SharePoint as an Intranet Portal for Business
- 1. SharePoint as an Intranet Portal for Business
- 2. This article provides all the information needed to show you why SharePoint is the best intranet portal to have. Read on to find out more OVERVIEW As the world continues to employ digital innovations, enterprise conversations are going virtual. And as companies adopt electronic tools to streamline processes, intranet portals have become extremely popular. Internal communication is vital for the technological transformation of a business. . W W W W . N E T I N X . I N SharePoint has been one of Microsoft's frontrunners in aiding digital business growth. Companies looking to install this platform as their intranet portal may want to know more about it before investing.
- 3. W W W W . N E T I N X . I N WHAT IS AN INTRANET PORTAL? An intranet portal acts as a collaboration point for all information, data, and application management within an enterprise. For this reason, it's often referred to as an "Enterprise Portal." Its role in an organisation is to unify and improve communication and engagement between internal stakeholders, mainly employees, and leaders. It also acts as a knowledge platform to create a better, more productive work ecosystem. It also streamlines corporate communication, keeping employees aligned and focused. Employees get to engage with leadership and vice versa. Plus, internal stakeholders are abreast of new launches, current services, and product wins. Intranet portals are extremely popular due to their features and subsequent benefits reaped by organizations. According to the global Enterprise Collaboration Market by Component report, the enterprise market will nearly double in size in the next five years – growing from $47.2 billion in 2021 to $85.8 billion in 2026. Bearing the above information in mind, we can safely say that intranet portals are the present & future of enterprise collaboration.
- 4. W W W W . N E T I N X . I N SHOULD I CONSIDER SHAREPOINT AS AN INTRANET PORTAL? The simple answer is YES. SharePoint, launched in 2001, is commonly known as a tool for sharing information within the organisation. It breaks down barriers and silos, bringing teams into a virtual shared workspace. Some users see it as a document storage application alone, while others use it as an internal website for sharing updates and managing content. But there’s a lot more to it. Three versions of the platform are currently available: Ever since its launch, the application has had several updates. And all of those have made SharePoint one of the most widely used intranet portals today. SharePoint On-Premise managed by the company’s tech team SharePoint Online managed by Microsoft SharePoint Hybrid a combination of On-Premise and Online
- 5. W W W W . N E T I N X . I N HOW DOES SHAREPOINT WORK? We've broken down the application into its functions & features for easier comprehension. Functions : Individual Work Cross-team Collaboration Enterprise Network In nearly all versions of SharePoint, "My Sites" offers a platform for individual work. It's a personal page for employees showing their background information and the work they do. The page includes contact details, short bio, personal blog (if any), accomplishments, task list, among others. This is widely synonymous with SharePoint as the platform has several features to foster collaboration. Team Sites, Hub Sites, Communication Sites, and similar sites enable team members to store content, communicate with each other, manage projects, exchange insights, and more. SharePoint creates a network across the organization. Generally, the homepage of the intranet portal offers information on everything happening within the company. In addition, it pulls details from other sites within SharePoint to create a welcome page for employees and external users. These details include news & events, gallery, reports, case studies, employee directories, and more. 01 02 03
- 6. W W W W . N E T I N X . I N Features 1.Document Management Storage and sharing of files, finding documents, and managing viewing permissions. 2.Content Management Building internal websites, sharing news and blogs, exchanging images and videos, and tracking any changes made to documents. 3.Project Management Sharing project information with all members involved, updating task lists and activities, and collaborating. 4.Knowledge Management Knowledge network for sharing best practices, ideas, tips, and virtual bulletins and running polls or surveys. 5.Project Management Sharing project information with all members involved, updating task lists and activities, and collaborating. 6.Approval Management Route approvals, monitor progress and share reminders through automated workflows 01 02 04 SharePoint has SIX primary uses. 03 05 06
- 7. W W W W . N E T I N X . I N HOW CAN SHAREPOINT HELP MY ORGANIZATION? As an intranet portal, SharePoint is extremely helpful for teamwork and employee engagement. It connects users with resources, information, and tools necessary for work. Here are some significant benefits of SharePoint for an organization. Leading Intranet Portal Scalability,Flexibility, Customisation Integration with Office 365 OneDrive syncs changes automatically with SharePoint in near real-time. Users can make edits to documents, and others can access them virtually. If one ever forgets to add something to a document on the home desktop, they can always access it anywhere, anytime, and make changes. With Teams, one can directly access project content and activities without having to leave the application. All they have to do is add the SharePoint tab to Teams. Outlook and SharePoint can be synced so that employees can access their documents from within the application. They can also share content and exchange ideas in real-time. For four years in a row, Gartner named Microsoft as the leading Content Services Platforms Magic Quadrant, including 2020. Not just that, SharePoint more than doubled in a year from 100 million users in 2019 to 200 million in 2020. Plus, more than 57% of organisations migrated to SharePoint or Microsoft 365 in 2020. With the progress it's making, SharePoint is moving towards staying relevant for many years to come. Perhaps, the best benefit of SharePoint is its flexibility and scalability. It can work in an organisation with 250 employees as well as 250,000. It also supports a wide range of features, as listed earlier. As the company grows in size, SharePoint is flexible and can grow with it. Plus, organisations can customize the sites within SharePoint based on their needs and corporate messaging. With this intranet portal, it's perfectly possible to create an entire digital workspace best suited to your company. SharePoint can be integrated with various Office 365 tools such as OneDrive, Teams, and, more importantly, Outlook.
- 8. W W W W . N E T I N X . I N Ease of Use Improving Productivity Better Security Continuous Improvement Community Connect Employees can resist using platforms that are challenging to use for everyday work. However, if employees don't use the platform, it isn't feasible to invest in it. On the other hand, SharePoint can be used from the get-go and doesn't need special coding to set up. Microsoft introduced some updates recently to make the application more user-friendly. As a result, business owners don't have to take up the additional responsibility of being a coder or developer. By connecting people with what they need, SharePoint helps employees improve individual as well as collaborative productivity. Plus, the platform syncs data so changes on the laptop don't affect the content. It also helps organize and categorize information, making it easily accessible. One platform for delivering multiple messages is better than numerous platforms giving out different updates at different times. Thus, SharePoint promotes productivity through its content and document management systems. Microsoft is one of the forefront investors in cloud security. Every year, the company invests nearly USD 1 billion in updating its security controls. SharePoint helps manage user permissions and relate them to functionality. Enterprises can control who sees and uses their data by restricting user access to various sites and libraries. Users can't delete, edit or change anything unless they've been granted access. Microsoft has constantly upgraded SharePoint, specifically in the last few years. From its slow and clunky mechanism, it is now helping teams collaborate smoothly without disrupting workflow. The platform today is more user-friendly, mobile responsive, and faster. It aligns with everything that users need on a website. No more slow load times. Plus, it's better integrated with other Microsoft services making it significant for a digital workspace. SharePoint isn't just useful for work. It can help build a community, too. Its features connect employees within the organization and fuel the exchange of ideas, giving them a voice. Thought and opinion leaders converse with other employees anywhere in the city, country, or even the world, fostering social connections and confidence.
- 9. Onboarding and Training Management Evaluation It allows the team to sift through several job applications and find the right candidates. Using real-time dashboards, HR can also monitor the employee onboarding process. Plus, they can train new hires as well as existing employees in company processes using documents saved on SharePoint. HR can use the SharePoint portal to access these employee reports and view their history, contract, salary, or updated work details. Leaves and working hours can also be monitored. Plus, the network's security controls let the team protect sensitive information and generate alerts for unauthorized activity. HR can also evaluate performance reports for review and appraisal. For example, the team will get updates on training results as well as task completion. Using this information, they can provide feedback or appreciation for employees' efforts. In addition to that, HR can directly reach out for organization surveys and analyze the reports. W W W W . N E T I N X . I N DOES SHAREPOINT INTEGRATE WITH ORGANIZATIONAL ROLES? SharePoint as an intranet portal can streamline tasks across roles within an organization. In addition, each department can customize and use the platform to achieve specific goals. Human Resource This department can use SharePoint for various functions.
- 10. Repository Streamline Calendar Insights When older campaigns, catalogs, and ideas aren't stored in one place, teams don't know where to access them from. These old marketing and sales documents are an extensive repository of ideas and data that can help in future campaigns. SharePoint acts as a central silo for these documents. SharePoint can be used as a single place to note down dates and deadlines. These can be organized for multiple campaigns. Plus, any changes can be done in real-time, and the whole team gets updated. An intranet portal helps all members synchronize their efforts for best results. Marketing and sales professionals can implement customer surveys, observe sales patterns as well as track campaign progress through SharePoint. All the data gathered can be stored in a single place for integration into current campaigns or future reference. These can be presented via interesting charts and graphs, too. W W W W . N E T I N X . I N Sales & Marketing SharePoint helps simplify sales and marketing efforts.
- 11. Budget Planning & Forecasting Reporting Central Silo The portal can provide information on monthly, quarterly, bi-annual as well as annual budgets. Multiple transaction spreadsheets can be updated simultaneously, in real-time. Department-wise budgets can also be assigned using one software. With the information available, the team can make forecasts for the upcoming months or years. Instead of referring to various sources, the finance team can create a particular content management folder. Statistics with graphs and charts can be presented using SharePoint's reporting tools. Plus, any assignments to team members can be tracked and updated. The team can track Purchase Orders from multiple vendors, assign them to the respective departments and get updates on activity completion. Once the activity is completed, the finance team can directly send out payments to vendors through the SharePoint system itself. W W W W . N E T I N X . I N Finance SharePoint helps automate finance and accounting.
- 12. Automation Paperless Documentation Policies & Procedures Repetitive tasks can be automated. The operations team can eliminate manual handling of products, monitor progress through automated reports and check the status of every activity in real-time. It can also get notifications and alerts for activities needing immediate attention. SharePoint stores data on the cloud, which can be accessed by authorized personnel anytime. Plus, the cloud is more secure than exchanging sensitive information through several hands. Customer/vendor contracts, product and service history, legal documents can all be stored in one place, securely. Employees don't need to contact several departments for updates. For instance, if a product delivery is scheduled for a given day, the sales team can track its transit status and notify a vendor/customer when delivery is complete. In addition to that, employees can also get updates about the latest developments in the company. W W W W . N E T I N X . I N Operations The operations department can be streamlined using SharePoint.
- 13. SharePoint has several benefits as an intranet portal for organizations. It can be customized for specific needs and is flexible. Using this platform, enterprises can scale their operations to meet current as well as future needs. By fostering collaboration, encouraging an exchange of ideas, and streamlining processes, SharePoint can become the most powerful tool for business. At NetInx, we provide personalized solutions to improve your productivity and enhance growth. Reach out to us to deploy SharePoint for enterprises. W W W W . N E T I N X . I N Wrapping it up