There’s no doubt that most of us will have used some of Microsoft’s software in our daily working lives. Word and Excel, Outlook, these are all popular pieces of software that help us complete a range of business tasks. But what about SharePoint? What is this Microsoft tool and what can it do?
What is SharePoint?
SharePoint is a platform within Office 365 that allows you to collaborate with others in the organisation to easily share, manage and access information. It can be accessed from a variety of different devices to allow you to work anywhere. SharePoint works with all of the Office tools so it is very flexible and can be used in a variety of ways.
It is also optimised for business and has a number of features that help it to save time for businesses. It allows companies to adopt an agile approach and use cloud-based platforms to quickly collaborate and make decisions on projects.
What is it used for?
If your business doesn’t already use SharePoint, then the question is always how can SharePoint help my business? There are a few areas that are most popular when using the software.
Data management
Data management and the loss of it is one of the big issues that businesses face. There are legal and compliance implications if data isn’t managed properly. SharePoint provides a simple file storage and collaboration option that is secure and allows businesses to comply with regulations. Employees have access to information as required with their own unique identity and files can be set with specific access options.
Document sharing
Another big use for SharePoint is to share documents between different members of staff, regardless of their location. It allows employees to easily work together on files and documents, share information to help work together on projects and even discuss the project securely.
Business performance
SharePoint is also ideal as a business intelligence platform. This is because it connects and integrates with a range of apps across the Microsoft suite and beyond that allow you to do tasks such as create dashboards to visualise data and then share this with others in the organisation. It also extends the abilities of Excel to use PivotTables to create charts to accompany the data.
Training for SharePoint
While there’s no doubt that SharePoint is an extremely useful and versatile platform, users are the first to admit that it isn’t the easiest to start using. It has a lot of moving parts and so many different integrations that it can be a little tricky to start using.
That’s where training for SharePoint comes in. By finding a Microsoft certified training provider, you can ensure that staff can make the most of the many features of SharePoint. It should cover areas such as adding and using documents, document workflows and also picture and slide library. It would also help staff learn how to use SharePoint with Word and with Excel as well as managing groups and permissions to ensure data is protected.
If you’d like to know more about our SharePoint training or IT training courses, please contact us through email, phone or contact form.