There is a place for SharePoint in your business, but it's not always easy to build a SharePoint intranet. Here's how it can work effectively alongside a modern intranet to enhance and streamline the user experience.
Thinking about using SharePoint as an intranet? While it's a great tool for business collaboration, there are some hurdles when implementing it as your company's intranet software.
Let us show you exactly how you can have your SharePoint and intranet cake and eat it, with the help of Oak Engage.
What is SharePoint?
SharePoint is the backbone of many business operations thanks to its cloud-based collaboration on documents, spreadsheets, slide decks and more.
The central storage space, integrated with the Microsoft 365 suite, has strong security and permissions-based access to ensure the right people can access and work on the right things.
You don't need to replace SharePoint to improve your intranet experience.
Many businesses rely on SharePoint, and for some organisations, keeping it for day-to-day use is non-negotiable. Oak's intranet and employee app can work alongside SharePoint rather than against it.
We have built our company intranet software with Microsoft technologies. Oak is hosted on Microsoft Azure, one of the most established cloud platforms in the world, offering strong data protection and security capabilities.
Disadvantages of using SharePoint as an intranet
Although SharePoint is a powerful document management and collaboration platform, building and maintaining a fully featured employee intranet can introduce additional complexity.
From implementation costs to mobile accessibility, these are some of the challenges organisations may encounter.
Extended development time and cost
We have seen first-hand the roadblocks that can come with trying to build an intranet on SharePoint. Development can become cumbersome and time-consuming, especially when organisations require more advanced functionality.
The ROI on bespoke SharePoint development can be poor when significant resources are needed to create and maintain unique, engaging intranet features.
Maintaining custom functionality as requirements evolve can also place ongoing demands on internal IT teams.
Poor analytics
How do you measure whether staff have read and understood important updates through SharePoint, especially employees without Microsoft licences? This can be challenging.
By integrating SharePoint with an intranet platform such as Oak, organisations can access additional communication analytics to understand engagement with alerts, company news and updates.
From policy changes to new processes, Oak's analytics help teams measure the reach of communications delivered through the intranet.
Complex search functionality
Searching for the correct version of a document can quickly become difficult when information is stored across multiple platforms and libraries.
A modern intranet with intelligent search functionality can provide a single starting point for locating relevant content, including documents stored in SharePoint.
Personalised, permission-aware results can make information easier to find across devices.
Poor mobile experience
SharePoint provides mobile access, but the experience may not meet the needs of every organisation, particularly those with large frontline or deskless workforces.
Oak's mobile intranet app helps employees access their intranet, rotas, payslips, business news, updates and critical information from one place.
This gives employees convenient access to workplace resources wherever they are based, rather than relying entirely on desktop-focused applications.
How Severfield approached its SharePoint challenges
Our customer, Severfield, came to Oak after spending a year trying to develop an intranet on SharePoint.
Around half of its workforce was remote, frontline or deskless. Severfield needed an intranet that could connect employees across the group, regardless of their location or whether they had a company device.
“We didn’t get along with SharePoint. We came across many challenges and it was really limited. We needed an intranet and a colleague app to cater to our dispersed workforce. We shortlisted Oak and one other provider, but once we had spoken to the team at Oak, we knew straight away they were the right partner to help us achieve our goals. We signed on the dotted line a week later.”
Charlie Joy
Creative Communications Manager, Severfield plc
How to use SharePoint and your intranet for success
Oak is a modern, user-friendly intranet and employee app that integrates with SharePoint to provide quick ways to store, search and share files with colleagues for collaboration.
The user experience goes beyond administrative functionality, offering opportunities to collaborate across teams, connect with others and help employees work more efficiently.
Keep your existing SharePoint environment
Continue using SharePoint for document management and collaboration while introducing a more accessible intranet experience for employees.
Make information easier to find
Connect SharePoint content with intranet search so employees can find relevant files and resources from a central location.
Connect frontline employees
Provide mobile access to relevant company information, including selected documents made available through Oak for employees who don't use SharePoint directly.
Improve employee communication
Use personalised content, company updates and social features to connect employees beyond traditional document management.
Using a mobile app can also be a more cost-effective approach for organisations with large deskless workforces.
Depending on licensing, permissions and how content is made available, employees may be able to access selected documents through Oak without needing additional individual SharePoint licences.
Oak's seamless integration with SharePoint for intranet success
If you're looking for a modern, user-friendly employee experience platform to address the limitations of SharePoint as an intranet, you don't have to choose between SharePoint and another intranet solution.
You can use both platforms together, benefiting from SharePoint's document management capabilities while introducing a mobile employee app, personalised communications and opportunities to create a social community.
Oak Engage integrates with Microsoft 365, making it easier for organisations to use the tools they already have through a more accessible digital workplace experience.
Explore Oak's wider intranet integrations to understand how the platform connects with existing workplace technologies.
Your SharePoint users
Employees who already use SharePoint can access search results across SharePoint and Oak through the intranet.
Search results can be personalised according to the permissions employees already have, helping them find relevant information without navigating multiple systems.
Your non-SharePoint users
Frontline employees who don't have SharePoint licences can still access relevant documents when those documents have been selectively moved or made available within Oak.
This can give deskless employees access to important resources without requiring them to navigate SharePoint directly.
There's no need to retrain your entire workforce on a new document management platform.
Keep the SharePoint environment your teams already know and integrate it with Oak to improve the employee experience.
How SharePoint and Oak Engage work together
SharePoint and Oak serve complementary purposes. SharePoint provides established document management and collaboration capabilities, while Oak extends the experience through employee communications, mobile access and intranet functionality.
| Area | SharePoint's role | How Oak complements it |
|---|---|---|
| Document management | Stores documents and supports collaborative editing. | Helps employees access and discover relevant documents through the intranet. |
| Search | Provides search across SharePoint content. | Enables connected search across Oak and SharePoint, subject to existing permissions. |
| Security and permissions | Controls access to documents through Microsoft 365 permissions. | Respects existing SharePoint permissions for connected content. |
| Frontline access | Provides access through supported Microsoft applications and accounts. | Offers a mobile employee experience and access to selected resources made available in Oak. |
| Employee communication | Supports team collaboration and document sharing. | Adds personalised company news, updates, employee engagement and social features. |
| Analytics | Provides reporting capabilities for SharePoint usage and activity. | Adds intranet communication analytics to help measure the reach and engagement of updates delivered through Oak. |
This combined approach can support organisations looking for a more connected digital workplace without replacing their existing Microsoft technology.
For a broader comparison of different approaches, explore our guide to the best digital workplace platforms in 2026.
Seamless SharePoint integration into Oak
Combine the functionality of your SharePoint and intranet platforms to create a digital space that helps employees communicate, collaborate and find information more easily.
The integration is managed by Oak's expert team, helping organisations connect SharePoint with their intranet while retaining the established document access permissions.
Existing SharePoint permissions remain important.
When connected correctly, employees searching SharePoint content through Oak remain subject to the access controls already established in SharePoint.
This helps organisations maintain appropriate access to confidential information while improving document discoverability.
Extend the experience with Microsoft Teams
Oak can bring your intranet closer to employees by integrating with Microsoft Teams.
Rather than relying on employees to visit another application to stay informed, Oak for Teams helps bring important communications into an environment many employees already use.
This makes it easier for teams to access relevant updates, stay aligned and engage with workplace communication alongside their existing collaboration tools.
Get more from SharePoint with Oak Engage
SharePoint plays an important role in document management and collaboration, but it doesn't have to carry the responsibility of your entire employee intranet.
By connecting SharePoint with Oak Engage, organisations can maintain their existing Microsoft 365 environment while improving access to information, communication and employee engagement.
Whether you're supporting office-based teams, remote employees or a large frontline workforce, combining the two platforms can provide a more accessible and connected workplace experience.
We'd love to show you how we've integrated SharePoint with our award-winning intranet platform for customers.
