How Businesses Using SharePoint Can Improve Business Activity

Microsoft SharePoint is an online collaborative system that uses workflow applications to enable and empower business teams to collaborate and work together. It allows businesses to control access and automate workflow processes across various business units and sections. The platform enables team members to communicate, exchange data, share file systems, blog, and use web content management systems. It is used for creating websites and storing, organizing, sharing & securely accessing information from any device.

SharePoint also refers to one or more SharePoint products or technologies like;

SharePoint in Microsoft 365 - A cloud-based service for businesses of all sizes, which any company can access by subscribing to a Microsoft 365 plan or even a standalone SharePoint Online Service.

SharePoint Server - SharePoint Server can be deployed and managed on-premises or by subscribing to Office 365 Enterprise to take advantage of all its features, including

• Modern site pages
• Modern web parts and authoring
• Modern lists and libraries
• Search
• Integration with PowerApps,
• Power BI and MS Flow, and
• SharePoint home page.

SharePoint Designer 2013 - Used to build workflow-enabled solutions and edit external content types based on Business Connectivity Services for external data solutions.

OneDrive Sync - An desktop program used to sync documents from a team site or OneDrive to a personal computer for offline use.

Benefits of using SharePoint for businesses

Data management - SharePoint lets users set precise data points to sort through documents quickly. SharePoint Online helps sort through documents from any location. It offers integration with Microsoft Office Suite, including Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft Unified Communications and Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Simplified everyday activities - Workflows of SharePoint allow users to initiate, track and report various daily activities like signing off on documents and reviewing with problem & resolution tracking. Integration with web browsers, email & desktop applications provides a consistent experience.

Compliance - Keeping a company's data secure and backed up is vital, and hacking, hardware failure & other issues of this kind are a matter of grave concern for businesses. Financial, healthcare, and many other companies also have regulatory compliance and privacy issues.

Robust data encryption and compliance features can help keep sensitive business information secure and efficiently managed per compliance regulations and guidelines. Cloud backup services can help safeguard data.

Consistent user experience - SharePoint offers close integration with web browsers, email & desktop applications, providing a consistent feel and user experience. It helps simplify how people use and interact with business data, content & processes.

Content management - SharePoint's content management permits users to write, revise, sort, organize, and update content easily. This helps organizations to focus on core business operations and assists businesses in being more productive through simple document management, web content management, records and other media management.

Some of SharePoint's best development features are:

• Asset library
• Efficient records management
• Integration with Microsoft 365 tools and services
• Shared content types
• Large file support
• Managed metadata service
• User-friendly mobile interface
• Open document format

Collaboration - Between teams and individuals within an organization, it is essential to run an efficient, quality driven & result-oriented business. Using SharePoint's version control feature, it's possible to track each edition or version of a document, the edition author, and the edit timeline. Updates can be shared in real-time, which helps in increasing efficiency and collaboration.

Centralized management and administration - SharePoint's administration console centralizes all relevant functions, allowing the IT team to make changes from a single location.

Search feature - The Enterprise Search feature incorporates business data by scanning and searching to produce relevant and comprehensive results. Additionally, features like spelling corrections, duplicate collapsing, and alerts help improve the results to find the document easily.

Integrated platform - SharePoint's architecture is scalable and supports Interoperability and web service standards, including Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) and XML. SharePoint Online services have open, feature-rich Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and event handlers for documents and data lists. These features offer it the flexibility to integrate with existing and new systems.

Decision-making - SharePoint makes it easy to create interactive business intelligence portals that can access data from various data sources and display critical business information in a comprehensible format to make informed decisions. The display can use Business Intelligence capabilities like Web-Parts, Dashboards, Scorecards, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) etc. The Centralized Report Center (CRC) offers a central location where all these reports can be put up.

In conclusion, The demand for SharePoint development remains high. A Microsoft SharePoint consulting services company that is aware of the latest industry trends and offers real-life business solutions by leveraging its expertise and knowledge should be selected as the business partner.