What is Microsoft SharePoint 2013? The best intranet-company communications set up

Microsoft SharePoint is a browser-based collaboration and document management platform made by Microsoft. It is also a content management system by Microsoft which allows groups to set up a centralized and password protected space for sharing documents by users. SharePoint can be described as a tool that allows an organization to easily manage its internal communications, applications, and information. It is an intranet portal for information centralization.

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SharePoint is a leading tool that is used by three-quarters of fortune 500 companies to develop their own online and offline capabilities. It is a leading platform for secure document management and collaboration, which gives it an advantage over other intranet portals.  SharePoint can be accessed online. It is included in the office 365 plan for some plan levels. It enables students, faculty, and staff to create collaborative websites that can be used to share files, assign tasks. Start blogs and even build workflows.

Workflow Processes

A workflow process is the automated execution process whereby tasks, information or documents are passed from one participant to another for action. A workflow diagram is a simple form of a flowchart. It shows the flow of tasks or actions from one person to another. Making it simple to identify who is responsible for what. It consists of a set of symbols which represents the actions or individuals who are connected by arrows to show the workflow direction.

By using Office 365 and SharePoint Online, you can achieve remarkable savings and benefits by moving to SharePoint portal. Your organization can connect SharePoint with the features already offered through O365, such as access to email, applications, and storage from any device.   This will work especially well with enterprise-level companies. SharePoint is a very complicated and robust software with capabilities that are almost limitless.

Some advantages include managing external user access which has become much easier using the platform. You can extend the content Web Application, configure Forms Authentication and also have your developer set up an ASP.NET page to manage credentials for the Forms Web Application. Alternatively, you can also provision domain users for those external entities. As an IT manager, you should still be able to establish policies regarding external sharing, what data types or content areas are allowed to be shared with others externally and who should audit external permissions. If you put effective policies in place, it’s simply a matter of enabling external access.

New SharePoint updates

When it comes to the SharePoint Online environment, Microsoft has done a great job of communicating via the Office 365 Admin portal. Whenever updates are scheduled, users do not experience significant issues from any updates. Importantly, moving forward, new SharePoint features and functions are released for SharePoint Online first. Afterward, it is then made available to apply to on-premise environments at some point in the future. Microsoft published the Office 365 Roadmap, a living document which changes frequently, which gives you an idea on what’s coming down the road. For those curious about Microsoft next steps, they can check that out.

You can also choose to enable “Preview Features”, which gets you early access to new features that have limited support, allowing you to be on the bleeding edge of SharePoint.

You can also access it online, anywhere.

Office 365 and SharePoint Online, has made it possible for their users to no longer feel tied down to a single device, or a single network. It has single-handedly become a world for professionals where you can access your e-mail, documents, contacts, and intranet, from any browser on any device on any internet connection. When using Office 365, you only pay for what you need, when you need it. The month-to-month subscription model allows you to add and remove users at-will, so you won’t have to worry about dormant licenses depleting your company IT budget. Considering this assessment, I would say that SharePoint is worth investing in.