code snippets in posts and replies in Viva Engage, including Answers, a boon for technical communities. This feature enhances clarity in code sharing and discussions, catering to the needs of software and IT professionals in your organization.
Code snippets available now in Viva Engage
Answers Licensing
Answers is available to all Microsoft Viva suite and Employee Communications and Communities (C&C) customers. Admins can also request a trial to try out these capabilities.
Webinar
Join us to hear more in our webinar on March 20th. Sign up for one of the two sessions:
March 20, 8am PST / 5pm CET - https://aka.ms/VivaEngage/Answers/Webinar/2024EMEA
March 20, 4pm PST / March 21 APAC - https://aka.ms/VivaEngage/Answers/Webinar/2024APAC
