A practical guide to running an AI upskilling program for Australian SMEs using Microsoft Viva Learning, already included in most Microsoft 365 Business plans.
How Microsoft Viva Learning Can Run Your AI Upskilling Program
Your team wants to get up to speed on AI. The plan to actually make it happen is already sitting inside your Microsoft 365 subscription.
The training problem most businesses are ignoring
Your team knows AI is changing how they work. Most of them actually want to get up to speed. The problem is not a lack of motivation. It is that there is no structured way to build those skills without adding another subscription, another platform, or another Tuesday afternoon lost to a training day nobody asked for.
Microsoft Viva Learning is already sitting inside your Microsoft 365 subscription. It lives inside Teams. And it can run a proper AI upskilling program for your business without a single new tool to manage.
Viva Learning is included in Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Business Standard, and Business Premium. Most businesses have never switched it on.
One learning hub. Inside Teams. No extra logins.
Viva Learning is Microsoft's built-in learning hub. It pulls training content from Microsoft Learn, LinkedIn Learning, Coursera, Pluralsight, and your own internal materials into one searchable place inside Teams. Managers can assign courses, track who has completed what, and build learning paths without leaving the Microsoft 365 environment your team already uses every day.
Free AI fundamentals
Hundreds of free courses covering AI basics, Copilot, Azure AI, and Microsoft 365, curated by Microsoft.
Business-ready AI courses
Courses like AI for Business Professionals and prompt engineering basics, available with most M365 Business plans.
Internal training materials
Upload your own onboarding guides, SOPs, and training videos so they appear alongside external content.
Coursera, Pluralsight and more
Connect external learning platforms your team already uses into a single hub inside Teams.
Why most AI training attempts do not stick
Most businesses want to get their teams up to speed on AI but have no real plan for it. They either send a single all-staff email with a LinkedIn Learning link nobody clicks, or they book an external training day that is forgotten by Thursday. Neither sticks because the learning is not connected to the work.
Viva Learning changes that. Training shows up where the work happens, inside Teams, not in a separate tab that competes with everything else on someone's screen.
The usual approach
- One email with a link nobody bookmarks
- External training day forgotten by the following week
- No way to track who actually completed anything
- One-size-fits-all content regardless of role
With Viva Learning
- Training appears inside Teams where work happens
- Assigned by manager, tracked automatically
- Different content paths for different roles
- Completion rates visible without chasing anyone
Building an AI upskilling path, step by step
Here is a practical way to set it up:
Step 1, Build a learning path
Create a path called something like 'Getting AI-Ready' using Microsoft Learn's free AI fundamentals courses. It takes about 20 minutes to set up.
Step 2, Add LinkedIn Learning content
Courses like AI for Business Professionals and prompting basics are available with most Microsoft 365 Business plans. Add the ones that fit your team.
Step 3, Assign by role
Your sales team gets AI for CRM. Your admin staff get Copilot for Outlook and Word. Role-specific content is far more likely to get completed.
Step 4, Use the Learning Agent
Microsoft's AI-powered Learning Agent delivers personalised recommendations and role-play exercises right inside Teams. Rolling out across Microsoft 365 in 2026.
Step 5, Track without chasing anyone
Managers see completion rates and skill gaps from a single dashboard. No spreadsheets, no follow-up emails.
Microsoft ran this experiment on 220,000 people
Microsoft runs Viva across its entire 220,000-person workforce and reports over 97% usage across the suite. In 2025 and 2026 they rolled out new AI certifications through Viva Learning to get their own staff across Copilot. That same content is available to your business right now through Microsoft Learn and LinkedIn Learning.
Viva suite usage across Microsoft's workforce
Employees trained through the platform
Year Microsoft rolled out AI certifications via Viva Learning
Finding out what your team actually knows (and what they do not)
Viva's AI-powered Skills feature builds an inferred profile for each employee based on their work activity, documents completed, and learning history. Managers get a clear picture of where skill gaps exist across the team.
So instead of guessing who needs AI training, Viva tells you.
Skills profiles are built from aggregate signals, not surveillance. Individual data is never exposed to managers without the employee's knowledge. Microsoft designed this with employee trust in mind.
What this looks like for a Perth business
A 30-person professional services firm can build a four-week AI foundations program inside Viva Learning with zero extra budget. Week one covers AI fundamentals via Microsoft Learn. Week two covers Copilot in Outlook and Word via LinkedIn Learning. Week three uses the Learning Agent for prompting basics and practice. Week four is role-specific tools for each team.
AI fundamentals via Microsoft Learn. What AI is, how it works, and where it fits in your business.
Copilot in Outlook and Word. Practical skills your team can use the same day.
Prompting basics and practice via the Learning Agent. Interactive exercises inside Teams.
Role-specific tools. Sales, admin, finance, each team gets content built for how they actually work.
The manager assigns it on Monday. Viva tracks it. The team completes it inside Teams between actual work.
How StartCloud helps you get started
StartCloud helps Perth businesses set up Viva Learning as part of a Microsoft 365 managed service, including building your first AI upskilling path. Get in touch and we will walk you through what is already available in your current licence.
Licence audit
We check what is already active in your Microsoft 365 environment. Most businesses are surprised how much they are already paying for.
Learning path setup
We build your first AI upskilling path inside Viva Learning, including content curation from Microsoft Learn and LinkedIn Learning.
Role-based content
We map the right content to the right roles so your sales team, admin staff, and managers each get training that is relevant to them.
Manager training
We show your managers how to assign courses, track progress, and use the Skills dashboard without needing IT support.
Learning Agent activation
We configure the Learning Agent so your team gets personalised AI recommendations directly inside Teams.
Ongoing management
As part of our Microsoft 365 managed service, we keep your learning content updated as Microsoft releases new Copilot and AI courses.
References
- Microsoft Learn, Viva Learning Overview
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/viva/learning/overview-viva-learning - Microsoft Learn, Learning Agent Overview
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/viva/learning/learning-agent-overview-deployment-steps - Microsoft 365 Blog, Introducing Skills in Microsoft Viva
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2023/10/10/introducing-skills-in-microsoft-viva-a-new-ai-powered-service-to-grow-and-manage-talent/ - Microsoft Inside Track, Accelerating cultural transformation at Microsoft with Viva and AI
https://www.microsoft.com/insidetrack/blog/accelerating-our-cultural-transformation-at-microsoft-with-viva-and-ai/ - Microsoft Inside Track, Embracing AI at Microsoft with new AI certifications
https://www.microsoft.com/insidetrack/blog/embracing-emerging-technology-at-microsoft-with-new-ai-certifications/ - EPC Group, Microsoft Viva Learning Overview
https://www.epcgroup.net/microsoft-viva-consulting/microsoft-viva-learning-overview/
Document prepared April 2026 by StartCloud (Start Technologies Pty Ltd). Information is current as of the date of preparation.