When it comes to internal comms within a Microsoft 365 environment, it’s tempting to think SharePoint can handle all your needs out-of-the-box.
With investment into the platform, new branding capabilities, custom fonts and flexible layouts coming towards the end of the year, SharePoint has come a long way since its 2013 days.
The recent additions to the platform have gone above and beyond incremental updates making it almost unrecognisable from the SharePoint of old.
Yet, if choosing SharePoint as your primary internal comms channel is a cost-saving exercise be warned, it may lead you into the complex and risky territory of customisations.
Customising SharePoint often starts with needing a few bespoke web parts to meet specific requirements such as global navigation, search, people search, and governance. While this might seem manageable initially, it soon reveals several challenges.
Custom built SharePoint web parts are not without risk
Not only will you have to find a competent software development company specialising in SharePoint or engage your IT department if they have the necessary skills to help you build the web part, you’ll have to describe exactly what it is you want them to do, which can often be the hardest part.
As our Finnish partner Katja Karjalainen from Advania Finland puts it:
“If you want to create a SharePoint web part from scratch first you have to define it. Then explain exactly how you want it to work.”
The initial cost to build a custom web part typically ranges from five to fifteen thousand pounds, depending on complexity. Beyond the initial build, it will need ongoing maintenance, especially when Microsoft rolls out updates such as the custom fonts coming towards the end of the year.
Microsoft updates can break custom web parts
If not anticipated, these updates can break and impact the look and feel of your custom web part as they won’t automatically inherit the changes made by Microsoft.
Take for example when the new custom fonts are rolled out, you’ll have to go back to your developer to ask them to programmatically apply these changes to your custom-built web part, assuming you’re aware of when the changes take place, which comes at an additional hassle not to mention cost.
“When it comes to custom building SharePoint web parts, clients seldom factor in how much it’s going to cost for us to keep them up and running,” says Katja.
Introducing security vulnerabilities
Custom web parts can introduce unnecessary security vulnerabilities if they’re not coded properly; for example, behind the scenes, web parts in SharePoint often rely on third-party code.
Vulnerabilities in these can introduce security risks, which can compromise your entire SharePoint environment. So, you’ll need someone in the IT team to do regular security audits and updates to make sure this doesn’t happen.
Given these challenges, is it really worth venturing into custom built SharePoint web parts? This is where Fresh Intranet offers a compelling alternative.
Fresh features designed to augment SharePoint
Fresh provides a series of features that live inside SharePoint. Designed to augment and enhance functionality, Fresh turns SharePoint in an experience that feels more like an extension of your website, with all the relevant intranet features you need.
Providing a seamless employee experience within the Microsoft 365 digital ecosystem, your people and IT department will love it.
“I haven’t seen a client who didn’t like Fresh. With 70+ web parts to choose from, Fresh will give you options that you didn’t even think of,” says Katja.
Benefits of using Fresh with SharePoint
So, let’s take a look at some of the benefits of using Fresh with SharePoint as an internal communications tool within Microsoft 365.
1. Pre-built, standardised components and SharePoint web parts
Fresh offers over 70 components and SharePoint web parts designed with intranet use cases in mind, including popular news and announcements, people search, quick links, analytics, as well as Viva Connections cards that are maintained by the Fresh team, ensuring seamless compatibility with Microsoft updates. This eliminates the need for costly and time-consuming custom development.
2. On-going maintenance
Fresh handles the ongoing maintenance and updates of all its components and web parts, ensuring that your intranet always remains functional and up to date with the latest SharePoint features and Microsoft security standards.
3. Always secure and compliant
Following Microsoft’s best practices, Fresh reduces the risk of security vulnerabilities, providing a secure and compliant environment for your internal communications. Fresh is also compliant with ISO security and WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards and ISO certified for the following accreditations:
- ISO 27001 (Information Security)
- ISO 22301 (Business Continuity)
- ISO 9001 (Quality)
- ISO 45001 (Health & Safety)
4. User-friendly design
Fresh’s web parts are designed to be intuitive, accessible and WCAG compliant, making them easy to use with little or no additional training or change management process needed, which isn’t necessarily always the case when you opt to build your own web parts and components in Microsoft 365 from scratch.
5. Made for Microsoft 365
Built within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem and on top of SharePoint, Fresh seamlessly integrates with applications you’re already using like Teams, Viva Engage and Viva Connections, ensuring a unified and efficient employee experience for all users.
6. Uncover new Microsoft features
When choosing Fresh with SharePoint, you will benefit from its research and development (R&D) initiatives. For example, when Microsoft recently introduced its ‘Announcements’ feature in Viva Connections, the Fresh team spotted a gap in Microsoft’s offering. Rapidly innovating, Fresh clients can now also use ‘Viva Connections Announcements’ in their SharePoint intranet too.
7. Aligned with Microsoft’s roadmap and market trends
Fresh’s roadmap is aligned with Microsoft 365, surpassing feature parity and seamlessly integrating with its evolving technology trends. Take for example, its generative AI tool FreshMind available to all clients, designed to enhance productivity, content management and content creation.
At the forefront of AI innovation for intranets, Fresh’s AI capabilities are continually evolving. Consider the recently announced general availability of Azure OpenAI GPT-4o for Microsoft customers. This model is 50% faster than the previous leading AI model and is being integrated into FreshMind as we speak.
While the idea of custom-built SharePoint web parts might seem appealing at first, the complexities and risks involved can often outweigh the benefits.
So, why risk the pitfalls of custom development when Fresh can provide a ready-made solution in SharePoint tailored to your needs? With over 70 web parts designed to enhance your SharePoint experience, Fresh is the perfect partner to elevate your intranet.
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