An intranet is a web-based internal business collaboration platform that allows organizations to create a centralized private environment for communication, document and information sharing, and employee collaboration. In this article we will take a closer look at explaining what an intranet built with SharePoint is, how it works, what are the advantages of using one for your business and in conclusion we will also see a small practical example of how to start building one.
An intranet is a private network used within an organization, accessible only to its employees. It works like an internal website that centralizes access to information, documents, and collaboration tools, making them securely available only to members of the organization.
Intranets are extremely flexible and scalable. They support a wide range of use cases and processes, offering value in multiple areas, including communication support, productivity, task completion, engagement and knowledge sharing.
Since its first appearance, almost twenty years ago, Microsoft SharePoint has become synonymous with a corporate intranet for many companies. And there is some truth in this now practically automatic association: the platform, in fact, provides its users with various tools and functionalities that can be used to create and manage an intranet, such as the management of corporate documents and news, collaboration tools and internal/external communication for employees and team members engaged in common projects.
SharePoint intranets (and their homepages) are extremely flexible and companies can always build an intranet that reflects their particular needs thanks to the large number of features and web parts available in SharePoint Online, ready to use. So let's see together, what they offer.
If you decide to build an intranet using SharePoint, you have three main options. You can create a basic SharePoint site with minimal customizations, structure a completely customized intranet from scratch or rely on a development company that offers “in-a-box” solutions ready for immediate use with the possibility of any customizations to be designed ad hoc. Let's take a closer look at the three options listed above.
A ready-to-use SharePoint solution is the most affordable for small businesses. By “Ready to Use” we refer here to the use of SharePoint's native functionality and everything that is available within its standard offering.
If you have a small organization and an IT professional who manages the daily operations of your intranet site, this may be the best option to save on the budget but you have to consider how, in this particular scenario, the customization options are reduced to the bone (and therefore more particular needs may remain unsatisfied) and that the visual impact could leave something to be desired, going to negatively affect your branding.
Your organization may also decide to build an intranet on SharePoint starting completely from scratch and structure the project down to the smallest detail to meet more particular customization needs than the norm.
Although this option guarantees the maximum degree of customization for your digital work environment, you should still consider the need to have an experienced IT team available to carefully manage every single phase of the project and, after implementation, keep the intranet operational and take care of updates.
This path, although it guarantees maximum freedom, is definitely the most expensive in terms of time and resources and is generally undertaken by very few high-level companies (and with extreme caution) precisely for this reason.
An “in-a-box” SharePoint solution is ideal for medium and large companies that want to launch an intranet as quickly as possible, achieving a satisfactory compromise between quality, personalization and price.
These solutions are generally offered by Microsoft partners who develop SharePoint intranets by trade; therefore, it is possible to benefit from the experience of competent developers, the full security offered by the Microsoft environments cleverly implemented by these professionals and from all the latest developments, without having to worry about taking care of maintenance and updates firsthand.
In addition, the choice of this type of solution often also includes the development of solutions for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, removing even the hassle of having to deal with the implementation of their intranets for devices other than normal desktop PCs and laptops.
The use of SharePoint to create their corporate intranet has several significant advantages for anyone who decides to implement the Microsoft collaboration platform within their digital workplace. Let's take a closer look at what these benefits are:
First of all, a SharePoint intranet, as we have already mentioned in the previous sections, is an incredibly important tool in promoting internal collaboration through the creation of communication sites for its employees.
In these collaborative spaces, employees who participate in a project can share files (images, archive files, pdfs, etc.), produce and edit documents together (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, etc.), and configure workflows to automate certain activities, such as approving a new report or requests submitted to purchasing and human resources departments. In short, the members of the group can collaborate and advance together on their project, even if they are not in the same place or practice hybrid working methods and smart working.
A SharePoint intranet facilitates internal and external communication. Thanks to team sites, employees belonging to the same department or group can easily share information about their projects with each other, even when they are traveling (thanks to the SharePoint mobile app) or if they work from home.
The organization can also create communication sites whose main objective is to bring together in one place information, news and events that may interest and involve the company's employees more in business activities.
A SharePoint intranet is also ideal for centralizing knowledge and making it more accessible to employees. In fact, it is easy to transform SharePoint into an EDM (Electronic Documentation Manager), that is, an electronic document management tool.
With SharePoint, the company can store its documents and administer access rights to them, but not only. It can also trace their history, from creation to archiving through the history of all subsequent versions.
The files are organized in easy-to-consult lists and libraries, and the SharePoint search bar makes it easy to find them. In addition, employees can share their knowledge and ideas by creating and co-editing Wiki pages that can be a godsend for introducing new employees to business practices and projects.
A SharePoint intranet offers both flexibility and a high degree of security. Employees can access their digital workspace (DWS) from any device (tablet, smartphone, computer) and from anywhere they want and, although the possibility of being able to access the company intranet wherever you want may seem problematic in terms of security, data security will never be compromised.
Administrators can assign different permission levels to users and manage access rights to content hosted on the intranet. Plus, documents will no longer get lost in annoying email loops.
In addition, employees will only have to identify themselves once to access the various applications, which significantly limits the risks of hacking and infiltration of malicious agents while connecting to corporate networks.
From the point of view of the employer and the people in charge of distributing the solution, a SharePoint intranet has an important advantage: the extreme ease of hosting and the integration of the collaboration platform with other digital work tools (not only Microsoft).
SharePoint Online is hosted on the Microsoft cloud, so there is no need for a physical server or the maintenance associated with these types of installations (unless you use the old SharePoint On-Premise).
Another strength is that SharePoint can integrate with a large number of applications, including Outlook, Excel, Word, OneDrive, Teams, Yammer, Delve, Skype Enterprise, and Salesforce (to name a few). This means that employees can open these programs without leaving SharePoint or accessing SharePoint sites directly from them.
As a consequence of the previous points, a SharePoint intranet is a productivity lever for both teams and the company. Centralize and make accessible in a few clicks all the information and tools that employees need to work efficiently.
It is no longer necessary to navigate from one program to another, as SharePoint integrates with the Office365 suite and other office applications such as Salesforce. Better yet, with SharePoint, employees can create workflows to automate some of their business processes (purchasing processes, project approvals, document reviews, etc.) which are a very effective way to increase productivity by saving time and resources on repetitive processes that can shift the focus of their employees away from more important issues.
Finally, a SharePoint intranet offers a more intuitive and engaging digital experience for a company's employees who can easily access their digital workspace, whether they're in the field or in the office.
This single access point allows them to quickly open all of their applications and to move seamlessly between them. In addition, they can find the information, news, and documents that interest them without being overwhelmed by a mass of data. A good intranet can become one of the key components to combat information overload within companies.
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Now that the advantages of implementing an intranet for their company are clearer, however, some may still wonder what it consists of in practice and what concrete examples can be used to get a more precise idea of which communication and collaboration spaces can be developed for their intranet based on Microsoft SharePoint. Let's go see some of them right away.
A company's home page on a SharePoint intranet is often the main entry point for employees. It may contain company news, recent updates, quick links to important resources and tools.
In addition to a section dedicated to the latest company news and important announcements, it could provide quick access to frequently used resources such as the HR portal, company manuals, and request forms. A search bar on the homepage could also allow employees to search for documents, people, and other information within the intranet directly from the home page and avoid lengthy manual searches for each section of the intranet.
To manage routine business activities and encourage participation in events organized by the company, you could insert a calendar that shows upcoming corporate events such as meetings, training and team building activities.
An HR portal within the intranet is a space where employees can find all the information related to human resources.
Employees will be able to access digital forms for their vacation requests, benefits, and feedback and easily consult all those documents that concern the implementation or updating of the most recent company policies.
To facilitate onboarding processes, it could contain an entire section dedicated to training, providing new intranet users with online training courses and study materials and allowing them to monitor the progress made through convenient dashboards that track the course of their studies.
As is well known, it is often the most trivial things that can give rise to the biggest doubts and to unravel them, a section dedicated to frequently asked questions can help us to resolve quickly and with clear and straightforward explanations to the point the uncertainties common among employees.
Another interesting idea could be a site dedicated to a specific team or to a particular project that the said team is working on, which can facilitate collaboration between members and the management of documents regarding the task of our team.
This portal would then become a single space for archiving, sharing and collaborating on project documents, providing links to resources and tools specific to the project and providing lists of activities assigned to team members, with deadlines and priorities to maintain control of the organizational side and promote communication between members through virtual bulletin boards on which to post updates and communications relating to the status of the work and the achievement of the set objectives.
A centralized collection of business knowledge, technical documentation, operational guides, and best practices could be an amazing addition to your intranet, which in this way would have a real company wiki that is always accessible and updated with the latest information, detailed articles and operational guides on business processes, implemented technologies and procedures followed.
The document tagging system and the extensive categorization of documents and the advanced search features provided by SharePoint will make finding specific information on a topic a breeze for all those new employees looking for information to facilitate their inclusion in business processes.
And don't think that it can't be a useful resource even for office veterans who want to update themselves on the constantly evolving landscape of their company or provide useful information in the spaces dedicated to submitting questions from their colleagues, sharing their knowledge and experiences within the reality of the company.
A company doesn't have to be just a simple place to work. After all, it is a concrete reality in the lives of its employees and becomes, for better or worse, an important part of their lives.
Internal communication with your employees therefore becomes fundamental, and this is precisely why within your intranet you should always think about building and managing spaces where employees can find news, updates, and business initiatives to promote a sense of cooperation and belonging among their employees.
From blogs where business leaders and employees can share updates, strategies and visions for the company's future, to access to past and present corporate newsletters, an internal communication portal can become much more than a banal bulletin board for announcing new policies, organizational changes, and business initiatives.
If we also count on the close integration of SharePoint with Viva Engage and the possibility of inserting customized web parts, our internal communication portal can become a real corporate Social Network with dedicated sections for video messages, presentations and other multimedia content.
At this point, the benefits and examples of what to implement and why within a corporate intranet should be clear to everyone. It only remains to understand how.
So let's see together how you can start creating your SharePoint intranet starting from a simple home page in a few steps in order to test the medium a bit and become familiar with the features provided by SharePoint.
First, with our Microsoft credentials, we access the SharePoint Online environment and once we have chosen the 'communication site' option, the process of creating the intranet will begin.
To start, Microsoft provides several templates to speed up the creation of a communication site dedicated to:
Unfortunately, however, a real ready-to-use template for the corporate intranet is not yet available, so we'll start from scratch, using the “Blank” model that will give us a blank canvas, perfect for working in total freedom.
Once you have chosen the name for the intranet, SharePoint will ask you to write a brief description of the new site and to Choose the default language. The choice of language represents the second key moment in the process of creating the intranet, because SharePoint does not allow it to be changed later.
As soon as you enter the empty site, we recommend choose the business theme to apply the appropriate color palette to SharePoint commands, labels, and graphics. To do this, it will be enough:
You can choose from the templates offered by Microsoft and use them as they are to accelerate the creation of the intranet. Or you can choose a template and customize it, perhaps to align the palette with the colors of the corporate brand. For greater customization, SharePoint allows you to create your theme from scratch.
Still in the item 'Change the look', it is possible to change the appearance of:
Once the template of our intranet has been customized, it will then be necessary to define the content of the home. To get started, just select the 'Edit' item at the top right. SharePoint Online is, as we have already seen, a powerful Content Management tool and allows users to insert a large amount of different content on each of the pages of its sites.
First, Editors can change the number and formatting of sections that make up a page, in order to define the structure that will host the individual contents.
After setting up the page structure, you can then insert the web parts of the text and multimedia content supported by SharePoint. Among them, we can mention:
The web parts can be extended with a whole series of customized features, suitable to cover the specific needs of a company and its documents and that allow intranet users to:
Whether standard or custom, it is important to remember that the web parts of your intranet must always be selected based on the real needs of the employees and the processes that characterize your company. Functionality is and must always be the highest priority in the design and implementation of an intranet since it is still a workspace.
Once the useful web parts have been inserted, all that remains is to create, publish and constantly update the contents of the intranet.
Obviously, the steps above are not intended as an exhaustive guide but more as an appetizer of what are the basic functions offered by SharePoint for creating an intranet and, as such, should be understood.
The creation of an intranet is a process with numerous steps that cannot really be condensed into a few points and, from its design to its implementation, requires a careful eye and attention to the operation and to the details that will distinguish the internal network of our company.
The implementation of a SharePoint intranet represents a crucial strategic move for any company that wants to improve internal collaboration, optimize document management and enhance team productivity.
The statistics speak for themselves: companies that adopt solutions like SharePoint see a significant return on investment (ROI). A Forrester study found that companies using SharePoint experienced a 301 percent ROI over three years, with a payback time of less than six months.
The use of intranets to centralize business information dramatically reduces the time spent by employees searching for documents, improving operational efficiency, as highlighted by McKinsey research that confirms how better knowledge management can increase productivity by 20-25% in organizations that implement this type of solution for their digital infrastructures.
Therefore, there is no better time to choose to adopt a SharePoint intranet than now. The tangible benefits in terms of productivity, security, and integration with other applications of the Microsoft 365 environment make it an essential investment for the success and future competitiveness of your company. So why wait?
A SharePoint intranet is an internal network solution built on the SharePoint platform that enables organizations to manage and share content, collaborate, and streamline internal communications.
A SharePoint intranet improves communication, enhances collaboration, and provides a centralized location for storing and accessing company information, leading to increased productivity and efficiency.
A SharePoint intranet typically includes document management, team collaboration tools, content publishing, social features, and customizable workflows to suit your organization’s needs.
A SharePoint intranet is highly customizable, allowing organizations to tailor the layout, design, and functionality to meet their specific requirements and branding guidelines.
Yes, a SharePoint intranet can integrate with various third-party tools and systems, including Microsoft 365 apps, CRM systems, and other enterprise solutions to enhance its functionality.
A SharePoint intranet is secure, offering robust security features such as user authentication, permissions management, and data encryption to protect sensitive company information.
Yes, a SharePoint intranet is ideal for remote work as it allows employees to access company resources, collaborate, and communicate effectively from anywhere with an internet connection.
A SharePoint intranet supports collaboration by providing tools such as shared document libraries, team sites, discussion boards, and real-time co-authoring, making it easier for teams to work together.
A SharePoint intranet can manage various types of content, including documents, images, videos, news articles, and company announcements, all of which can be organized and easily accessed.
To get started with a SharePoint intranet, you can consult with SharePoint experts who can guide you through planning, customization, deployment, and training to ensure a successful implementation.
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