What is SharePoint?
SharePoint is Microsoft's collaboration and content management platform. It's built to create intranets, organize information, centralize documents, share knowledge and support team collaboration. Because it's part of Microsoft 365, it connects naturally with Teams, OneDrive, Outlook, Viva, the Power Platform and Copilot.
In one sentence: SharePoint is the document and intranet backbone of Microsoft 365. For many organizations, it's where company information lives. How to explain it simply? Picture a central, secure space where your company's documents, news and sites live. That's SharePoint. In practice, it lets organizations build communication or team sites, publish and manage internal news, store, version and co-edit documents, automate workflows and approvals, create searchable knowledge bases, and deliver a complete, scalable intranet.
One useful clarification: a SharePoint "space" or "site" is an area dedicated to a team, a project or a department, with its own documents, pages and access rights. A company assembles several of them to form its intranet. And the difference with OneDrive? OneDrive is your personal space; SharePoint is the organization's shared space. Both run on the same technology, but one stores your files, the other the company's.
What is SharePoint used for in a company?
SharePoint covers five main use cases. That's what makes it a Swiss Army knife of the digital workplace.
1. Internal communication (the intranet)
SharePoint is the base for running internal communication: news, strategic messages, HR content, videos, team pages, campaigns. Comms teams get a simple CMS, ready-to-use templates, targeted distribution and usage statistics. It's the most common starting point: turning SharePoint into a company intranet.
2. Collaboration and project management
Team sites centralize all of a project's content: documents, schedule, tasks, versions. Paired with Teams, SharePoint becomes the single document base that eliminates duplicates and endless attachments.
3. Knowledge management
Knowledge bases, wikis, glossaries, lessons learned: SharePoint structures know-how. Microsoft Search, enriched by AI, makes it accessible and usable. To go further, see how to turn SharePoint into a real document management system.
4. Digital portal and access hub
The SharePoint intranet often becomes the entry point to the entire internal ecosystem: business apps, forms, HR resources, Power BI dashboards.
5. Workflows and automation
With Power Automate, SharePoint automates document approvals, notifications, validation cycles, reminders and archiving. Less friction, more rigor.
SharePoint vs a file server: why migrate?
Many companies still use a shared file server. SharePoint breaks through its limits.
CriterionFile serverSharePointRemote accessLimited, VPN requiredAnywhere, secureReal-time co-editingNoYes (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)VersioningNone (manual copies)Complete, who changed whatSearchBasicAdvanced (text + metadata)AutomationNonePower Automate workflows
Why use SharePoint as an intranet rather than an external solution?
Many vendors offer "non-Microsoft" intranets. But when you're already on Microsoft 365, SharePoint keeps decisive advantages. We compare them in depth in our article on why choose SharePoint for your intranet.
CriterionSharePoint (native M365)External solutionIntegrationNative (Teams, OneDrive, Outlook, Viva)To develop and maintainCostIncluded in M365 licensesExtra subscriptionSecurity / complianceEntra ID, DLP, unified governanceFragmented security perimeterScalabilityMicrosoft roadmap (Copilot, Viva)Depends on the third-party vendor
Native integration. SharePoint lives in the same environment as your daily tools. No integrations to code, no fragile syncs, no duplication. Everything works together from day one. A consistent experience. Your employees spend their day in Microsoft 365; a SharePoint intranet extends those habits naturally. An economical choice. SharePoint is included in your licenses, while an external solution adds a subscription and one more tool to an already dense stack. Unified governance. Documents, data, identities and rights stay inside the Microsoft ecosystem: Entra ID, compliance, archiving, DLP. An ambitious roadmap. Modernized pages, Viva Connections, Copilot for Microsoft 365: choosing SharePoint means aligning with one of the most active roadmaps on the market.
SharePoint adapts to every company
SharePoint is a "toolbox" platform. A small business deploys an intranet in a few pages. A multinational manages dozens of sites, navigation hierarchies, complex permissions and several languages. The same platform absorbs both realities, thanks to its modular pages, configurable web parts, libraries, lists, workflows and reusable templates.
What SharePoint is NOT
Let's be clear to scope a project well: SharePoint is powerful, but it doesn't replace everything. SharePoint is not an ERP, an advanced CRM, a full BPM tool for complex processes, or a project manager like Jira or Asana with advanced planning. On the other hand, it excels at structuring information, organizing documents, building collaborative sites and automating routine processes. Well scoped, it's a foundation; poorly scoped, you ask it to do what it can't.
Worth noting too: Microsoft is actively pushing toward SharePoint Online. The legacy On-Premises versions are reaching end of support (SharePoint 2016 and 2019 retiring by 2026), with no more updates or security patches. For a new project, the cloud version is the obvious choice.
Concrete examples: SharePoint enhanced by Jint
SharePoint lays the foundation. But used alone, it quickly shows its design and engagement limits. That's where Jint comes in: a native extension that turns SharePoint into a modern, living, genuinely used intranet. A few project examples.
A complete communication intranet. News pages, rich editorial modules, rethought navigation, polished mobile experience, templates aligned with brand identity.
Ready-to-use team sites. "Project management," "communication," "community" templates, with libraries, lists and workflows already configured.
A Knowledge Hub. Organized knowledge, enriched search, dynamic FAQ, glossary, Viva Connections integration. And with Jint AI, your employees query that knowledge in natural language.
Overlays to accelerate. Simpler editing, clearer navigation, more complete templates, a more intuitive experience. Everything native SharePoint lacks.
Ready to see the result? Learn how to create a SharePoint intranet step by step, or book a demo.
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