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Microsoft 365 · SharePoint

Microsoft SharePoint

A modern collaboration platform.

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SharePoint in short

One home for your files, sites and intranet.

Microsoft SharePoint is the part of Microsoft 365 where your business stores, organises and shares files, team sites and its intranet. Solid Systems sets SharePoint up for South African businesses, migrates files from servers and Google Drive, builds intranets, locks down permissions and gets your content ready for Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Picture it:

A multinational with staff around the globe is conducting vital research into rare diseases. How can it make sure every employee has the latest news and the most recent data? How can it keep communication and collaboration seamless across countries and time zones? The answer is Microsoft SharePoint. And you don’t need to be a multinational to see how it can help your business too.

  • 2Microsoft Solutions Partner designations: Business Solutions and AI, and Security
  • CSPA Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider, supplying and supporting your Microsoft 365 licences
  • 2003The year we started helping businesses get the most from Microsoft
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How it works

How does SharePoint work?

SharePoint is a Microsoft 365 service for sharing and collaboration across an organisation. It lets people publish, organise, share and store the information they need, from wherever they are in the world. It is simple to use, which is why so many organisations use it to build secure, customised intranet sites as well as shared document libraries.

SharePoint is part of the Microsoft 365 group behind every team. That means every SharePoint team site comes with services such as Planner, Outlook and a shared calendar, and connects to Microsoft Teams, where the files in a channel are stored in SharePoint behind the scenes.

Not sure where personal files end and team files begin? Read Microsoft SharePoint vs OneDrive: which should your company be using?

The Solid Systems team together on a footbridge in Cape Town
Features

Features and benefits of SharePoint.

There are many benefits to using SharePoint for file storage and intranet sites. These are the ones we hear people rave about most.

Files in one secure place

Every team’s documents in a shared library, instead of scattered across laptops, email attachments and a file server.

Work on documents together

Several people can edit the same Word, Excel or PowerPoint file at the same time, without emailing copies back and forth.

Find anything quickly

Search looks inside documents, sites and lists, so people find the latest version instead of asking a colleague.

Version history and recovery

Every save is kept as a version, and deleted files can be restored from the recycle bin, so mistakes are easy to undo.

Lists and simple automation

Track requests, assets or projects in Microsoft Lists, and automate approvals and notifications with Power Automate.

Access from anywhere

Open SharePoint in a browser, inside Microsoft Teams, on a phone, or synced to your computer through OneDrive.

Boost your productivity today!

Bring your documents and teams together for seamless collaboration.

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Our SharePoint services

Our SharePoint services, from setup to adoption.

We set SharePoint up, move your files into it, and make sure people use it, as part of how we look after Microsoft 365 for your business.

SharePoint setup and structure

Sites, libraries and navigation designed around how your business works, with naming and ownership people understand.

Migration to SharePoint

Files moved from a file server, Google Drive or Dropbox in planned stages, with permissions mapped and people trained.

Intranets

A company intranet on SharePoint communication and hub sites: news, policies, forms and links in one place.

Permissions and governance

Sharing settings, access reviews, sensitivity labels and data loss prevention that keep information with the right people.

Copilot readiness

Overshared sites found and fixed, stale content archived and labels applied, so Microsoft 365 Copilot answers from the right files.

Training and support

Onboarding for your people and site owners, then day-to-day support from the same team that set SharePoint up.

SharePoint migration

Move file servers and Google Drive to SharePoint.

Moving files to SharePoint is a chance to fix years of clutter, not just copy it. We start by assessing what you have: which shares and folders are in use, who has access to what, and which files haven’t been opened in years.

  1. Plan: design the sites and libraries your files will move into, around teams and how they work, and map permissions before anything moves.
  2. Tidy: archive what nobody needs, remove duplicates and fix paths that are too long for SharePoint.
  3. Move: migrate in planned stages with Microsoft’s migration tools, from file servers, Google Drive or Dropbox, so people keep working.
  4. Adopt: sync libraries with OneDrive, show people where their files now live, and switch the old storage to read-only.

Moving servers and email too? See cloud services and our cloud migration checklist.

Intranets and sites

Types of collaboration on SharePoint.

The advantages of SharePoint go beyond one app: you can use a range of Microsoft 365 apps to build a collaborative environment that is secure and productive. SharePoint’s main job is hosting files, and integrations with tools like Microsoft Teams make collaboration smooth. Three types of SharePoint site help, and together they make a company intranet.

Team sites

Help departments or project teams work closely together, even when they’re continents apart. Each team site comes with a Microsoft 365 group, so members share a document library, lists, a calendar, Planner and an Outlook inbox, and can connect the site to a channel in Microsoft Teams.

Communication sites

Broadcast important information to everyone in your organisation. HR often uses a communication site to share news, policies and updates, and any team can create one to publish its own news to the SharePoint start page.

Hub sites

Why choose between a team site and a communication site? A hub site connects related sites, giving them shared navigation, branding and search, so people find relevant content across all of them. Administrators control which sites join a hub.

Permissions and governance

Creating a safe collaborative environment.

Collaboration doesn’t have to stop at your own organisation: SharePoint makes it easy to work with people inside and outside your company. These are the settings we use to keep that safe:

  • Data loss prevention: Microsoft Purview rules decide how sensitive data can be accessed and shared, with conditions, exceptions and actions you set.
  • Device access: give unmanaged devices full access, web-only access or none at all, with conditional access.
  • Idle sessions: sign inactive users out automatically, instead of leaving sessions open.
  • Modern authentication: block apps that don’t use secure, modern authentication, even if a partner’s policies allow them.
  • Identity: manage people and groups in Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory), so the right people have the right access at the right time.
  • Email protection: Microsoft Defender for Office 365 (formerly Advanced Threat Protection) scans links and attachments shared with your people.
  • Activity monitoring: Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps watches what internal and external users do, so you can spot risky behaviour early.
  • Compliance: audit logs and regular reports help you meet storage regulations such as POPIA.

We also review who owns each site, how widely files are shared, and who still needs access, and apply sensitivity labels to confidential content. See our cyber security services.

Copilot readiness

Get SharePoint ready for Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Microsoft 365 Copilot answers questions from the files, sites and messages each person already has permission to see, and most of a business’s files live in SharePoint. That makes SharePoint the data Copilot reads. If a site is shared with everyone, Copilot can surface salary spreadsheets or board papers to people who were never meant to find them. If old drafts sit beside current documents, its answers will be out of date.

Before you switch Copilot on, we check SharePoint for:

  • Sites and files shared with “everyone” or with large groups that don’t need them
  • Stale and duplicate content to archive, so answers come from current documents
  • Sensitivity labels on confidential information
  • Site owners for every site, so access stays right as people change roles

Then we help your people use Copilot well. See Copilot and AI adoption.

Case study · Pretoria

How BEE Analyst adopted SharePoint and Teams.

BEE Analyst, a consultancy of more than 70 people that handles highly sensitive B-BBEE data, wanted to move off legacy systems and adopt Microsoft 365 tools such as SharePoint and Microsoft Teams across the company. Solid Systems migrated its critical data to the cloud, set up precise access to sensitive information, and ran training for users and admins so the tools stuck.

“Myself and some of my colleagues are fossils, and fossils don’t change easily. We’re used to talking to each other via emails, and now all of a sudden you’re introduced to a new chat platform like Microsoft Teams and people aren’t used to it.”

Annalize Visser, Director, BEE Analyst

Read the BEE Analyst case study →

  • Access to sensitive information managed precisely
  • Effective collaboration across apps like Microsoft Teams
  • Training that is easy to repeat for new hires

Solid Systems SharePoint solutions

As a Microsoft Solutions Partner for Business Solutions and AI, and Security, we are well placed to help with SharePoint. Our consultants are just a click away, so don’t hesitate to contact us.

Since 2003, Solid Systems has specialised in delivering leading technology solutions and guidance to organisations in South Africa and abroad, in the most human way possible.

We love technology and the exciting ways it evolves, and keep improving the tools we use. But humans are at the heart of our business. That’s why we value each relationship and take a personal approach, finding solutions that deliver results for your company.

With highly skilled, passionate people and the right tools, we make sure the businesses we work with keep evolving, and step into the future with confidence. Looking for more than SharePoint? See our managed IT services.

Frequently asked questions about SharePoint

Still deciding? Ask us anything →

01What is Microsoft SharePoint used for?

SharePoint is where a business stores, organises and shares its files, and builds team sites and intranets. People co-author documents, find information with search, manage lists and automate simple processes, from the office or anywhere else, in a browser, in Microsoft Teams or through OneDrive on their own device.

02Is SharePoint included in Microsoft 365?

Yes. SharePoint is included in Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Business Standard and Business Premium, and in the enterprise E3 and E5 plans. It is not included in Microsoft 365 Apps for business, which covers the desktop apps only. Ask us which licence fits.

03What is the difference between SharePoint and OneDrive?

OneDrive is for an individual’s own files; SharePoint is for files a team or the whole business shares. Both are part of Microsoft 365 and work together: OneDrive syncs SharePoint libraries to your computer. Read SharePoint vs OneDrive.

04Can you migrate our file server or Google Drive to SharePoint?

Yes. We assess what you have, tidy it up, design the sites and libraries it moves into, and map permissions before anything moves. Files are migrated in planned stages with Microsoft’s migration tools, so people keep working, and we train them on the new home for their files.

05How does SharePoint affect Microsoft 365 Copilot?

Copilot answers from the files, sites and messages each person already has permission to see, and much of that lives in SharePoint. If permissions are too open, Copilot can surface content people shouldn’t see; if files are out of date, its answers will be too. Tidying SharePoint first is the most important step in getting ready for Copilot.

06Is SharePoint secure enough for sensitive data?

It can be, when it is set up properly. SharePoint encrypts data, and Microsoft 365 adds data loss prevention, sensitivity labels, conditional access, multi-factor authentication and audit logs. We configure them for your business, and check sharing and permissions so sensitive information only reaches the right people.

From the blog

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Make collaboration your top priority.

Tell us where your files live today. We’ll show you what SharePoint could look like for your business, and how to get there.

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