What SharePoint is Used for & Why it’s the Center of the O365 Universe
We are all creatures of habit. And the biggest business habit is email. A form of technology invented in 1971 is too often the primary tool to communicate and collaborate in today’s business environment. Think about that. We have stretched that outdated technology to work in a way it was not initially intended. We make folders. We make subfolders. We scroll through endless conversations in the all-too-often vain attempt to find attachments. We need a productivity-boosting, headache-ending upgrade.
Enter SharePoint – the center of the O365 universe.
What is SharePoint?
Put simply, SharePoint is a web-based collaboration platform and content management system (CMS). With this option, you can do something as simple as collaborating with your team and as complex as launching a global corporate intranet.
Like any other online offering, there have been upgrades. SharePoint can now be augmented with Flow and PowerApps to allow for process management, document management, and even a mobile platform. Before anyone hyperventilates over the idea of never using email again, fear not. The SharePoint experience will integrate through email – but the days of managing through this dated structure will be, thankfully, over.
What is SharePoint used for?
SharePoint can be used as a collaboration tool, a management tool, a quality tracking tool, and as a company intranet.
See how companies often use SharePoint and it’s benefits below.
SharePoint as a collaboration tool.
Using the Team template, groups can set up multiple document libraries that support very complicated folder structures. Think of it as the folder UX that you’d find in the average laptop.
For example, a business could organize their structure by client with subfolders for departments or projects that your company serves. These documents serve as a hub for all of your creation and collaboration. SharePoint allows team members to store, organize, and locate these documents. With SharePoint, you can ensure document consistency, document security, and document cooperation.
SharePoint as a management tool.
This structure is perfect for staying entirely up to date on the status of any project. With it, you can manage deadlines, approvals, revisions – pretty much all project workflow can, well, flow through SharePoint. This online platform also allows you to quickly and easily manage metadata for documents.
In short, it makes the project management process easy.
SharePoint as a quality tracking tool.
Need to ensure document consistency? Want to track keep performance indicators for an employee or even a project? SharePoint can make that happen. But there is something that users will need to track on their own when it comes to the tool — the ROI.
The SharePoint environment is built to reduce overall business costs and increase a company’s productivity. Properly utilized, the ease of use and open collaboration allow teams to work faster and more effectively.
SharePoint as a company intranet.
Leveraged for more complex, more corporate needs, this use of SharePoint handles a corporation’s content management systems. This usage can serve as an alternative to more expensive, elaborate management systems. Very often, the needs of the company will morph and require more custom code. Even when that happens, this structure still allows organizations to keep costs at a minimum.
Summary
To sum it all up, SharePoint is easy to access and easy to use. Non-IT employees can update, revise content with a minimal amount of training. This is accomplished through a WYSIWYG user experience. Non-IT translation? It’s a point and click. The platform is a veritable Swiss Army knife of toolsets ready to help your business run like a well-oiled, well-managed, easily-accessed productivity powerhouse.
Need to get trained on SharePoint and all its features? Centriq offers live, instructor-in-the-classroom Microsoft technology training in Kansas City and St. Louis – or you can attend online. Contact us today!