“Nearly three in five employees plan to work abroad this year, research finds.” – (IWG) – Source.

Hybrid working is a win/win for employers and employees alike and as the model is embraced by more and more businesses, the demand for intranet systems has skyrocketed. On-premises solutions are simply no longer suitable for the modern workforce.

“Hybrid workforce models are embraced by 63% of high-revenue growth companies.” – (Accenture)  – Source.

The good news is that due to the widespread adoption of Microsoft 365 services during the pandemic, many businesses already have access to SharePoint, a cloud-based intranet platform that allows employees to work when, where, and how they choose.

“78% of HR professionals surveyed say flexible schedules and remote working are effective ways to retain workers without spending money.” – (Future of Work Survey)  –Source.

Microsoft SharePoint Online is a content and collaboration hub for document sharing, business intelligence, advanced search, content collaboration, and much more. It enables businesses to:

“More than 200,000 organisations and 190 million people have SharePoint for intranets, team sites and content management” – Source.

SharePoint Online allows companies to create internal web pages (often known as team sites) that encourage collaboration and teamwork. Your team can collaborate with colleagues inside and outside your organisation using SharePoint on PCs, Macs, and mobile devices.

SharePoint may be a suitable fit for your organisation if you have outgrown your present processes or systems and are not sure where to go next. In this article, we will cover just some of the advantages of SharePoint and how it can assist your organisation.

1 – No infrastructure required

The physical server architecture and the resources necessary for upkeep, patch installation, and update management were the responsibility of organisations using prior versions of SharePoint, which might have a significant impact on the total cost of ownership.

SharePoint Online leverages the Microsoft cloud environment, which means it does not require for the purchase or upkeep of new hardware, which has little to no effect on deployment costs as compared to the SharePoint Server (on-premises) solution.

Security, uptime, and the environment will be handled by Microsoft. By utilising a subscription-based cloud service, businesses can substitute Capital Expenditure with Operational Expenditure.

2 – Mobility

Modern SharePoint pages have the benefit of being created to function effectively on desktop and mobile platforms. Because responsive design is already implemented, authors do not need to take any additional steps to produce appealing sites that adjust to mobile screens.

A desktop computer, laptop, mobile phone, or tablet can access SharePoint. Because it is an online application, users can access it via a secure web browser.

3 – Enhanced document management capabilities

The trouble of maintaining changes in various copies of a file can be avoided when users store Office files in the Microsoft 365 cloud.  Instead, they can collaborate on a single version by using either the desktop apps or the web versions of Office.

To avoid duplication, save space, and reduce confusion, they no longer need to email documents back and forth but instead share a link to the single, constantly updated source document that everyone is working on.

One of SharePoint’s most useful features is versioning. On a per-file/list item, it creates a historical record of all changes, complete with the date, time, and identification of the user who made the change.

If end users have the proper permissions in the library or list, it is much easier for them to browse, delete, and restore a version.

Metadata is an underused and often misunderstood asset that can help keep content organised. The definition of metadata is “descriptive information about a document” or other words characteristics of a document that allow users to categorise it.

When documents are tagged, you have the flexibility to organise and display them in a variety of ways in accordance with how the content is categorised, which makes searching much faster and provides the ability to create custom views of the documents.

Businesses often need to comply with regulatory requirements such as GDPR that dictates how data is preserved and disposed of. Retention labels can be used in OneDrive and SharePoint (including Teams) to ensure that content is only stored for as long as necessary. After a certain amount of time (determined by the label), files and folders that have been tagged are automatically deleted.

While retention is about information governance, sensitivity labels are part of information protection. They are more about controlling how content is handled to protect the company files. Sensitivity labels can be applied to emails, documents and M365 containers.

When the labels are enabled, it tags or stamps the content, meaning that the tag is embedded in the file and will follow it everywhere it goes. They also enable protective behaviours such as watermarks, limits for who can view the document, or encryption. With Microsoft end point protection, you can prevent an item from leaving your organisational control.

4 – Search

SharePoint in Microsoft 365 offers both a traditional and modern search experience, with Microsoft Search in SharePoint functioning as the latter. The most notable change is that the Microsoft Search box is now situated in the header bar at the top of SharePoint. Another difference is that Microsoft Search is personal.

Even when users conduct the same search for the same phrases, the results they receive are different. Based on their prior activity and popular content in Microsoft 365, users can view results before they begin typing in the search field, and the results are updated as they write. The search results are simple to browse through without any work on your part as the admin.

With the use of audience targeting, the most relevant information can reach the correct people. By enabling audience targeting, certain content will be prioritised for specific audiences via SharePoint web parts, page libraries, and navigational links.

5 – Integration

Microsoft SharePoint integrates seamlessly with the rest of your business applications. The product is fully compatible with Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, Word, and PowerPoint), MS Exchange Server, MS Unified Communications, ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), CRM (Customer Relationship Management), and various other back-office systems and previous versions.

SharePoint Online is not only compatible with Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer; it also works well with all modern web browsers.

Final Thoughts

Adopting SharePoint in your organisation is the beginning of a new way of working for your employees and Teams. To allow them to continue to be productive, you need to stay in regular contact with users to resolve any issues that might arise.

Despite the constant changes in enterprise needs, Microsoft continues to invest significantly in updating its current products. SharePoint is updated frequently to improve productivity, collaboration, and user experience.

Our consultants can help you identify, design, and plan a strategy that best suits your business needs so that you get the most value from SharePoint.

If you currently use outdated on-premises file storage infrastructure or if you are interested in learning how to use SharePoint Online more productively, our consultants can help you get SharePoint Online up and running in your organisation – get in touch today.