Microsoft has long maintained that the Microsoft Graph — the by-product data it collects as a consequence of people using their online tools — provides a treasure trove of information that companies can use to better understand their workers. Recently the company announced general availability of Workplace Analytics, which has been designed to give managers and executives a broad understanding of employee productivity across departments based on Microsoft Graph data.
Microsoft introduced MyAnalytics last year which allowed employees view their individual productivity based on their calendar, email, documents and other information gleaned from their Office 365 usage data. While employees could see that data, their managers could not.
That changes now, but director for Office 365 Alym Rayani insists this is all about using data to understand what behaviours create the most productive employees. Rayani says research has shown that increasing employee productivity and engagement will be a huge priority for organizations in the future. To achieve that requires insight and data, exactly what he says Workplace Analytics is designed to provide.
Initially for the launch, the product is looking at email and calendar data as this should provide a tremendous insight into how workers are spending their time. Going forward they could be exploring other types of data being generated in the Microsoft Graph.