How Does SharePoint Improve Collaboration?
SharePoint is an application hosted by the Microsoft Office 365 platform. It brings an array of benefits to both small and large businesses, with many enterprises using Microsoft Office finding unique success using it. Whether you're already using SharePoint or are considering its value to your company, there are many ways to leverage this app and improve collaboration.
What About SharePoint Makes It a Collaboration Tool?
SharePoint is much more than what it's initially known for: an enterprise-level content and project management tool. Thanks to its secure remote access capabilities as well as its real-time change tracking notification system, it's one of the most advanced collaboration tools available. When an update is made to a project, a simultaneous notification is sent to the appropriate team members, easily allowing the most sophisticated form of real-time collaboration to take place.
Here's a look at the top five ways SharePoint can be used to initiate and maintain refined collaboration and communication.
1. Secure Team Communications
Exclusivity is at the heart of SharePoint. You gain full control over every instance made in the application, easily allowing you to decide who is assigned a task, who can participate in conversations and activities, and how long all of the created SharePoint instances exist. Your team communications are protected with the latest encryption and security, meaning it's easier to uphold confidentiality standards.
2. Centralized Access
With SharePoint, you and your team members gain a centralized dashboard and communications center. With a single point of access to all pertinent collaboration tools and communications, it becomes more efficient for team members to complete tasks and meet deadlines. Every time a SharePoint instance is created, it becomes the central location for accompanying calendars, documents, chat conversations, to-do lists, and more.
3. Real-Time Updates
As mentioned before, SharePoint enhances collaboration capabilities largely due to its real-time notification system. When a team member responds to a chat conversation, the message is instantaneously sent along with a notification to the viewing and responding parties who have permission to be in the chat. The same applies to instances in which updates are made to documents. With this type of real-time system, it becomes possible to perform simultaneous editing, which is at the core of the most advanced forms of collaboration.
4. Clear Team Expectations
It's also with SharePoint that it becomes possible to create clear team expectations among all team members. You can create a specific goal for a project, choose your team members, assign team members specific tasks, monitor task progress, and more. Beyond individual task assignments, it's also possible to allow all team members to see and monitor the progress of other members; this is very effective for upholding accountability throughout all projects.
5. Simple Task Management
Knowing which tasks are assigned to each team member goes a long way in successful project completion, but it's equally as important to have access to calendars, appointment times, content publishing schedules, and more. With SharePoint, you can pioneer your way to better collaboration and project management thanks to its simple task management system. Shared calendars and appointment books are crucial to time management and avoiding double bookings. Ultimately, SharePoint provides a bird's-eye view of the entire team's time schedule.
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