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SharePoint out-of-the box challenges and how to solve them
Used by more than 190 million people and 200,000 organizations worldwide, SharePoint’s a hugely popular intranet and content management tool. It’s a powerful platform for communication, collaboration and knowledge sharing.
But if you’re thinking about launching an intranet on SharePoint, there are a couple of different routes you can take. You can either use SharePoint out-of-the-box (OOTB) or build a customized version tailored to your business needs.
OOTB SharePoint can seem like a fast and cost-effective solution. It integrates with your existing Microsoft environment and is ready to go. But will it meet your specific requirements? Will it provide the complete solution you want from an intranet?
Here, we’ll look into the differences between OOTB and custom SharePoint. We’ll explore what you get out of the box, and we’ll uncover the common challenges businesses face. Importantly, we’ll show how you can overcome these limitations.
What’s the difference between OOTB SharePoint and custom SharePoint?
Out-of-the-box (OOTB) SharePoint has the standard features and templates Microsoft provides with SharePoint Online or SharePoint Server. This includes pre-built web parts, team and communication sites, basic content management and integration with Microsoft 365 tools like OneDrive, Teams and Outlook.
On the other hand, custom SharePoint involves tailoring the platform to your organization’s specific needs. Think customized branding, user experience, navigation, workflows, permissions and integrations. This requires development time, the building of additional components or integrations with third-party solutions.
Whilst OOTB is undoubtably quicker and cheaper to launch, it can lack the functionality and finesse that you may want from a modern intranet experience.
What is out-of-the-box SharePoint?
OOTB SharePoint includes a basic set of tools such as:
- Communication sites
- Team sites
- Document libraries
- Lists and forms
- Web parts (such as news, events, quick links)
- Search and navigation
- Permissions management
- Mobile responsiveness.
What are the downsides of out-of-the-box SharePoint?
Generally, organizations with simple requirements may be content with the basic offering. But when you want to drive engagement, improve knowledge sharing or build a scalable digital workplace, the limitations quickly become apparent. Here’s why…
1. Limited design flexibility for content pages
Whilst SharePoint OOTB gives you a fast way to build news and comms pages with ready-made components, the design options are limited.
You’ll find it tough to:
- Tailor the intranet to your brand
- Personalize content for different roles or departments
- Adapt layouts as your needs evolve.
You can get going fairly quickly with the basic OOTB version. But once you start needing richer content, more targeted communications or a more branded experience, it can fall short. Without customization or integrations with third-party solutions, it’s hard to maintain a consistent look and feel across departments. That isn’t good for employee experience or engagement.
2. No dedicated people directory page
SharePoint’s navigation is a bit clunky, and users often struggle to find what they need. For example, if you want to search for the right person fast, you may be disappointed.
OOTB SharePoint doesn’t offer a page-based people directory. Instead, users have to rely on the global search bar which doesn’t have dedicated filters or sorting options to narrow down results. This can result in a frustrating user experience for your employees.
3. Repetitive page layouts
Once you move beyond your homepage, you’ll notice that most OOTB SharePoint pages are rather generic. There are limited ways to implement your branding options. Even small changes like tweaking layouts, adding interactivity or integrating third-party tools requires IT expertise.
If you want your intranet to feel dynamic and varied, you need to go beyond the OOTB toolkit.
4. Poor content management and governance
It’s easy for multiple users to add content. Sounds good, doesn’t it? That’s until links and documents start being duplicated across pages. Without centralized content management or dynamic linking, a single update may need to be changed manually in multiple places.
You can end up with sprawling content that’s outdated and duplicated. That’s not just inefficient – it increases the risk of users accessing inaccurate information. So, if you want to be able to “create once, publish anywhere,” you’ll need extra planning, technical support or third-party extensions.
5. Entry level analytics
You get some useful page and site-level analytics with OOTB SharePoint. But you only see basic metrics. If you want a high-level view – such as engagement trends, popular content or usage across departments – you need to integrate other tools.
All these roadblocks impact user engagement and adoption. When it doesn’t look good, feel intuitive or deliver the content you need, people are less keen to use it.
How Fresh solves the challenges of SharePoint
Step forward Fresh. We’re here to solve those common intranet challenges by bundling Microsoft 365 services with specific SharePoint friendly customizations.
“Fresh expands SharePoint’s capabilities while keeping the benefits. If you need more power, then Fresh’s SharePoint add-on products will greatly enhance the functionality whilst keeping the appeal of single search, integration with Teams and Viva Connections.” Clearbox 2023
Fresh is a ready-to-go intranet solution built on SharePoint but designed to overcome its OOTB limitations. Here’s how:
Modern UX with powerful design tools
Fresh delivers a polished, intuitive interface that aligns with your brand and keeps employees coming back.
Easy-to-use page templates and web parts
Create rich, engaging content with our custom components that extend SharePoint’s capabilities. And you don’t need to touch any code.
Personalized experiences
Fresh intranet includes smart content targeting and audience segmentation. That means the right people see the right content at the right time.
Governance and content management
Our tools help content owners manage, archive and review pages regularly. That makes it easier to keep your intranet clean, accurate and relevant.
Rapid deployment and reduced IT overhead
You don’t need to turn to your IT team for every single tweak. Fresh accelerates your time to launch and takes the pressure off your internal dev team.
Aligned with Microsoft 365
Microsoft’s roadmap evolves constantly. Fresh is built on Microsoft 365, so you don’t need to worry about keeping up as we’re already there.
Ongoing support
We don’t disappear after deployment. Fresh customers benefit from continuous updates, expert support, and the chance to see your requests come to life.
FAQs
What is out of the Box SharePoint?
“Out of the box” (OOTB) SharePoint refers to the standard features Microsoft ships with SharePoint Online or SharePoint Server – no custom code, just plug-and-play. You get: communication and team sites, document libraries, lists and forms, core web parts (news, events, quick links), basic search/navigation, permissions management and mobile responsiveness. It’s perfect for simple, fast deployments but limited for richer intranet experiences.
What are the common issues with SharePoint?
Even though SharePoint is a solid platform, organizations frequently hit the same pain points:
- Limited design flexibility – ready-made page components are fast to deploy but hard to brand or adapt as your needs evolve.
- No dedicated people directory – finding colleagues relies on the global search bar, which lacks the filters people expect.
- Repetitive layouts – beyond the home page, most pages look generic unless you invest in custom development.
- Content sprawl & governance gaps – duplicate files and links crop up quickly because updates aren’t centralized.
- Entry-level analytics – basic page-view stats give little insight into engagement trends or content performance.
What is the downside of SharePoint?
OOTB SharePoint is quick and cost-effective, but that speed comes at a price. You may find yourself constrained by templated designs, limited personalization and a heavier reliance on IT for custom features. As requirements grow – richer content, smarter targeting, deeper analytics – the basic setup can feel restrictive and hamper adoption.
What are the limitations of SharePoint?
- Branding & UX – only a narrow set of colors, fonts and layout options are available without custom code.
- Navigation & search – no purpose-built people directory and minimal filtering can slow users down.
- Content management – updates often need to be made in multiple places, risking inconsistency.
- Analytics – site-level metrics are fine for a pulse check, but not for strategic insight.
- Scalability of features – adding advanced workflows, integrations or personalized experiences usually means extra development or third-party tools.
If you want to go beyond the basic experience of SharePoint OOTB, chat to us. Fresh gives you a customized, fully featured intranet built on SharePoint. See how Fresh can transform your SharePoint experience. Get in touch with our team.
