SharePoint benefits for small business: how to overcome your growing pains

As this article in The Balance points out, management costs are one of the major growing pains for small businesses. And even if your business isn’t struggling with admin yet, you know that ad-hoc file management isn’t sustainable. Complex manual processes start to weigh staff down, cutting the time they can spend productively. There’s nothing worse than working on a document and then realising it isn’t the latest version. Plus you run the risk of critical information being lost⁠—which is a GDPR nightmare. However, all these issues can be solved with a flexible and integrated content management system. That’s why you need to hear about the crucial SharePoint benefits for small business.

Streamline admin with SharePoint for small business

SharePoint is the system of choice for over 250,000 companies, from Fortune 500 companies to SMEs. SharePoint leads the CMS pack for several reasons, the first being flexibility. From intranets to extranets, BI applications to newsfeeds, you can create almost anything in SharePoint. The platform provides a fast, up-to-date, secure, and centralised way of sharing information with whoever needs it, wherever you are. That gives you the confidence to grow your business without worrying about costly and risky paper trails.

Unsure about the best SharePoint configuration for your business?

Cloud or on-prem

With SharePoint, you can keep your data in the cloud, on your own servers, or in third-party hosting. SharePoint Online gives you up to 1TB of data stored securely in the cloud, while SharePoint Server lets you store data on-site.

Fast and intuitive

You don’t need constant IT support to make changes in SharePoint. Staff can create and customise pages easily with a WYSIWYG editor. That saves so much money and time.

Flexible security

A SharePoint intranet isn’t visible to regular internet users. It’s easy to define areas with different security levels within your content. Then you can assign your staff roles, allowing them access to only the areas they need to see. And you can change these areas and roles whenever the need arises.

Secure onboarding

SharePoint is a great way to let external parties interact with your business securely. One use of this is onboarding. For example, you want new starters to fill out a form or complete training based on your company data. They won’t have access to that data, but they’ll interact with it in the ways you define.

Remote working

SharePoint is compatible with mobile devices, so staff can access and edit documents on the move or at home. Your staff will use a specific log-in URL and use their credentials to sign in, meaning security is maintained.

Real-time updates

SharePoint’s real-time editing means that when one person edits a document, it’s immediately updated for everyone else. Changes can be tracked, and multiple people can collaborate on a document at the same time. And there’s no need to worry about mistakes or deletions, because you can always retrieve earlier content.

Clean inbox

SharePoint’s notifications system keeps you up to date with edits made to documents related to your role. That removes the need to email staff with updates, keeping your inbox free for the important stuff.

Low paper trail

Online forms in SharePoint make it possible to do away with paper trails in the office. The platform also integrates with email servers and calendars, so organisation is even easier.

Easy search

SharePoint’s Enterprise Search function is faster and more reliable than searching your inbox for that misplaced email. The search will also highlight relevant staff members so you can quickly contact them for input. And the system automatically discounts duplicates, so you get a single source of truth.

Unsure how to unlock the SharePoint benefits for small business?

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