Microsoft Teams Virtual Commute: What Is It, How To Enable It, and How It Works

The transition from office cubicle to home workstation has not been the smoothest. The pandemic forced it upon millions of office-goers across the world, without actually giving them time to come to terms with the idea. Now, it has become abundantly clear that the work-from-home culture is here to stay, in one form or other.

This drastic shift in the industry has brought the likes of Microsoft Teams into the limelight. And Microsoft Teams is returning the favor with hosts of wellbeing features that help you take a proactive approach and enhance your peace of mind. Today, we’ll take a look at one such newly-introduced feature — Virtual Commute — and tell you how it might help you manage the strenuous work-from-home sessions.

What is Virtual Commute in Microsoft Teams?

In the first quarter of 2021, Microsoft announced its employee experience platform, Microsoft Viva. It presented a concoction of knowledge, communications, resources, and insights, allowing individuals, as well as team leads, to take full control of their Microsoft Teams experience. Virtual Commute is another neat addition to the Microsoft Viva platform — specifically to the Insights section — that allows you to keep track of your pending tasks and even prepare for your next workday.

The Virtual Commute section makes use of AI to go through your activities/conversations and suggest relevant tasks at the end of your day. If you’ve already met your targets, you can check off the tasks and Microsoft Teams would congratulate you for it. Else, you could get on it right away. Additionally, it’ll also give you a rundown for the next day — tell you how many meetings you have and the preparation you might need to be at your best.

Related: How To Update Microsoft Teams

How Virtual Commute works

People who are more sensitive to data privacy concerns might feel a little vulnerable with Virtual Commute suggestions. However, Microsoft assures that it doesn’t go beyond your email inbox, calls, chats, and calendar settings. Microsoft Viva only uses the data that’s already available in your Exchange Online mailbox, nothing more. So, if you were to do a manual sweep of your inbox and calendar, you would get the same data. Microsoft Viva Insights is only saving you from the tedious and thankless procedure.

How to enable Virtual Commute

The Virtual Commute system — which is a part of Microsoft Viva Insights — is available to users with an Exchange Online license. Free users would be able to find the app, of course, but they won’t have any luck using it. If you have an Exchange License, you can look for ‘Insights’ in the app section and click on ‘Add for me.’

Virtual Commute, which is set to roll out over the next month, will appear as a separate tab inside the Insights app and would grant you access to the plethora of functions it has in store.

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