Microsoft SharePoint is the web collaboration and document management platform used by more than 200,000 companies worldwide. It is an integral part of the Microsoft 365 application suite and offers a wide range of features that support teamwork, project management and information sharing, and has been the reference point for building corporate intranets and extranets for over twenty years. In this article, we'll talk about what SharePoint is, how it works, and what are the use cases in which it can help our digital workplaces to reach the next level.
Microsoft SharePoint is a Microsoft collaboration tool used primarily in the workplace for content management, electronic document management and knowledge sharing. SharePoint is a centralized and secure web platform that allows workgroups to collaborate, manage data, and improve efficiency. SharePoint is currently used by more than 200,000 companies to build and manage intranets and corporate digital work environments thanks to its collaborative capabilities.
The platform's many features make it much easier for people to work together on ad hoc projects and establish standard business processes for sharing information, publishing documents and recording data.
For a web-based collaboration platform, SharePoint is easy to maintain and, at a fundamental level, it's easy for business users to understand. It is also infinitely customizable and extremely scalable, and there are many different ways in which companies can use SharePoint to significantly increase their productivity and achieve a great return on investment.
SharePoint allows increased productivity and visibility for workers in all sectors, businesses and companies of all sizes and has been fundamental for the last 23 years in increasing work efficiency in Fortune 500 companies as an intranet platform that crosses all sectors.
Describing in a single section everything that distinguishes the world of SharePoint is no small undertaking. Over the years, Microsoft's web collaboration platform has in fact become a small microcosm of functionalities, integrations, different versions and implementations of all kinds.
In this section, we will therefore limit ourselves to giving as general an overview as possible to provide a picture that, although not exhaustive, can help at least to get a clearer idea of what are the basics and the salient characteristics of SharePoint.
SharePoint can be implemented in two ways: on-premise and online.
The main differences between SharePoint on-premise and SharePoint Online lie in management, hosting, and functionality. SharePoint on-premise is installed and managed on the organization's physical servers, offering greater control over customizations and data security, but requiring constant maintenance and dedicated IT resources.
SharePoint Online, on the other hand, is hosted in the Microsoft cloud as part of Microsoft 365, eliminating the need to manage physical infrastructure and ensuring automatic updates and scalability. SharePoint Online offers greater ease of access and integration with other Microsoft cloud services, but may have limitations compared to the more advanced customizations available in an on-premise solution.
SharePoint On-Premise is an end-of-life product, which does not receive the new updates developed and, although it remains a choice for all those companies that need more control and are already in possession of the infrastructure to host it on their digital spaces, Microsoft's SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) proposal for SharePoint, an integral part of the Microsoft 365 subscription, represents the present and the future of this product and is the option in which the Redmond company is investing the most at the moment.
SharePoint allows you to create different types of sites to meet various business needs. The three main macrogategories into which they are divided are respectively:
Team sites are designed for collaboration within small groups or specific projects, offering spaces to share documents, discuss ideas, and coordinate activities. These sites are often used to manage projects.
Team sites are usually linked to an Office 365 group, which means they include tools like Outlook, Planner, OneNote, and Teams. The interface is geared toward group productivity, with document libraries, lists, and other SharePoint applications that are customizable to meet specific team needs.
Communication sites are oriented to the dissemination of wider information within the organization, such as company news, announcements and important resources. They are ideal for keeping all employees informed and for promoting company culture.
Unlike team sites, which are focused on group collaboration, communication sites are designed for one-way communication from the company to the employees. The interface of these sites is highly visual, with sections for news, events and content pages that may include images, videos and other multimedia elements.
The main difference between department sites and team sites therefore also lies in their scope. Department sites are accessible to multiple departments within an organization, while team sites are accessible only to members of a specific team.
Finally, hub sites make it possible to connect and organize multiple related sites under a single structure, facilitating the navigation and management of distributed content, offering a unified view of the news, activities and content coming from linked sites and improving the search and discovery of information, since users can search for content in all the sites associated with the hub.
When a site is associated with a hub site, it will automatically inherit the theme, navigation structure, and other settings configured at the hub level, ensuring consistency and consistency within the digital workspace.
Integrations in Microsoft SharePoint allow the application to communicate and interact with other apps, services, or external data sources. They work through the use of preconfigured connectors for connecting to numerous external services and platforms.
SharePoint is a native application of the Office 365 suite and, as such, it works in perfect synergy with the other applications of the Microsoft 365 environment to offer its users the best possible user experience.
The 365 environment includes, in addition to SharePoint, a vast number of applications and tools for carrying out business practices and increasing the productivity of its workforce, such as, for example, the core applications of previous versions of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc.) together with Teams, OneDrive, Viva Engage, the software of the Power Platform suite (Power Automate, Power BI and Power Apps).
The integration between SharePoint and other Microsoft 365 applications is a fundamental aspect of the Microsoft collaboration platform that amplifies and extends its potential and functions, allowing users to make the most of the features made available by the Microsoft web collaboration platform and which solves in one fell swoop the problem of compatibility between files of different applications, the problem of their centralization and the development of combined solutions that allow users to take advantage of the functionalities of different applications at the same time.
When it comes to building corporate intranets, SharePoint is a powerful and flexible solution and over the years it has become the main reference point for companies that want to implement one for their digital workplaces. A SharePoint-based intranet acts as a centralized portal where employees can access business information, resources, documents, and tools needed to do their jobs.
The main features of a SharePoint intranet include document management, with the ability to version and track changes, integration with Microsoft 365 applications such as Outlook, Teams and OneDrive, and the ability to create automated workflows through integration with Power Automate to optimize business processes.
The intranet can be customized to reflect the company's brand and organizational structure, with dedicated sections for different departments or areas of interest, facilitating access to specific resources and making the user experience more intuitive and engaging at every step.
SharePoint's advanced search capabilities allow employees to quickly find the documents and information they need, improving productivity and reducing the time spent searching for files in often cluttered and unorganized storage spaces. In addition, SharePoint offers internal communication tools, such as newsfeeds and discussion forums, that improve information sharing and collaboration.
It is worth noting that all portals and business content created with the Microsoft 365 tool are able to adapt to any type of mobile device. In fact, with the SharePoint Online app, it is possible to interact with sites and files, downloading and modifying them directly from your smartphone or tablet.
In addition, it is possible to receive alerts to be informed as soon as a new post or document is uploaded to the intranet. By clicking on the notification, you can access the new content uploaded and start communicating or collaborating with your team with a single, convenient step.
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Now that the ideas are a little clearer about what SharePoint is and what are its Titan characteristics in increasing efficiency, productivity and collaboration in the workplace, it seems appropriate to go and see the advantages it can bring to our business a little closer.
The Microsoft communication platform does much more than simply facilitate work processes and adapts to the specific needs of your company, keeps your data safe and offers an intuitive and functional work environment. Let's see how with some of the benefits offered.
SharePoint Online offers cloud storage accessible from anywhere, keeping all your essential files in one place. Your team will no longer have to hunt for documents, being able to search them directly on SharePoint. Only people with authorized access will be able to view or modify the files, ensuring their security, and they will be able to open their Office documents on any device, such as a computer, tablet or phone.
Staying on the subject of Office, SharePoint is, as we have already mentioned above, closely integrated with all Microsoft Office tools. Whether you're working with Excel or Outlook, you'll be able to move documents in and out of SharePoint without problems. The web collaboration platform also includes a function to edit documents directly in the browser or on the computer, saving the changes either way.
SharePoint makes it easy to work together in real time. For example, if we save a document on OneDrive, any member of our team can add or modify the document from anywhere, keeping everyone on the same page. Thanks to the version history, we will also have the option to keep copies of previous versions of the documents in case of problems.
SharePoint offers an easy and wide choice of customization options that can help us structure the best solution to meet our needs. You can create specific processes such as setting notifications and designing the site in line with the appearance of your company, without the need for advanced programming skills. Personalization capabilities include, for example, creating customized workflows through Power Automate, implementing trigger-based system notifications, and branding the site/app with your organization's logo and colors.
SharePoint is closely linked to OneDrive for Business and the latter offers ample storage space to keep your files in the cloud. OneDrive for Business provides employees with a personal site where they can sync, share, and collaborate on documents with others. It is also possible to control individual permissions on OneDrive, allowing us to share documents with specific colleagues by providing them with access to the documentation that we want to share. Space and security are a combination that should not be underestimated at all.
In the previous sections, we gave a general overview of the features of SharePoint and the advantages it can offer within our virtual workspaces.
Now the time has come to explore in a little more detail the possible implementations of the Microsoft web collaboration platform within our digital infrastructures, taking a closer look at the possible practical use cases in which SharePoint could be the solution to their problems.
As already mentioned in the previous sections, SharePoint has become over time the reference platform for creating corporate intranets, offering a wide range of customizable functionalities and features.
Imagine SharePoint as a private network accessible only to your team where you can share important business information, collaborate on projects, and communicate effectively. The platform includes company directories, training calendars, and task management tools, making it easy for your team to connect and update.
Customizing your intranet with SharePoint is simple and can be adapted to the specific needs of your organization. You can add custom web parts and apps to your intranet sites to provide additional functionality such as event calendars, news feeds, and document libraries.
Using SharePoint hub sites makes it easy to connect and organize multiple SharePoint sites in a single central location, making it infinitely easier to share resources and information across departments or teams and exponentially improving interdepartmental collaboration.
SharePoint makes it easy to store, search, and share content with a central document library and integrated document workflows.
SharePoint allows you to track and collaborate on processes directly from Office desktop programs, protecting sensitive documents and ensuring that only authorized users have access to them, thanks to detailed access control.
With the use of Document IDs, each document can be made unique and easily retrievable. All documents can be tagged with metadata, making it easy to find what you need.
Organizing SharePoint sites effectively is essential for efficient collaboration, and a clear site structure is needed that organizes documents into libraries and that the permission settings are appropriate for the various teams.
By encouraging proper document management through version control, check-in/check-out capabilities and document approval workflows, you can create an orderly and efficient digital workspace where you can always find the information you want and most of the most repetitive tasks can be done quickly, without taking time away from more important tasks.
SharePoint can be used to build customized Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems that help manage the company's daily activities, such as procurement, project management, risk management, compliance, and operations.
With SharePoint, you can easily integrate your ERP system with other business processes and third-party applications, thanks to its seamless integration with Office 365 and OneDrive. SharePoint also offers robust security and authorization controls, ensuring that sensitive information is kept safe.
With SharePoint, you can create dedicated project sites that bring together all relevant documents, activities, and discussions in one place. SharePoint task lists allow you to assign tasks to team members and set deadlines.
In addition, with the integration of Microsoft Teams, you can also use Teams as an activity management tool, offering members of your work groups even more flexibility and visibility on the progress of the project.
SharePoint can also serve as a business Knowledge Base in many situations and be used to centralize business procedures and operational guides.
For companies that develop software or technological products, SharePoint acts as a central repository for all technical documentation, or human resources departments can use SharePoint to create corporate training portals, facilitating the on-boarding procedures for new employees.
In many companies, “tribal” knowledge (crucial information handed down orally and undocumented) represents an important resource, and SharePoint allows this knowledge to be captured through the creation of internal wikis or documentation pages, and a department can use these wikis to document solutions to common problems, best practices and suggestions collected from field experience.
If you are tired of manually managing business processes and wasting precious time on boring tasks, with the help of SharePoint, you can simplify your workflows and increase productivity thanks to powerful tools such as PowerApps, Power Automate and Microsoft InfoPath.
Creating forms and creating workflow processes has never been easier, and SharePoint's integrated workflows can help you manage common business processes with ease.
From purchase requests to those for permits and absences, from approving documents to managing support requests for IT teams to collecting customer feedback, there's no process that SharePoint can't easily automate or integrate into customized apps with the help of the Power Automate suite.
To conclude our speech, all that remains is to emphasize that SharePoint is therefore much more than a cloud-based collaboration and content management platform; it is a tool that can revolutionize the way in which your organization and its elements (individual employees, teams and departments) can communicate, collaborate and operate on common projects.
From the simple and secure management of all company content to the creation of dedicated websites and intranets for the company that keep its users updated, from the orchestration of business processes to automate routine tasks (such as workflows) to the development of customized apps to increase the productivity of its teams, SharePoint offers a complete solution for every type of need and every type of organization.
By implementing SharePoint, you will not only have a powerful technological tool but also an ally for their long-term success in an increasingly competitive landscape, where having a solid digital infrastructure can seriously make the difference between the success and failure of your objectives. So all we have to do is invite anyone interested to experience first-hand the potential of SharePoint for their organization. We are sure that you will not be disappointed.
You can access SharePoint by navigating to the official SharePoint site or through your organization’s Microsoft 365 portal. Once logged in, you can access different SharePoint sites and libraries depending on your permissions.
A SharePoint site is a web-based platform where teams can collaborate, share documents, and manage content. Each SharePoint site can be customized with different web parts, such as document libraries, lists, and calendars.
To create a document library in SharePoint, go to your SharePoint site, click on the “New” button, and select “Document Library.” You can then name your library and configure settings according to your needs.
You can share files in SharePoint by selecting the file, clicking on the “Share” button, and choosing the people you want to share it with. You can set different permissions, such as view-only or edit access.
SharePoint web parts are customizable components that can be added to a SharePoint page. These web parts allow you to display content like documents, lists, images, and other dynamic information on your SharePoint site.
To customize a SharePoint page, you can add or remove web parts, change the layout, and edit the content directly on the page. Use the “Edit” option available on the page to start making changes.
SharePoint lists are used to organize and manage data in a structured way. You can create custom lists for tasks, issues, contacts, or any other type of information your team needs to track in SharePoint.
To set permissions in SharePoint, go to the “Site Settings,” click on “Permissions,” and then assign different access levels to users or groups. You can grant permissions at the site level or on specific lists and libraries.
Yes, SharePoint integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft 365 tools such as Teams, OneDrive, and Outlook, allowing you to enhance collaboration and productivity across your organization.
In SharePoint, you can manage version history by enabling versioning in document libraries. This allows you to track changes, restore previous versions, and view the history of a document.
SharePoint workflow is an automated process that helps you manage and track tasks, approvals, and other business processes within SharePoint. Workflows can be customized to fit your organization’s specific needs.
You can search for content in SharePoint using the search bar located at the top of your SharePoint site. Enter keywords related to the documents, lists, or pages you are looking for, and SharePoint will display the relevant results.
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