SharePoint Introduces Intelligent Workplace Through Home Sites

Microsoft recently announced major enhancements to Microsoft 365 (yes, you read that right — Office 365 is now a part of Microsoft 365), including significant upgrades to SharePoint. The innovation with perhaps the greatest potential is Home Sites. In today’s tech blog, we’ll explore what Microsoft is up to with this new feature.

SharePoint Home Sites

If you’ve used Office 365 for any length of time, you’ve probably come across SharePoint. Most users know it as the name of the cloud storage component of Office 365. SharePoint has also been the underpinnings of some companies’ intranet sites for the better part of a decade.

SharePoint home sites is a huge evolution for the intranet component in the Microsoft 365 platform. Corporate vice president for OneDrive, SharePoint, and Office Jeff Teper calls them “a dynamic, engaging, and personalized employee experience for your organization.” What are home sites exactly, though?

Intranet, Evolved

SharePoint home sites are Microsoft’s vision for the future of the workplace intranet. They are intelligent — powered by AI, and they provide a landing page for employees that customizes based on the employee’s role.

Here are a few of the new features in SharePoint home sites.

SharePoint home sites include powerful Microsoft Search technology that reaches every corner of the company’s intranet.
SharePoint home sites intelligently share content that’s relevant to users depending on each user’s position in the company.
SharePoint home sites pull together collaboration tools like Yammer and Stream into one location that’s customized for each user.
SharePoint home sites offer additional personalization options, allowing users to customize their page for maximum productivity.

What SharePoint Home Sites Can Do for You

Part of the strength of home sites is their customization options, but users and organizations will see benefits even with a straight “out of the box” deployment. Here are a handful.

News, For All

By default, home sites serve as an organization-wide news source. Anything published as news to the home site is shown to every user as organizational news. With SharePoint home sites, you can take your news out of the email vortex and put it front and center on your home site.

A Powerful, Connected Page

Home sites are also linked up with the newly enhanced SharePoint start page, which allows you to jump right into work. The search box provided is also powerful and connected. It’s powered by Microsoft Search, and it reaches across your enterprise—anywhere the user has access to.

Low Barrier to Entry

Another feature is the low barrier to entry. With home sites, you can build out an intranet portal in just minutes, not months. You don’t need to know how to code, and you can brand your site to fit your company image.