In 2015, it was said that SharePoint was back and stronger than ever. In fact, it's amazing how SharePoint has found its way back to winning ways and is now the central tool for collaboration and intranet as part of Microsoft 365 and Office 365. In recent years, Microsoft has completely revamped its UI, offering a modern cloud-first and mobile-first user interface with SharePoint Modern. SharePoint Communication Sites is a powerful tool that enables the creation of modern, user-centric intranets.
At the same time, a rich ecosystem has formed around SharePoint Modern. On the one hand, there is a wealth of open source extensions such as the SharePoint Starter Kit, which can serve as the basis for an intranet project. On the other hand, there are also over 50 so-called intranet-in-a-box products. Paid extensions that are based on SharePoint Online. They offer a very rich feature catalog that leaves nothing to be desired.
SharePoint Online is comparable to a Lego construction kit: you can really let off steam and build all kinds of things with it. The temptation is therefore great for internal IT to tackle the implementation of the new intranet itself. However, there are a few stumbling blocks that should not be ignored.
Deciding when and how to use the Communication Sites, Office 365 Groups, SharePoint Hub Sites, Microsoft Teams, Yammer etc. building blocks is anything but trivial. Without a clear information architecture that is tailored to the needs of the company, this usually ends in chaos. There is also a risk that individual site owners will give free rein to their imagination and try to outdo each other with "fancy" pages. As a result, users get lost, can't find the information they need and the intranet atrophies.
Developing an information architecture is one thing, but adhering to these rules is even more difficult. Either you entrust the task to a small, well-trained team. In most cases, however, this is neither sensible nor possible. In practice, the maintenance of intranet content is distributed among many different people who keep the information relevant to their area up to date. To ensure that the information architecture is maintained, either one of the above-mentioned intranet-in-a-box products must be used or a separate solution must be programmed. However, this also requires a competent team with experience, continuity and constant further training.
Above a certain level of complexity, investments must be made in DevOps. Staging environments for development, integration and testing are necessary. Deployment and test processes must be automated. Office 365 and SharePoint Online is a software-as-a-service offering that is constantly changing. New functions are constantly being added or existing functions are being changed and improved. While this is fundamentally positive, extensive enhancements require constant attention and readiness. You always have to be prepared to react to changes from Microsoft and adapt your own solution if necessary.
In today's "war for talent", it is a major challenge to build up and, above all, maintain the know-how for the implementation and further development of an intranet within the company. Most customers therefore rely on implementation partners, be it Microsoft directly or a certified Microsoft partner such as isolutions AG. These implementation partners have experience from previous projects and invest a lot of time and money in further training.
However, those who shy away from the effort and risks of an extensive project can choose an intranet-as-a-service offering, such as ahead. With minimal onboarding effort, an intranet-as-a-service offers the full functionality of an intranet. The provider takes care of the operation and further development of the solution. These products can be customized, but they do not offer the same freedom as SharePoint.
While an intranet with SharePoint Online, as described above, is a Lego construction kit where you are mainly busy building, an intranet-as-a-service offering can be compared to a Playmobil toy. A Playmobil ship cannot be transformed into a castle. But you can start playing right away. Nothing against Legos. I loved Legos as a child. But when it comes to an intranet, I'm Team Playmobil. Which side do you choose?