Microsoft Office 365 is a popular choice among businesses looking to either replace or implement a new intranet system. Many businesses choose to use Microsoft’s SharePoint Online to host their intranet, partly because they are familiar with SharePoint, but also because of the other benefits it can provide. Read more about these benefits to find out whether Office 365 is the right choice of platform for your organization’s new intranet.
Cloud-Based Access
Microsoft Office 365 provides a cloud-based platform, which enables secure access to organizational data from any device, any time, anywhere. This can be a big benefit for those organizations that have employees working both on-site, at home or at remote or satellite office locations.
Complete Platform
Office 365 is also a complete platform. For many businesses, Office 365 offers everything employees need for effective intra-organization communication and collaboration including email, social network, instant messaging and online meetings, personal cloud file sharing and an enterprise portal platform. In addition, it allows teams to work together on shared projects no matter where the teams are located. Office 365 also makes it possible to share content with external partners, which is extremely important to some organizations.
Familiarity
If employees in your organization already have experience using SharePoint, then that experience may be a good reason to consider Office 365 as the platform for your new intranet. Switching to a new intranet with an unfamiliar user interface can cause major disruptions throughout an organization. Office 365 integrates easily with existing SharePoint systems, which will help to minimize downtime if you already use SharePoint technology in your organization. It also integrates well with Microsoft Office, the most commonly used desktop office software. When considering a new intranet solution, you should take into consideration the grade of the learning curve you will implement – because the steeper it is, the more difficult user adoption will be.
Unsuitable Alternatives to Office 365
There are many alternatives to Office 365, but it is probably the most well-known because of the huge investment Microsoft has made in an attempt to make Office 365 the default platform of the future. Some stand-alone intranet portal alternatives include Igloo Software and Basecamp, but many organizations consider these unsuitable since they don’t integrate as easily with Microsoft products and services, such as Exchange Online and Microsoft Office. If your organization relies heavily on Microsoft products, then Office 365/Microsoft 365 may be the natural choice for your new intranet.
Content Sharing and Creation
Office 365 is perhaps most suitable for firms that need their intranet to be optimized for content sharing and creation. The SharePoint Online platform allows users from both inside and outside the organization to collaborate on content-based projects. It also facilitates sharing content with colleagues, clients and customers.
When to Choose Office 365 for Your New Intranet
When choosing a platform for your company’s new intranet, it is a good idea to explore all the options that are available to you, rather than hosting the intranet on SharePoint Online simply because it is familiar. However, if you are looking for a complete, cloud-based platform that offers good support for content creation and sharing, then Office 365 may be the best choice for you.
