What Is Microsoft SharePoint and How Does It Help Workplaces

Microsoft SharePoint is an enterprise collaboration and document management platform used by nearly 200 million people across roughly 75,000 businesses worldwide. It benefits workplaces by giving teams a secure, centralized place to store, share and edit documents, automate workflows, and access company information from any device, which supports remote and hybrid work without sacrificing security or control.

What SharePoint is

Microsoft SharePoint is a widely adopted enterprise platform used by nearly 200 million people across roughly 75,000 businesses worldwide. It functions as a secure, centralized repository where documents, videos, photos and other files are stored, shared, accessed and edited by authorized users.

Organizations that previously relied on a basic internal file server for document sharing have largely moved toward SharePoint because it manages collaboration and version control far more effectively, while reducing manual errors through task automation and precise permission controls.

The goal of using SharePoint

SharePoint functions as an online platform for collaboration, project and team organization, and risk management, making it a genuinely useful corporate tool rather than just a file store. Its core purpose is to give distributed teams accessible, secure documents and seamless collaboration regardless of where team members are working from.

Before adopting SharePoint, an organization benefits from identifying its specific pain points and goals, whether that is improving collaboration, streamlining a particular process, or replacing an outdated file-sharing setup. A SharePoint consulting partner can help translate those goals into an actual configuration and rollout plan.

Real-time collaboration

SharePoint automatically syncs a shared document's workspace and every team member's edits, eliminating the multiple-version problem that plagues email-based file sharing. Full version history is available for anyone who wants to see who changed what and when.

Collaboration extends beyond documents themselves: SharePoint supports direct chat and screen sharing between team members, adding real-time communication on top of file collaboration.

Customization and integration

SharePoint is highly customizable, adapting to an organization's specific protocols and processes without necessarily requiring a developer for every change. Its open architecture supports integration through XML and SOAP, along with a range of APIs and event handlers for documents and lists, which lets SharePoint connect with existing systems and accommodate new applications as an organization's needs evolve.

SharePoint also comes with out-of-the-box workflows for common business processes, including document approval routing, feedback collection, signature collection and project or issue tracking, and it integrates with existing client, email and browser applications for a more consistent user experience.

• Document or item approval routing
• Feedback collection
• Signature collection
• Project, issue or task tracking

Security, administration and productivity

SharePoint centralizes administrative control, letting administrators manage security settings, backups and access privileges from a single dashboard rather than juggling separate tools. Enhanced security features, including authentication improvements and workflow updates, reduce both outage risk and unauthorized access.

Version control tracks every edit made to a document, including when it happened and who made it, while ensuring only one user edits a record at a time to prevent duplicate work. This becomes especially valuable as a team grows and document control gets harder to manage informally.

Search and organization also improve productivity meaningfully. Rather than digging through file cabinets or endless folders, staff can locate information within a few clicks when everything lives in a well-organized SharePoint site.

Building without needing to code

SharePoint includes tools that let non-developers build new sites, update existing ones, or design custom web-based tools for their teams, without requiring a computer science background. Businesses that want more advanced customization can bring in a SharePoint consulting partner to extend these capabilities further.

For businesses evaluating whether to bring in outside expertise, a SharePoint consulting company can support everything from data administration to internal search, helping internal teams become more efficient without needing to build that expertise from scratch in house.

Key takeaways

• SharePoint serves nearly 200 million users across roughly 75,000 businesses worldwide.
• Real-time collaboration and version history remove the multiple-file-version problem common with email sharing.
• SharePoint's open architecture supports integration through XML, SOAP and a range of APIs.
• Centralized administration and strong access controls support secure, scalable collaboration.

Frequently asked questions

How many businesses actually use Microsoft SharePoint?

SharePoint is used by approximately 200 million people across roughly 75,000 businesses worldwide, making it one of the most widely adopted enterprise collaboration platforms. Its scale reflects how central it has become to document management and internal collaboration across organizations of many sizes and industries.

Do I need a developer to customize SharePoint for my business?

Not necessarily. SharePoint includes tools that let non-developers build and update sites or create simple web-based tools without programming knowledge. For more advanced customization or integration with existing systems, working with a SharePoint consulting partner is worthwhile, since they bring experience in configuring the platform to match specific business requirements.