Microsoft uses your data in Workplace Analytics to understand productivity

The Microsoft Graph has been collecting data as a byproduct of people using online tools. Or so, Microsoft says. This has been providing businesses and companies a river of information used to understand workers better. Microsoft has gone a step further and has introduced Microsoft Workplace Analytics. This has been specially designed for the benefit of managers and executives to have a broad understanding of employee productivity, spread across various departments based on Microsoft Graph data.

In the previous year, Microsoft had introduced MyAnalytics. This provided employees data about their individual productivity using information from Office 365 based on their calendar, email, documents, Skype and others. Microsoft is insisting that it is using these data to understand the behaviors that create and make productive employees.

The Dashboard

Inside the Workplace Analytics, there is an overview dashboard that comes with four standard views. These include organizational productivity, meetings, management and coaching and lastly, network and collaboration. Each of these has their individual purposes like looking at how the entire company spends their time together and collaborates, the quantity and quality of time spent in meetings, measuring the time spent individually between manager and employees, and looking into how employees are connecting across the company as a whole.

This may get one wondering about how a firm may use it to identify employees on the lower scale of productivity, while on the other hand looking at the positive behaviors of a productive employee. But, Microsoft promises that throughout the private beta, not a single firm has used it to call out its employees. It would mainly be used to improve the productivity, find means for better output and further use the data to train other employees.

Currently, Microsoft consulting may be required, especially if businesses want it custom made. The customers could even combine various other they are collecting within their firm with Workplace Analytics, wherein they do not necessarily use data from Microsoft.