UNIDO has introduced Microsoft Teams as a new digital working experience that brings people together. Teams is a collaborative workspace that allows you to have conversations, host meetings, share files, work simultaneously on documents, and get work done with members across the organization or external stakeholders. It will support the organization to work better:

1. As a network of empowered and cross-functional teams
2. As ONE UNIDO
3. With a modern work culture where teamwork and motivation are key to success

UNIDO users can use Teams to chat privately or have instant group conversations as well as join or start video conferencing without a time limitation with up to 1,000 participants. The Teams workspaces are customizable for each team to include content, channels, and capabilities to fit the needs of your organizational unit, project, or working group. It is also the first UNIDO corporate application to introduce Multi-factor Authentication (MFA), which enhances user data protection, increases information security, and reduces the likelihood of cyber-attacks.

At UNIDO, teamwork is an important aspect of the organization’s effort to develop a modern workplace and a key element in enabling digital transformation. Therefore, we believe that Teams offers a new, more efficient way to work as it is not only a hub for teamwork, but it also brings together tools and communication methods that can help with various tasks such as Polls, Forms, Planner, Whiteboard, etc.

UNIDO personnel have welcomed the introduction of Teams with very positive feedback and adoption rates. Over the past 100 days, more than 1,400 active UNIDO personnel have already been using Teams, creating more than 300 collaborative workspaces and 1,200 active channels. Especially staff members in the field emphasized that Teams enables them to collaborate much more easier and efficiently, even in challenging locations.

As adoption grows, our colleagues in Information Technology and Digitalization Services (DIG) as well as Learning and Development Services (LED) continuously evaluate the process and provide adjustments and support in the cultural shift to a more modern and efficient workplace at UNIDO.

In doing so, the respective colleagues, with the support of the Office of Communication, Speeches and the Innovation Lab (CSI), are currently exploring an additional application within Teams called “Viva Engage” formerly known as “Yammer”, a platform for people in an organization to connect and socialize – similar to a corporate internal Facebook. It features a real-time newsfeed to keep you up to date with your colleagues and the UNIDO leadership team – whether you are working from home, at the office, or out in the field. You can create communities and build networks based on organizational functions, committees, projects, common interests, sports, cultural groups, and more. Yammer, subsequently Viva Engage, has been adopted by many other sister organizations such as The UN Secretariat, UNDP, UNICEF, WFP, UNHCR, ITU, etc.

Through this platform, UNIDO can contribute towards strengthening a culture of sharing and learning, allowing personnel to crowdsource knowledge, exchange interests, share best practices, expertise, and ideas within Teams. As soon as the evaluation of the platform has been completed successfully and piloted by a group of Teams power users, an executive decision will be made to roll it out to all UNIDO personnel. Please stay tuned for further updates.

If you haven’t joined the digital working experience yet, this is your call to action!
Establishing connections and effectively collaborating internally and externally is essential for UNIDO to deliver our mandate and objectives. Join the community now and start connecting and collaborating more effectively with colleagues, partners, and stakeholders.

For more information, support, user guides, and FAQs please visit 365.unido.org.