What is SharePoint & How Does it Benefit the Workplace?

Microsoft SharePoint is a highly customisable website-based platform that helps businesses to work remotely in a collaborative environment that also facilitates decision-making. As many as 200,000 organisations and 190 million people around the globe use SharePoint as their content collaboration and management platform of choice.

SharePoint refers to one or more SharePoint technologies or products, including SharePoint Online, SharePoint in Microsoft 365, SharePoint Server, SharePoint Designer 2013, and OneDrive sync.

• SharePoint Online – As SharePoint’s cloud version, SharePoint Online can integrate with many other cloud apps. It has the functionality of other Microsoft packages with a Microsoft 365 or Office 365 license.
• SharePoint in Microsoft 365 – A cloud-based service hosted by Microsoft, SharePoint in Microsoft 365 enables businesses to subscribe to a Microsoft 365 plan or the standalone SharePoint Online service rather than implementing SharePoint Service on-premises.
• SharePoint Server – Businesses can use SharePoint Server on-premises or alongside an Office 365 Enterprise subscription to leverage the latest features and capabilities such as PowerApps integration, Power BI and MS Flow, modern site pages, and modern web parts and authoring among others.
• SharePoint Designer 2013 – A free program with its last release in 2013, SharePoint Designer 2013 builds powerful workflow-enabled solutions and edits external content types for an external data solution based on Business Connectivity Services.
• OneDrive sync – OneDrive sync is a desktop program for syncing documents to your computer for offline use from a team site or OneDrive for work or school.

Speak to a specialist SharePoint development company for a more detailed breakdown of Microsoft SharePoint’s products and technologies.

With many Fortune 500 companies relying on Microsoft SharePoint for daily work management, it begs the question why this solution is so important to enterprises. It comes down to two main factors — SharePoint’s ease of use and the level of convenience it provides to businesses. As a document management solution and collaboration tool, businesses can effectively integrate their workflow with SharePoint. Thanks to the solution’s dynamic technologies and integration capabilities SharePoint simplifies internal processes, which helps to bring an organisation together.

Your organisation can leverage Microsoft SharePoint to make a range of workplace improvements, including the ones listed below.

Automating Monotonous Tasks

Microsoft SharePoint is designed to handle daily tasks, meetings, and targets. You can create and integrate workflows that make your workplace processes much easier, with little to carry and remember.

Tracking Work & Human Resources

Setting KPIs in SharePoint is easy to do and can be based on the nature of staff’s work. HR can track employee performance using performance management software to monitor efficiency in real-time. Upper management can also get insight on overall flow and progress for the company as a whole.

Providing an Integrated Environment

SharePoint provides a central place to share, meet, and work. Through the different authorisation levels, you can see to it that certain information is only accessible to the right personnel as and when required using SharePoint.

Real-Time Collaboration

SharePoint enables real-time collaboration between staff and departments in one environment. It’s especially useful for companies with remote workers because it allows communication at all times, which creates a culture of creativity and collaboration. Targets and other important metrics can also be made visible to staff to facilitate decision-making, increase buy-in and boost performance.

Connecting Staff with Relevant Company Data

Through a feature called Enterprise Search, organisations can boost company-wide communication using SharePoint intranet. It incorporates business data and details about company staff, which is extremely helpful to organising people, projects, and information.

Streamlines the Collection of Critical Business Information

With SharePoint’s smart forms, you can streamline the process of collecting stakeholder data via a user-friendly browser interface. The customisable forms can have simple functionality including collecting basic business data or can be more complex with functionality that is key to significant business processes.

Helps to Fulfil Regulatory Requirements

SharePoint helps you to protect sensitive corporate data alongside effective security, storage, and audit policies that meet compliance requirements. Setting permissions and authorisations for relevant personnel puts your organisation in the best position to minimise the risk of potential lawsuits against you.

Full Cloud Enablement

Whether you’re using SharePoint on-premises or online, you can leverage the solution in a similar way from an end-user point of view. You can increase productivity and efficiency through cutting-edge technology, which is critical in today’s fiercely competitive markets.

Microsoft SharePoint for business delivers a range of benefits. Here are some of the key benefits below.

Improved Flexibility

SharePoint development gives you the ability to create intranet sites that act as an internal Internet for your organisation. It makes running daily operations much easier, which includes sharing important information in a protected environment as well as monitoring and reporting on different processes.

Robust Security

SharePoint comes complete with advanced security features and a range of configuration settings to effectively manage data of all sensitivity levels. If you operate in a sector with very strict compliance requirements, SharePoint is an excellent tool for easily creating essential settings and audit policies.

Streamlines Business Processes

As a solution that brings data together in one centralised location, SharePoint is a great way to streamline business processes, understand trends, and make informed business decisions that improve end-to-end performance.

Seamless Integrations

Microsoft SharePoint solutions seamlessly integrate with a range of business-critical platforms like Microsoft Office Suite, Office 365, CRM, and ERP solutions in addition to its compatibility with all web browsers.

Excellent Content Management

SharePoint makes sharing updates, news and ideas both internally and externally easy for your business. Through SharePoint, you can leverage Microsoft Office to create, edit, schedule, publish, and convert documents to different formats. You can also manage multilingual content using SharePoint.

Facilitates Data Management

With so much data generated in modern business environments, SharePoint makes it simple and efficient to manage data. Your business can easily track all data while allowing your staff to gain access to the information they need in an organised manner via SharePoint.

Customisation Options

SharePoint comes with an array of customisation features that enable your organisation to tailor the solution to meet your precise needs. This isn’t something that is possible on all other platforms.

Centralised Administration

Whether it’s system settings, app management, security, configurations settings, or backup you need to handle, SharePoint gives you the power to manage all your main admin from a single point. It gives you better control over the platform as a whole while streamlining your operations in the process.

Increased Productivity

SharePoint helps to increase productivity by automating documents management, which frees up valuable time for employees to focus on tasks that require more attention and specialist expertise. Team members can also access all the information they need to perform their roles easily, which speeds up processes and efficiency.

SharePoint is the golden ticket to improving end-to-end business performance. From data management to colleague searches and everything between is designed to make collaboration within your organisation as seamless as possible.

Interested in learning more about Microsoft SharePoint and the many benefits it can bring to your enterprise? As a leading SharePoint development company, we create bespoke solutions that are tailored to your needs. Contact our expert team today to schedule your SharePoint consultation.