Boost Productivity and Slash Costs: Let’s Evaluate the ROI of Custom SharePoint Development

Launched in 2001, Microsoft SharePoint disrupted the way organizations manage their content and data. From documents and images to video and web pages, SharePoint development facilitates creation, organization, storage, and distribution of digital content within the organization. However, as the volume of data grew exponentially, the limitations of traditional content management became increasingly apparent. Finding accurate data got challenging. Other than the size of data, lack of cleansing reduced discoverability, making it difficult for the employees to find relevant content.

Microsoft SharePoint is redefining how businesses interact with content and manage it. In fact, the introduction of SharePoint Premium is not just a simple upgrade, but a complete makeover of traditional content management approaches. The Premium version leverages AI to manage content and data. Organizations can invest in customized SharePoint solutions to automate routine tasks, enhance data accuracy, and unlock valuable insights from their data. After all, the goal of SharePoint development is to address the limitations of traditional CMS and benchmark new standards for intelligent content management.

SharePoint Development: The Ultimate AI-Powered Content Management Solution

Once an interesting plot for sci-fi movies and novels, AI is now a marvelous reality- one that is creatively disrupting businesses for good. That said, what sets SharePoint Premium apart is its AI-based processing and governance capabilities, ultimately enhancing content experiences and turning data to useful resources. It can be seamlessly integrated with applications like Teams, OneDrive, and Microsoft 365 Copilot. Some of the key areas where SharePoint development delivers value for businesses are as follows:

1. Improved Document Accessibility

Manual classification and tagging of documents are undoubtedly one of the most time-consuming tasks in content management; and SharePoint Premium offers excellent document management capabilities. The AI-driven algorithms can analyze the content of documents, identify key themes, and automatically assign relevant metadata tags. This not only accelerates the process, but also improves accuracy and the overall structure, ensuring that content is consistently and correctly classified. Automated tagging also facilitates better searchability and retrieval, enhancing document accessibility.

2. Workflow Automation and Process Optimization

AI-driven automation can streamline workflows and optimize business processes within SharePoint. Routine tasks such as document approval, data entry, and content migration can be automated, reducing the burden on employees and minimizing the risk of errors. Furthermore, AI can identify bottlenecks in workflows and suggest improvements, ensuring that processes are efficient and perfectly aligned with organizational goals. Business leaders can also opt for add-ons if they wish to extend the capabilities of SharePoint custom solutions to solve unique challenges and enhance user experience.

3. Dynamic Content Discovery

Traditional search functionalities often fall short in providing accurate and relevant results, especially when there’s information overload. SharePoint Premium’s AI-powered search engines can understand the context and intent behind search queries, delivering more precise and relevant results. Natural language processing (NLP) enables AI to comprehend complex queries and return documents that match the user’s intent, rather than just keyword matches. This enhances productivity by reducing the time spent searching for information and ensures that critical data is easily accessible.

4. Bolstered Data Governance

Data governance is a non-negotiable aspect of content management for businesses, irrespective of the industries or verticals they deal in. SharePoint Premium addresses this concern by identifying potential threats, such as unauthorized access or data breaches. It offers AI-driven policy suggestions, prevents oversharing, and tools for content lifecycle management. IT controls are extended to content producers, allowing them to manage content at scale.

Additionally, AI can assist in compliance management by automatically applying regulatory policies, monitoring compliance violations, and generating audit trails. Furthermore, companies can leverage features like site access reviews and Data Access Governance (DAG) reports to ensure that content is secure and complies with organizational regulations.

5. Advanced Content Processing

SharePoint Premium lets AI identify and extract information from structured and unstructured data for data cleanup, automation, or security purposes. Content processing, a key component of SharePoint Premium, uses AI-driven models to extract information from documents to be added to SharePoint’s metadata. This feature is helpful for tasks like invoice processing, where AI automatically extracts metadata from an invoice and puts it into separate data columns to enhance accessibility and boost automation.

Other than metadata classification, AI is also used for image processing and the autofill column functionality. With features like eSignature, document processing, and AI-driven clause analysis, SharePoint Premium shines in content processing.

6. Redefined Content Experiences

What differentiates SharePoint Premium from other CMS is the way it optimizes and maximizes content value. By analyzing user interactions, AI can predict what content will be most relevant and valuable to each user. Access to such relevant information not only helps in making informed decisions and improving productivity, but also enhances user experience.

7. Intranet and Internal Communications

Helping businesses to tackle the challenges of hybrid work mode and overcoming the limitations of traditional CMS, SharePoint application development is just the ideal solution for creating an intranet. It provides a centralized hub for information sharing and internal communication. Organizations can use it for spreading announcements, company news, and updates, creating a connected and informed workforce.

Case Study: Custom SharePoint Development Solutions in Action

To illustrate the transformative potential of SharePoint development solutions, consider the case of a global financial services firm that implemented this robust, AI-powered content management system. Struggling with an overwhelming volume of documents and stringent regulatory requirements, the firm sought to enhance its content management practices.

By leveraging custom SharePoint solutions, the firm automated the classification and tagging of documents, significantly reducing manual effort and ensuring greater accuracy. AI-powered search capabilities enabled employees to quickly locate relevant documents, enhancing productivity and collaboration. Additionally, AI analytics provided insights into document usage and collaboration patterns, allowing the firm to optimize its content strategies.

Moreover, AI-driven security measures ensured that sensitive information was protected, and compliance policies were consistently enforced. This way, the firm not only improved its content management practices, but also enhanced security, compliance, and overall efficiency.

Ending Note

SharePoint development offers the approach businesses need for effective data and content management without breaking the bank. By automating routine tasks, enhancing search capabilities, gaining insights from data, and improving security and compliance, SharePoint solutions are already delivering value across companies, in terms of efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Thus, it is just the right investment for businesses seeking intelligent content management solutions that pave the way for a connected and productive workplace.