Pros and Cons of SharePoint: Is SharePoint Worth it?
According to the 2019 State of the Digital Workplace, 80% of medium-sized and large organizations’ employees said their company has an intranet. If your organization’s rapid growth is creating file and data storage disorganization, it may be time to consider a web-based platform like Microsoft SharePoint.
SharePoint is a web-based collaboration and document management platform. It allows organizations to store, organize, and share information with teams and provides tools for creating websites, intranet portals, and other business applications.
Alternatives to SharePoint include Google Workspace (formerly known as G Suite), Confluence, Huddle, Dropbox Business, and more.
SharePoint may or may not be right for your organization, depending on your IT environment. This article will lay out the features, benefits, and drawbacks of SharePoint to allow you to understand if it’s the right solution for you.
How is SharePoint different?
Intranets are private networks used to organize and store a company’s data. SharePoint provides a robust solution for file sharing among groups of individuals, internally and externally, and is more than just your average intranet.
Microsoft SharePoint is the ultimate tool for seamless workplace collaboration. SharePoint keeps your data and resources in one customizable place – so your workforce can stay productive and focused on the main goal.
Companies can integrate their SharePoint with workflow management, content management, and business intelligence applications. Customers are getting a secure space capable of providing tools wide enough to cover multiple facets of teamwork. Because of its versatility, SharePoint is used by over 200,00 organizations and 190 million people worldwide.
SharePoint provides the toolsets to help share and manage content, knowledge, and applications seamlessly across your organization.
The SharePoint Pros
Frictionless Integration with Microsoft 365 and other systems
Like most Microsoft 365 cloud products, SharePoint provides seamless integration with other Microsoft “Software as a Service (SaaS)” offerings like OneDrive, Teams, and OneNote, making it easy for SMBs to take advantage of the full range of Microsoft productivity tools.
Encourages Collaboration
SharePoint was designed to focus on increasing employee participation. SharePoint can be used to create a company intranet portal, providing a central hub for employees to view company news, resources, and other beneficial productivity tools.
Employees can also employ real-time dual editing functionality when paired with Microsoft Office, so everyone is updated with every document.
Documents saved within SharePoint can be quickly shared by generating custom links you can share for instant access.
Enhances Data Security
Microsoft SharePoint is protected with best-in-class encryption, ensuring continued data privacy.
SharePoint document management provides a central repository for storing, organizing, and sharing documents, improving document accessibility and reducing the risk of data loss and duplication.
For extra protection, Framework IT recommends enabling Multi-Factor or Two Factor Authentication. This prevents your passwords from being used without a second method of identification through a phone call, text, email, or app verification and prevents unauthorized users from accessing your account.
Easily Customized To Fit Your Needs
SharePoint can be tailored to perfectly fit the needs of your company. SharePoint intranet and website creation tools enable you to build engaging pages tailored to your organization.
Some examples of customizing a SharePoint are:
- Add branding elements like colors, graphics, and footers
- Power Automate: A workflow automates tedious manual work, like data entry. Power Automate will configure and perform all workflows within your site. Automated workflows will save you time, increase productivity, and save you money, among other things.
- Power Apps: Power Apps is used to build custom forms unique to your site.
If there is a function that SharePoint doesn’t provide, many third-party sites offer downloadable plug-ins that can be created internally. There are endless possibilities for the customization and integration of an organization’s SharePoint.
The SharePoint Cons
Complex Migration
Proper setup of SharePoint can become quite complicated, so you must have the right team to put it in place to avoid long-term performance problems.
According to the 2019 State of the Market: Microsoft SharePoint report, it took 32% of users six months to one year to fully integrate and develop their site to their liking.
If not implemented properly, your business may experience obstacles that could have otherwise been avoided.
Training Recommended
With dozens of customization options, it is no surprise that many find the program difficult to manage.
The 2019 State of the Market: Microsoft SharePoint report again cited that “two-thirds (66%) of those who had cited dissatisfaction, the primary issue was that the Microsoft collaboration product was “hard to use.”
Microsoft recommends that companies provide internal training so that any intricate deployment of SharePoint doesn’t harm your team’s productivity.
SharePoint training covers lessons such as how to work with lists, the display of content, and how to add page elements. If external education isn’t an option, in-person end-user training is also available.
It is optimal to send your staff to SharePoint training classes if you have the opportunity, time, and resources.
Pricey Implementation
There are three SharePoint models: on-premise, subscription, and hybrid.
Depending on your level of customization, your total SharePoint package could cost thousands once you’ve bought the software and implemented all the necessary hardware requirements, and paid the training consultants.
Limited Mobile Access
SharePoint can be difficult to access or use functionally from mobile devices, and may not have a mobile app. For example, a small retail company found that their employees were unable to access SharePoint from their mobile devices, and this impacted their ability to access important information and resources when they were away from the office.
Is SharePoint Right For You?
SharePoint will be most beneficial to those looking for an extremely customizable solution to their intranet.
SharePoint offers a range of features and capabilities that make it a powerful solution for document management and collaboration, as well as website and intranet portal creation. Its integration with other Microsoft applications, robust security features, and support for compliance requirements can be particularly beneficial for larger organizations. However, SharePoint can also be complex and challenging to set up and use, particularly for smaller organizations with limited resources, and may not always be the most cost-effective solution. It is important for organizations to carefully consider their specific needs and requirements, as well as the cost-benefit analysis, before deciding whether or not SharePoint is the right fit for them.
If you’re looking to integrate SharePoint or similar SaaS to your current IT environment, Framework IT has over a decade of experience. We will listen to your organization’s individual needs to develop a personalized intranet integration plan.
During this process, Sales, vCIO, and pre-sales engineering teams will collaborate to determine if SharePoint specifically would provide more value to your business. We are dedicated to properly vetting options before presenting them as a recommended solution.
Based in Chicago, Framework IT is a managed service provider (MSP). Framework is fully committed to equipping your company with the technology and solutions that will increase operational efficiency while keeping costs as low as possible. For over a decade we have been helping our customers maintain the organization of their valuable data and information.
Learn More About How Framework IT’s Unique Managed Services Pricing Model Incentives Clients to Adopt Data-Driven Best Practices, Such as Using Cloud Applications!
