SharePoint
Intranet, document management, and team collaboration
Overview
SharePoint Online is the document management and intranet platform included with Microsoft 365. For IT teams, it's the backbone of internal knowledge bases, policy libraries, and cross-department collaboration. SharePoint Admin Center provides governance, storage, and access controls.
Why Use It
SharePoint is already available to every M365 user — the question is whether you're using it well. A properly governed SharePoint environment eliminates file server costs and gives you a searchable, version-controlled document platform with built-in DLP.
Why Not
If your team resists SharePoint's complexity, Google Drive or even a simple tool like Notion may achieve better adoption. SharePoint's value is proportional to the governance effort invested.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Included with all M365 plans at no extra cost
- Powerful document co-authoring with version history
- Sensitive information type detection via Purview integration
- Microsoft 365 Groups and Teams integration
- Strong external sharing controls with audit logging
Cons
- Complex governance without proper admin controls leads to sprawl
- SharePoint Admin Center lacks intuitive self-service for non-technical users
- Migration from on-premises SharePoint is complex
- Performance on large libraries can degrade without proper design
- External sharing misconfiguration is a common data leakage vector
How to Get the Most Out of It
- Enable versioning on all document libraries — it's off by default and essential for recovery
- Use Sensitivity Labels (Purview) to automatically protect documents classified as confidential
- Configure site creation policies to prevent ungoverned site sprawl
- Use SharePoint Syntex (now Syntex) to auto-classify and extract metadata from uploaded documents
- Audit external sharing quarterly — anonymous links are a common unintended data exposure vector