Microsoft Software and Solutions

SharePoint has conquered the enterprise intranet. Although the conquest is never as bloody nor expensive as more invasive conquests, such as the Mongols under Genghis Khan, intranet citizens are not always thrilled by the new system and structure under Gates Khan.

SharePoint is present in about 90% of the Fortune 100; and plays a prominent intranet role in about 70% of knowledge worker intranets (either powering the main intranet portal, or delivering associated collaboration sites and/or document repositories). This in spite of its history.

SharePoint 2007 was a dog; SharePoint 2010 was a dressed-up dog; but SharePoint 2013 represented a leap forward to a more user-friendly, true web platform. SharePoint 2016 saw improvements, but perhaps the most significant advances have come in the last couple of years with the release and evolution of SharePoint online the advent of Office 365, now Microsoft 365.

SharePoint Online, and the on-premises version SharePoint Server, represent considerable improvement to a a very usable, complex digital workplace solution. SharePoint Online Modern Experience has become a truly mobile friendly solution, with a number of improvements to collaboration (particularly Teams and a dedicated mobile app) and for hybrid cloud scenarios.

There are a lot of reasons to buy into or upgrade to SharePoint Online: the latest iteration of Microsoft’s portal-web development platform represents a massive, multi-million dollar upgrade on the previous versions of SharePoint (a version that was typically oversold given its underwhelming if not frustrating performance and lack of execution). SharePoint Online and Server are massive upgrades from previous versions: noticeable improvements to AI (Copilot), social computing (Teams, Engage, Loop and more), mobile computing (responsive design with "modern" pages and a dedicated mobile app), better Office integration, Teams, cloud and hybrid integration, search and more. SharePoint Online also comes with federated search that allows the user to search out files and content from across all Microsoft 365 apps (including SharePoint, Teams, OneDrive, etc.).

But it’s not all good news, and it’s not a solution that fits every organization.

Here at Prescient Digital Media, we upgraded move to SharePoint Online in Office 365 (which is a more feature and functionally rich version than SharePoint Server). Though some problems persist, the bugs and challenges are not as persistent as versions 2013 and 2016. There are some obvious improvements (pros) and some persistent issues (cons):

Cloud – you no longer need to worry about patches, maintenance and security; Microsoft takes care of this for you
Mobile – enhanced mobile access experience with completely responsive sites and apps, and dedicated single sign-on apps for each of the tools in the 365 toolset
Social – enhanced social networking via Engage and Teams and Loop
Web CMS – enhanced publishing and management interface (employing the ‘ribbon’ from Office)
Branding – the new "modern pages" are slick and responsive; it can be more challenging to implement new custom designs using the new modern pages versus classic, and MS has openly cautioned against customizing the home page
Search – search is much improved with the full integration with the FAST search engine, but requires some configuration work

There are far more pros than cons, but there should be at the price MS charges. SharePoint is very good for a small to medium-size intranet in a .NET environment that requires a web development platform focused on enterprise content management. In some scenarios, SharePoint can excel as a large enterprise intranet, but it can cause headaches if its overly customized. But it is not cheap, typically requires a lot of work and customization, and doesn’t always work as promised.

Speaking of conquest, the Chinese learned Mongol lessons the hard way, and built the Great Wall. Although a firewall is requisite with any intranet, not just a SharePoint intranet, walls kill collaboration and employee knowledge management. More salient, key lessons can be drawn from implementing and working with SharePoint:

Licensing represents a fraction of the cost
Planning and governance are mission critical – mission critical
Governance requires careful planning and implementation with process and roles that are independent of the technology
Custom or third-party web parts and applications can really enhance the experience but can be costly
Change management is the key to success

For more information see the SharePoint For Communicators white paper, at www.PrescientDigital.com.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

Last updated: Feb 9, 2026

Toby Ward

President at Prescient Digital Media

Nov 18, 2025

Plan, plan, plan. Over-budget.

First and foremost, SharePoint is an intranet platform. Though Microsoft states that SharePoint is "primarily sold as a document management and storage system" it is an information sharing platform and for "implementing internal applications, and for implementing business processes."

SharePoint is the know market leader for powering intranets: about 90% of the Fortune 1000 use SharePoint in some shape or form (with many using it to power their Intranet home page).

There are in fact two versions of SharePoint: the on-premises version, SharePoint Server, and SharePoint Online, which comes bundled in Microsoft 365 (the Cloud). Though those with Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) automatically have the latest features in SharePoint Online; those with on-premises SharePoint, have to wait for the next release to get the latest and greatest.

SharePoint’s greatest strength is it’s an all-in-one approach – it’s a portal, a content management system, a search engine, a social collaboration platform, a web development platform, and so much more. Its greatest weakness is that it’s an all-in-one solution – everything and the kitchen sink; a jack-of-all-trades, a master of none. Some argue that SharePoint is a “mile wide, but a foot deep.” It offers so much, but some features are seen as still ‘developing’ or even sub-par. But there are a lot of tools and features, and with each release, it gets better and better (though more complex).

It’s important to note that SharePoint is still a technology. It doesn’t include all of the people, process and planning that is required to make any intranet technology work. Intranet technology will fail without careful planning, process and committed people. Most of the key ingredients of a successful intranet in the digital workplace are based on people, and process; technology is merely an enabler.

Features include:

Cloud / Hybrid - Hybrid enables you to integrate your on-premises farm with the cloud, at your own pace.
Durable Links - Resource-based URLs now retain links when documents are renamed or moved in SharePoint.
Video recording, storage, and screen recording - an all-in-one video solution using Stream, including video editing.
Large files - now supports uploading and downloading files larger than 2,047 MBs
Mobile - an improved mobile navigation experience, including a very fast and easy to use app.
Search - SharePoint Search integrated the FAST Search engine, with more features, and indexes up to 500 million documents (per app).
Sharing - better user sharing options, including a Shared folder, and invitation email notifications.
Microsoft Teams - full integration with Microsoft Teams (all Teams files are stored in SharePoint).

We are Intranet consultants (www.PrescientDigital.com) and and principally use Microsoft 365 - SharePoint Online for Enterprise Content Management; improving the way our organization functions in terms of employee collaboration and knowledge sharing specifically via document management, and social collaboration (discussion groups, profiles and blogging being the most used social tools). Increasingly we use Teams, and use it with external clients that can be invited to a specific Team (project site).

Web content management and social media tools (e.g. wikis) are not best-of-breed, and usability is an issue with many features. We also encountered many, many problems with deployment -- customization and implementation requires more work than you expect. Additionally, like most organizations, a customized user experience can break (particularly specific webparts) with every SharePoint patch and upgrade. However, we found no issues with stability or scalability.

80% of our clients use SharePoint, and probably some 90% of the Fortune 1000 use SharePoint in some shape or form. We are first and foremost SharePoint intranet consultants, so we build and design other intranets, and need to deeply understand the ins and outs of SharePoint.

The initial setup of SharePoint is very easy - out-of-the-box deployment is simple, fast and a novice could manage a deployment. Customization requires a lot of work, particularly using SPFx (hiring an outside expert is strongly recommended).

A note of caution: planning is everything. The intranet is more about people and process, and any intranet requires a through plan -- for information architecture, content management, design, and change management -- plan, plan, plan. And plan to run over-budget (unless you hire very strong outside experts to develop and run your plan and budget) for customization activities.

SharePoint features major upgrades to the user experience design and mobile access, including a new dedicated SharePoint app. It’s very clean and modern, with a major emphasis on images, and video. The new "modern UX" is fully responsive, and has it's own dedicated mobile app.

Among the new UX features, particularly noticeable in the new SharePoint Communications Sites, are drag-and-drop web parts for image galleries, slideshows, hero slideshow, and video.

Continue reading: The New SharePoint

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

Last updated: Nov 18, 2025

Joseph Andiwo

Private Wealth Advisor & Head of Secretariat at Arima Fund Ltd

Aug 7, 2025

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Enables seamless global data management with instant benefits and efficient real-time analytics

Pros and Cons

"The benefits of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB were immediate for us."

"The operational complexity of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB can be challenging for individuals who are not tech-savvy."

What is our primary use case?

We are in retail and marketing, and Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB gives us the opportunity as a retail industry to store catalog data. This is essentially used for event sourcing. In my department, it is particularly useful for our catalog data storage and marketing operations.

How has it helped my organization?

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB has improved our overall search result quality. It is very easy to use Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB to search through large amounts of data. This is one of the advantages that I can mention with Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB, which is not available or accessible with other solutions. Searching and working with large amounts of data while using Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is one of the biggest advantages it provides for enhanced business operations.

What is most valuable?

The aspect I appreciate most about Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is the scalability. Horizontally, we can add as many servers as possible, which is very key for us as a company. Another important feature is that it is a globally distributed product that comes with numerous benefits. The real-time analytic features it offers, as opposed to structured query language features, provide real-time analysis for our retail and marketing operations. The integrated features, such as Azure Snipes link, enable easier running analytics for our operations. Additionally, we have noticed that it positively impacts our transactional performances as a company.

What needs improvement?

In terms of improvement for Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB, while it eliminates the burden of managing database infrastructure, we realized it might not be possible to use various models simultaneously as it only accepts a single model at any given point in time. This is an area that could be improved upon.

The operational complexity of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB can be challenging for individuals who are not tech-savvy. Making it simpler for companies to navigate through various features would be beneficial for future development in terms of reducing its complexity. However, it remains a good product that eliminates many bottlenecks we experienced before in terms of database management, storage, transmission, and retrieval for our business.

While there is complexity in Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB, we have found that software experts and IT professionals who are passionate about the product can overcome these challenges. We have not yet achieved fifty percent in terms of training our staff due to its complexity. However, the benefits significantly outweigh the complexity, particularly in terms of database storage, management, retrieval, and transmission in milliseconds. The global access, real-time capabilities, and low latency in terms of turnaround time make it an excellent solution once fully embraced and deployed.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB for one year.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

The initial deployment of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB was challenging at the beginning, but we overcame these challenges and ultimately achieved positive results.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The performance and stability of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB maintains low response times in milliseconds. It is fast, effective, and reliable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

In terms of scalability for Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB, the servers can be horizontally scaled, and we can add as many servers as needed. This capability is possible with Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB, which is not common in other solutions. This is a significant advantage of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB.

How was the initial setup?

It took us approximately three to four weeks to fully set up Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB and get it operational. Our company utilizes multiple software solutions, so integration was a key consideration. With a team of six to seven software developers, along with additional IT experts, we completed the setup within this timeframe, which we considered reasonable for this type of product.

What about the implementation team?

Our company has multiple software solutions, and integration is a crucial aspect. We have a team of six to seven software developers, along with additional IT experts, who assist in working with these software solutions.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I have used SQL as an alternative to compare with Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB. Having Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB come with additional features beyond SQL capabilities was advantageous for our company's deployment.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB a 9 out of 10 because there is always room for improvement in any software.

The benefits of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB were immediate for us. It was within our budget, and we cannot say it constrained our finances because it was approved. The cost-benefit analysis shows that the benefits outweigh the costs. The maintenance costs are also within our estimated budgeted projections as a company.

I am willing to provide references for Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB and can be a reference for anyone interested in purchasing the same product. I am available to be contacted by Microsoft regarding this review should they have any questions.

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.

JunedBedrekar

Expert at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Sep 4, 2025

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Have effectively deployed patches and applications while integrating with cloud solutions

Pros and Cons

"Overall, I believe Microsoft Configuration Manager is definitely a good product."

"Servers are still not getting it properly, so we could add the servers in Microsoft Configuration Manager for things such as OS deployment and Autopilot as well."

What is our primary use case?

My main use case for Microsoft Configuration Manager is patching and application deployment. We are mainly using patching, application deployment, device configuration, and device compliance. Remediation is also part of our use cases.

What is most valuable?

The features I find most valuable in Microsoft Configuration Manager are replication and scripting. If I want to get a fetch report for anything, such as hardware-related issues or group policy-related issues, I need to fetch the report by using SCCM's scripting language and remediation part.

The inventory collection features of Microsoft Configuration Manager are good because we always prefer the inventory. We do it by using the script language.

We use remote management capabilities in Microsoft Configuration Manager. Remote management capabilities are useful if the user is not providing access; we can use the backend users to update the group policy and sync the devices. These are the main features we require.

What needs improvement?

I can suggest that Microsoft Configuration Manager should get the Autopilot feature because Autopilot is the main part of Intune, and nowadays everybody is using Autopilot. It is now more valuable for Autopilot. I would prefer to have Autopilot in Microsoft Configuration Manager. Then most users will get the OS deployment instead of using Intune.

Other than that, improvements are needed for servers. Servers are still not getting it properly, so we could add the servers in Microsoft Configuration Manager for things such as OS deployment and Autopilot as well.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Microsoft Configuration Manager for the last eight years.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

Automated patch management is useful, but because of my company's organization security, they are not authorized to go with auto-patch. They first have me go ahead with it manually because they want to test further from the pilot as well as from any testing device. Due to vulnerability concerns, they want to check before production and proceed as per the change request and the entire process. That's why we have to do it manually.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Microsoft Configuration Manager is mostly deployed on the Azure cloud.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

For scalability, the ability to scale and expand, I will definitely provide a rating of 10.

How are customer service and support?

For technical support from Microsoft, I would rate them a nine. This is because there was one point where I did not get proper support from the engineer at that time, and there was a delay from the engineer. Because of the delay, we got an SLA. I would give them an eight to nine.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Microsoft is definitely better than AirWatch. However, since most users are using and upgrading with Apple devices, I would prefer AirWatch for the Apple devices.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup for Microsoft Configuration Manager is simple, not a big deal because we can use the CD or backup file. We can just run the setup and restore the backup, and we can run and finish.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing for Microsoft Configuration Manager is okay for me, so I can give it a middle rating of four or five.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

In my opinion, the main competitor for Microsoft Configuration Manager on the market is AirWatch. I can compare it to that because the Apple product is already out there.

What other advice do I have?

Integrating Microsoft Configuration Manager with other Microsoft products is good. Since nowadays all companies are moving to Intune, most things are moving to Intune itself. Microsoft Intune is already on top now, so integration is also moving towards Intune.

I would definitely recommend Microsoft Configuration Manager for enterprise-level companies.

Overall, I believe Microsoft Configuration Manager is definitely a good product. Because it's Microsoft, I rate it 10 out of 10.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner

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