You are currently viewing What Is SharePoint,  What Is It Used For? Sharepoint Features

Teamwork is one of the critical components of any successful business, and it is important that the proper

infrastructure is put in place to make collaboration as easy as possible in today’s modern workplace. Microsoft has taken out much of the drudgery of this by continuing to deliver the excellent Sharepoint software with 2016 being the latest full release.

Document Management and Storage

A primary emphasis of the SharePoint software is document management and storage across and organization so that information can be created, updated, retrieved and governed all through a central framework that keeps everything ready and secure. There was a time when a company had to rely on something like an FTP server or web server in order to maintain a proper grip on all of the documents that are part of every business process. However, SharePoint 2016 replaces all of that with a cloud-inspired infrastructure (or datacenter based) that keeps information accessible from the various points of commerce within a business while still providing security and other features to ensure that it does no leak or become exposed to the wrong people. All businesses should be concerned about legal ramifications and the like so that a system like the aforementioned should be an easy choice in the modern arena.

Intranet and Social Network

No longer is SharePoint just about documents and information as there is now a plethora of tools to help increase employee collaboration and teamwork. The baseline and add-ins available allow everything from instant messaging to calendar sharing to a time-off management tool and so much more. All of this can generally be accessed through mobile devices which mean that employees will be able to stay abreast of the latest changes and developments wherever their workday takes them. Tacit knowledge is one of the important separators that can set an organization ahead of the rest, and SharePoint has all of the right stuff to keep it viable.

Project scheduling is now a breeze with all of the features available to assist with a team effort. As with many of the other features, this is all integrated seamlessly with Outlook and Project so that shared mailboxes and other document management tasks can all be handled through interfaces that are simple to understand yet powerful in the functionality that they provide.

Well-defined Structures

Everything within SharePoint is designed around well-defined structures so that policies and tracking are effortless. Pages are one of the basic types of content available and they generally can be edited in-browser so that there is no need to bring up another tool or to worry about updating the page manually through some type of upload process. Web-based configuration is one handy tool which allows pages to be created in order to lay out how a user will experience the company portal. For example, a list of departments might be presented so that individuals can then click the link to take them to the area that they are searching for. The potential is limitless and the reward great when using SharePoint in such a manner.

Web-parts and App-parts are another type of structure that can display information from SharePoint or other programs. This is a great way to provide interfaces for customer support and other roles with the organization so that everything is at hand for the best response time and result. Sites are yet another type of structure that can work with the aforementioned as well as libraries, lists, and content in order to keep everything in a recognizable form for the users.

The only real decision seems to be which version of the SharePoint software to install across the organization. There is the SharePoint Online which comes with most Office 365 subscriptions and allows Microsoft to maintain the workload behind the scenes through integration with its cloud-based services. However, SharePoint Server and SharePoint Enterprise are other great ways to access an even heftier SharePoint features and give the system admins around the office a little more room to work with.

So many companies provide add-ons and extra applications (including Microsoft itself) that there is a never-ending array of options to keep things fresh and functional within the office. IT support desks can use one of the many IT help desk applications found online that will provide all of the templates necessary to have personnel answering tickets in no time at all. Asset management tools are available to track everything that belongs to the company so that nothing gets lost and wasted money is not spent on things which are simply misplaced or being used in the wrong way. Then there are top apps like Sidekick which is a sales and opportunity maximizer, the BlackCompass Visualizer for beautiful charts and graphs, and FlowForma for great workflow building.

It is definitely worth a trial if SharePoint has not already become a sturdy foundation of your business.

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