Microsoft Teams Adds Viva Goals Module Powered By Ally.io OKR

Microsoft announced this morning Viva Goals, a new Teams module that helps employees keep track of their progress on key business goals. Viva Goals is the result of Microsoft’s acquisition of Ally.io back in October 2021, a Seattle-based start-up specializing in an approach called objectives and key results (OKR).

OKR is a performance management tool that enables organizations to set, communicate and monitor measurable goals and results. The basic idea behind this new integration is to give employees more visibility into the company’s strategic goals and daily workflows.

Viva Goals is launching in private preview in Microsoft Teams starting today, and it will become generally available for all Microsoft Viva suite subscribers later this year. Up until now, the Microsoft Viva service was available in four modules: Viva Connections, Viva Insights, Viva Learning, and Viva Topics.

“Viva Goals aligns teams to your organization’s strategic priorities and unites them around the mission and purpose. It helps provide clarity on employees’ work and how that work makes an impact on the business’s most important priorities. With that alignment in place, teams then can focus on doing the work, making sound decisions, and driving the desired results for the business,” wrote Vetri Vellore, CVP for Microsoft Viva Goals.

Viva Goals aligns work processes with business outcomes

Employees can use Viva Goals to get automated reminders and feedback data to track their performance. Moreover, employees can access a Viva Goals dashboard to share progress updates and OKRs with their team leads, managers, and colleagues.

Microsoft Viva Goals currently integrates with Microsoft Teams, Azure DevOps, and other third-party data and work management tools. Going forward, the company plans to bring new Viva Goals integrations with Microsoft Viva, Office, Power BI, and other Microsoft 365 apps and services.

As more and more businesses shift toward hybrid and remote workforces, Microsoft believes that aligning employee work with team-wide and organization-wide goals is becoming more important. Microsoft Viva has recently crossed 10 million monthly active users, and the addition of Viva Goals should help customers achieve desired business outcomes.