Would you be surprised to learn that in a recent Microsoft class, most of the students had no answer for the question, “What is SharePoint?” Actually, most people learn about the benefits of SharePoint when they encounter it at work after someone else has chosen to implement this useful Microsoft platform, either in its online or on-site versions. If you want to get ahead of the curve, start learning today what SharePoint can do for your business.
What Is SharePoint?
Microsoft SharePoint is an information management platform that offers communication and collaboration capabilities far beyond the usual “database” program. SharePoint works well for many businesses in an internally-hosted format, but also offers an online version that is compatible with Microsoft 360 programming.
SharePoint allows you to create a variety of communication tools, including:
- team sites and sub-sites
- Lists
- Announcements
- Tasks
- Reviews
- Contacts
- Discussion boards
You can also create a customized library that includes user-generated content as well as pre-structured content. Vast numbers of files can be stored and organized in any hierarchy that works for your company.
You can also control the document versions that are available and offer workers advanced collaboration tools including social media platforms that allow chat and other forms of interaction.
Should I Consider SharePoint For A Small Business?
It may be difficult for a very small business to justify the cost of a large, interactive platform like SharePoint. Fortunately, many companies offer SharePoint hosting so that you can share the cost of the platform with other small businesses. However, most data may be stored off-site, so you must be sure your data security measures are up to speed.
Even small businesses can benefit from SharePoint’s features, however. The ability to collaborate on documents in real time is invaluable as it saves the back-and-forth time and possible falling-through-the-cracks errors that occur with so many versions of a document being sent among several workers.
In addition, SharePoint provides a great way to store data safely and to organize it so that it accessible to everyone in your company. Collaboration among SharePoint users is one of the features that convinces many companies to invest in this program in the first place.
SharePoint is a great way to encourage collaboration among workers, store your valuable data and organize it intelligently. With the help of SharePoint in either on-site or online versions, companies can solve many problems that currently plague outdated databases and sharing programs.
