Microsoft SharePoint review: is it right for your business?

My own experience over the past few years has highlighted Microsoft’s unrelenting commitment to maintaining its supremacy in the productivity sphere, a domain that was previously seemed straightforward for the Microsoft Office platform. This devotion has been exposed by Microsoft’s determination to preserve its dominance in the productivity sector. Microsoft has gone the extra mile in their pursuit to differentiate themselves from their competitors by developing a number of behind-the-scenes improvements for the Office software and making them available through the cloud. Microsoft SharePoint Online is definitely the crown jewel of this treasury.

It is a dynamic and versatile synthesis of customized processes, seamless team collaboration, and effective document management, and it is the outstanding diamond in this treasure trove. When the formidable capabilities of Microsoft SharePoint Online are combined with the extensive array of tools that are given by Microsoft Office and Office 365, it is immediately apparent how quickly this synergy can usher in major improvements in productivity for a variety of different enterprises.

Although it is true that the investment necessary to fully harness the potential of SharePoint Online, taking into account all of the users and options that are accessible, can appear to be large, the substantial benefits that it gives more than justify the cost. This strategic integration has the ability to alter how firms function and interact, based on my own personal experience, and it has the potential to do so right now.

Microsoft SharePoint Specifications

SharePoint Online is a cloud-based collaboration platform that allows businesses of any size to take advantage of its scalability and dependability. Additionally, it is supported by the security and compliance expertise of Microsoft.

What is Microsoft SharePoint?

SharePoint is a web application platform that provides a set of capabilities to provide intranet portals, document and file management, collaboration, and social networks. These features can be accessed via the internet. Users using SharePoint, which functions as a corporate information portal, have the ability to build a centralized, password-protected place for the exchange of documents.

SharePoint is used by organizations to develop their own websites. It is possible to save information, organize it, share it, and access it from nearly any device; all that is required is a web browser. Microsoft SharePoint was first developed as an internal content management system, but it has since been expanded to include web content management capabilities, allowing it to be used for the management of material on external websites.

Microsoft SharePoint review: Document Sharing and Collaboration

SharePoint Online is document management at its core. Microsoft SharePoint Online manages change tracking in addition to file uploads, downloads, editing, and sharing. Microsoft SharePoint Online offers flexibility by tracking edits and enabling you download earlier versions of your document to examine changes or return to a previous iteration. Document library users can configure alarms to get change notifications. Checking out documents prevents several individuals from altering the same file, although current Office docs permit co-authoring if all users are using Office 2010 or later.

Microsoft Office 365 has powerful security and compliance tools that can be used against SharePoint Online. Ascensio System OnlyOffice and other business-grade document management suites offer permissions and audit tracking. Microsoft SharePoint Online supports these capabilities and surpasses the competition. You can start with policies for document labels, data loss prevention, retention, and supervisor access. Labels identify sensitive documents including credit cards, social security numbers, and customer data.

Microsoft SharePoint review: Ease of Use

It is essential for a document management system to not only function well but also have a shallow learning curve. Microsoft SharePoint Online, on the other hand, is not one of the company’s products that can be accused of having an unduly complicated user interface; thank goodness! It is not necessary to have an email address associated with Microsoft Outlook in order to register a SharePoint Online account. Signing up for the service does not need any effort on your part. If you already have an Office 365 account, all you need to do to log in is use the email address associated with your Office 365 subscription.

From there, you can get to the document management system by using one of the apps located in the upper left-hand corner of the home page. If this is your first time using SharePoint, you will be required to set up a brand new site. Again, this may either be a communication site for making announcements or a site for the team to use for collaborating on projects. The “create new site” tab that can be found toward the top of the SharePoint Online homepage elucidates the process of getting started with your site.

Microsoft SharePoint review: Workflow Management

There are a lot of automations in Microsoft SharePoint Online that will help your process and save you time by taking care of some tasks automatically. Once you’ve built them, you can sync them with your Microsoft SharePoint Online account. Most of the automations reside in OneDrive. When someone makes a new document in Microsoft SharePoint, you can set it to send other users an email immediately. Team leaders can also set up automatic document review that lets the author know if the document has been approved.

E-sign is another type of interface that you can use. You can use this app to make papers in Microsoft SharePoint and then send them to other people via e-sign so that they can quickly sign the document electronically. It’s a useful tool for people who work with contracts every day. It takes a while to get used to setting up automations. There are a lot of tutorials for people who have never used a document management tool before, but we think that new users will spend some time going through them.

Microsoft SharePoint review: Security

We place a high priority on data security here at Cloudwards, particularly in light of the fact that the vast majority of users are generating and uploading sensitive data to their cloud-based accounts. Keeping this in mind, let’s investigate how well Microsoft secures the sensitive data of its users and how well it maintains the data’s privacy. Through the examination of a security document, we came to the conclusion that Microsoft implements the same safety precautions for SharePoint that it does for OneDrive.

That ensures that both while they are being transferred and while they are stored, your data is guarded by the 256-bit encryption that is the standard in the industry. Every time you log in, the Microsoft Authenticator app will visit SharePoint. This helps to reduce the likelihood that an unauthorized user will gain access to the platform. In terms of safety, we have full faith that the organization is doing everything in its power to protect the confidentiality of your documents, so there is no need for you to be concerned about any kind of data breach.

Final Words

SharePoint Online has improved my team’s collaboration and content management, in my experience. This powerful platform interfaces with many Microsoft products, making it vital for creative and project management in our firm. Plan 1 is a cost-effective option for individuals or small groups like ours, offering a wide range of features. Plan 2 is worth considering if your company needs its massive storage capacity. Those who want the whole Microsoft toolkit might choose Microsoft Office 365 E3.

However, this alternative is expensive, therefore budget should be considered. I’ve had a good experience using SharePoint Online, and it’s improved company information management, collaboration, and project management. It depends on your demands and budget, but SharePoint Online provides significant value to those who use it.

Microsoft SharePoint review: The Good and Bad

The program for managing documents that is included with Microsoft Office 365 is called SharePoint. The app is intended to assist users in putting together a well-organized document library and to provide users with widespread app updates.

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