How can SharePoint help my business?

Since its launch in 2001, Microsoft SharePoint has grown to become a leading enterprise platform – today, up to 80% of Fortune 500 companies use SharePoint in some capacity. So what’s all the fuss about… how can SharePoint help your business?

Intranet portals for communications/HR.

• SharePoint can be configured and customized so that you can share company announcements, share documents and company information, and integrate news and social media feeds.
• Many of the relevant features are built-in: newsfeeds, content management, groups and team sites, analytical tools to see adoption rates, and more.
• Custom branding will allow your company to continue a comprehensive style across external and internal communication channels, letting employees internalize the organizational culture.
• “Gamification” to make exploring, working, and communicating with colleagues fun!

Consolidating reports.

• SharePoint has powerful reporting and dashboarding services built into the platform, and can pull the data from a number of different business systems.
• SharePoint can act as a central Business Intelligence hub for your business users.
• For Office 365 Users, consider Power BI as another amazing tool to visualize your data.

Collaboration.

• In large businesses, numerous, sometimes geographically-scattered teams are required to work together to deliver a product or service. SharePoint can give them a space both to work within their teams, and to share that information with other teams.
• Microsoft Office web applications allow employees to work together concurrently with real-time updates to their work.
• Keep documents organized in a central location so there is one copy, up-to-date, with a version history/audit trail.

Business process automation.

• SharePoint’s document management capabilities combine with the workflow engine, making a great platform to build process automation solutions.
• Enforce compliance to company policies and workflows.
• Keep an audit trail of who did what, and when it was done.

A more mobile enterprise.

• Custom visual wrappers can be used with SharePoint to offer a mobile-designed, responsive UI for your SharePoint site.
• Using SharePoint on mobile devices allows companies to mobilize their workforce without setting up a comprehensive device management solution or having to custom develop mobile apps for each operating system.
• A quick, affordable, and simple way to provide key information to your employees no matter where they are or which device they have on them.

Document and records management.

• SharePoint is most often used for document management. Versioning history, audit trails, and comprehensive metadata make SharePoint a robust document management system.
• Search functionality enables employees to find the documents/records they need, as well as all connected/accompanying documents.
• For similar reasons, SharePoint is also often used for records management. In some cases where a dedicated records management system may be too advanced or expensive for an enterprise, SharePoint offers the required tools to perform advanced records management.
• Companies can configure SharePoint to match their records management practices fairly easily and affordably when compared with other major records management systems.

Search.

• Microsoft focused on improved search in SharePoint 2013 and again in the 2016 edition to help employees find the information they need, which helps companies drive adoption.
• SharePoint has a powerful built-in search appliance that not only searches through your SharePoint environment, but any other business system connected to it.
• SharePoint can be of particular value in cases where important business information resides in older systems that are functional and reliable but may not have as robust of a search capability.
• Search can be used to seamlessly integrate other business systems with a SharePoint front-end, giving your older systems (or just different systems) a consistent, company-branded UI that users are already familiar with.

Employee learning.

• An internal learning management systems (LMS) can help with the onboarding and off-boarding process and getting employees trained and knowledgeable as quickly as possible.
• Accompanying documents, like benefits information and policies/procedures can be included to make it a one-stop destination for HR tools and information.