SharePoint as an

Intranet Portal
for Business
 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.

.
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.

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

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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.

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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:

SharePoint On-Premise
managed by the company’s tech team

SharePoint Online
managed by Microsoft

SharePoint Hybrid
a combination of On-Premise and Online

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.

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HOW DOES SHAREPOINT WORK?
We've broken down the application into its functions & features
for easier comprehension.

Functions :
Individual Work
01
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.

02
Cross-team Collaboration
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.
03

Enterprise Network
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.

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Features
SharePoint has SIX primary uses.
1.Document Management
Storage and sharing of files, finding documents, and managing
viewing permissions. 01

2.Content Management
02
Building internal websites, sharing news and blogs, exchanging
images and videos, and tracking any changes made to
documents.

3.Project Management
03
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 04
virtual bulletins and running polls or surveys.

5.Project Management
Sharing project information with all members involved, updating
05
task lists and activities, and collaborating.

6.Approval Management
06
Route approvals, monitor progress and share reminders through
automated workflows

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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

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.

Scalability,Flexibility, Customisation
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.

Integration with Office 365

SharePoint can be integrated with various Office 365 tools such as OneDrive,
Teams, and, more importantly, Outlook.

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.

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 Ease of Use
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.

Improving Productivity
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.

Better Security
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.

Continuous Improvement
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.

Community Connect
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.

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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.

Onboarding and Training

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.

Management
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.

Evaluation
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.

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 Sales & Marketing
SharePoint helps simplify sales and marketing efforts.

Repository
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.

Streamline Calendar
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.

Insights
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.

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 Finance
SharePoint helps automate finance and accounting.

Budget Planning & Forecasting

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.

Reporting
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.

Central Silo
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.

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 Operations
The operations department can be streamlined using SharePoint.

Automation
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.

Paperless Documentation
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.

Policies & Procedures

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.

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Wrapping it up

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.

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