Maximizing User Engagement in Sharepoint: How Much Can Social Features Boost Your Business? [Cost Estimate]

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Microsoft recently unveiled enhancements for SharePoint that have already gone live for businesses to utilize. Many are available and ready for business users now. Tech giant Microsoft recently implemented changes designed to facilitate business in an increasingly diverse world.

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Sharepoint Development And Consulting Services

Before delving deeper, we must gain an understanding of sharepoint consulting and development services. These services provide organizations with the resources and expertise needed to maximize SharePoint's potential - planning, customizing, implementation, and support are just a few tasks among many more included within these services.

SharePoint consultants engage organizations in meeting their organization's unique needs and goals by designing custom SharePoint effective solutions to align with clients' desired user engagement levels. At the same time, development services specialize in the actual implementation process and bring user experiences alive.

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Sharepoint And Your Hybrid Work Model

Focus has been placed on ways to boost employee satisfaction as businesses return, or partially return, to the office environment. Instead of developing the technology required for remote working arrangements alone, efforts have shifted toward optimizing these technologies to make working days more productive and enjoyable.

Microsoft Viva, an employee experience platform, was launched as part of Microsoft's recognition of Teams as an asset in February.

Four modules comprise this technology: Viva Learning (sometimes known as Viva Insights), Topics, and Connections - two particularly essential to digital employee engagement and improving employee experience. Here is an example showing their importance.

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Viva Connections Can Help You Stay Sociable.

Viva Connections, a Microsoft Teams App built upon your current Microsoft 365 ecosystem. If your intranet relies on SharePoint for hosting digital workspace or company intranet information, Viva Connections allows for seamlessly integrating that digital workspace or intranet/company intranet with Microsoft Teams.

Content and news from Microsoft mobile applications like Yammer or Stream can be aggregated here to give employees one place to interact with your business, no matter where they are or the device they use. This gives employees access to your company regardless of location or device choice.

Microsoft Viva Connections boasts features designed to increase employee digital engagement.

• Home site - A SharePoint Home site is the landing page that brings your company's intranet into Teams.
• Search -Search allows users to quickly find information by searching SharePoint sites and content in Teams without leaving the app.
• Personalized dashboard - Content curated by Viva Connections for certain job roles, departments, and regions can be displayed in Teams using intelligent audience targeting. The content that users are most interested in is placed at the top of the page, saving them time. The dashboard is still not live, but it will be soon.
• Yammer Communities - Threads and communities in Yammer can be visible through Viva Connections to make conversations easier, knowledge sharing, and keeping up with company news.

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You Can Find What You're Searching For When You Want It With Viva Topics.

Microsoft Viva Topics allows your organization to search, organize, and manage its content across Microsoft 365 SharePoint so users don't have to stop working to find information. Users don't need to leave the workflow for this task - everything they need can be found within its workflow!

Users can quickly create and manage topics in Microsoft 365 using its topic management dashboard and display relevant information through topic cards and pages. Viva Topics uses machine learning and AI technology to harvest information from Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Graph, or both sources before organizing its contents into topics for display to users.

The search feature makes it simple for users with specific Topics roles to locate documents, colleagues' profiles, and content quickly and efficiently. Suggested ideas may be approved or manually edited by editing descriptions, adding resources, or amending topics as necessary. Employee engagement may increase if employees can easily create topics of their own and access documents and information midstream without breaking concentration. Viva allows this flexibility.

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Sharepoint Increases Employee Engagement Online.

These updates will have a positive impact on employee engagement.

• Content: Content is more important than ever for business processes. These enhancements make it easier and safer to share.
• Document Management: A trusted source of truth, including versioning, approvals, and permissions, is becoming a priority.
• Immediacy: When SharePoint content is updated, users can immediately access it. They don't have to waste time searching for information.
• Automation - Integration of the Power Platform with Analysis allows many manual tasks to be automated. This can only improve user experience.
• Collaboration Features like co-authoring and shared links for content access, as well as comments, help to combat the issues brought about by siloed work.
• Communications - Continues being boosted by SharePoint Updates, including getting users the latest news and information.
• External sharing - Share sites, documents libraries, and other documents with extended teams and partners outside your company has become even easier.
• Mobile Apps - SharePoint Teams Mobile Apps allow users to be productive anytime and anywhere.

Microsoft has introduced this new functionality to improve employee satisfaction and engagement.

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Sharepoint: Use These Suggestions To Increase Staff Engagement!

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Working Atmosphere

Employee engagement through creative interaction methods is integral in maintaining an energetic workplace environment. SharePoint makes this possible with easy, enjoyable ways of accessing documents and records stress-free and amicable.

Provide an engaging working experience by populating an intranet with engaging pools, video clips, images, quizzes, or surveys that capture employees' imagination and deliver news more engagingly than traditional development company or industry reports. It will keep employees involved while simultaneously keeping staff up-to-date.

SharePoint allows your staff to easily produce engaging content. This method ensures your selection of enticing material remains vibrant and current. Hire writers capable of crafting engaging content and offering innovative approaches to spark discussion between employees and familiarize them with one another on a deeper level.

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Self-Help Tools For Your Team

Self-help tools can be an excellent way to assist employees with performing more efficiently at work. Employees can complete their work tasks without being overseen or scrutinized by HR or IT, thus decreasing reliance on others for support. SharePoint helps your employees digitize and automate standard formats used for requesting time off, purchasing approvals, and refunding expenditures.

These tools enable new hires access to FAQs and videos for development and provide onboarding assistance for existing employees. In addition, employees may use them to submit IT tickets or requests directly. These apps allow HR professionals and IT staff to focus on more meaningful tasks.

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Two-Way Communication

Communicating effectively in two directions -- top-down and bottom-up -- is essential to any organization. Top-down refers to when messages come directly from management to employees, while bottom-up mode allows employees to express themselves directly to management.

Communication styles such as this allow employees to remain true to themselves while reaching multiple audiences simultaneously. Employees using this communication method typically share personal stories such as becoming parents, passing an exam, or accomplishing projects.

Use an intranet segment dedicated to employee stories to share weekly updates about staff members - no matter how trivial. Showcase their activities during work time and any free time activities they enjoy in their free time.

Communicate effectively using SharePoint page comments. Users can express their thoughts freely without fear of judgment from others. Managers typically respond positively and discuss ideas further with employees; such communication encourages openness and directness within an organization.

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Automate Your Workflow To Encourage You

Automating workflows can save workers time by automating repetitive and regular manual tasks that would otherwise take too much time to perform manually. Many companies still rely on manual processes for accessing their data - like manually registering reimbursements for travel expenses on paper approval forms before manually entering them into spreadsheets to process statements - which is time-consuming and can result in errors.

Automating these tasks allows the data to be automatically stored in a database for easy management of all types of information. Automating workflows containing multiple steps - like inventory updates or formula evaluation - is also possible, such as consent from HR or supervisor. Third-party apps like ERPs and CRMs often also make this possible.

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Employ Collaboration Tools

Work has changed compared to several decades ago; new employees today prefer open workspaces and collaborative measures over being locked inside individual stalls or handling their work on their own. Workplaces must provide employees with all the tools required to embrace this culture of working together in harmony.

Employees need the appropriate tools for collaboration. Team sites provide employees a valuable way to co-author, edit, and track team performance. Software must provide functional, efficient, and effective communication between teams and people. You might integrate project meetings using Yammer in Microsoft Office 365 or utilize voice and video call capabilities for online conferences.

No one wants to lose touch or stay informed instantly of changes affecting them; an Employee Intranet in Microsoft Office 365 can meet this need by including chat, instant messaging, and email tools that alert employees of important developments or notifications about important information.

Read More: How to Enhance User Experience of Modern SharePoint Sites

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How To Leverage The Social Capabilities In Sharepoint To Boost User Engagement

Users' engagement has become important for every organization operating digitally today. No matter if it is a corporate portal, employee collaboration platform, customer-facing portal, or any other solution used for user acquisition - engaging and captivating users are paramount! SharePoint offers powerful social capabilities that can aid this effort; in this comprehensive guide, we explore how they are being leveraged for dynamic experiences by using its social features to deliver dynamic interactions that engage the users effectively.

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User Engagement: The Essence Of User Engagement

Engagement extends beyond platform user interaction to encompass their emotional response and overall satisfaction. SharePoint user engagement can be defined as active participation, collaborative working practices, and feeling like part of an ecosystem.

Engaged users tend to share knowledge freely and collaborate effectively, leading to greater productivity, improved decision-making, and ultimately an impactful bottom-line impact for companies. SharePoint's social capabilities are pivotal in encouraging participation by offering dynamic digital spaces with inclusion features for all its users.

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Social Features Of Sharepoint

SharePoint's Social features facilitate collaboration and communication among users. Explore some key social features to enhance user engagement.

1. My Sites and User Profiles: SharePoint allows users to build customized profiles that showcase their skills, expertise, and interests. My Sites give individuals a place to curate content for others and share updates - providing users the means to develop professional identities within an organization while building an engaged community.
2. Activity Feeds and Newsfeeds: SharePoint features newsfeeds where users can post updates, engage in discussion threads, and exchange data with one another. Activity feeds offer live views of user interactions between individuals within an organization's network - they help facilitate communication and foster cooperation among colleagues.
3. Communities Sites: SharePoint Community sites provide dedicated spaces for groups of people, departments, or teams. Users can build communities centered on shared interests to facilitate document sharing and collaborate on work together toward common goals - truly creating an atmosphere of belonging with shared goals among team members and departments alike.
4. Social tags and ratings: SharePoint allows users to mark content so it is easily found by others with similar interests, rate it, and give feedback, helping to highlight only relevant and useful information. Social tags and ratings make content curation and sharing much simpler.
5. Wikis and Blogs: SharePoint allows users to easily create blogs and wikis to document best practices and collaborate on knowledge repositories with others. Blogs provide an excellent means of showing thought leadership, while Wikis enable collaborative content production.
6. Mentions: Users can ping colleagues via emails and social media posts, drawing their attention to specific content or discussions. Notifications keep everyone aware of updates and relevant interactions while encouraging engagement through direct feedback and acknowledgments.
7. Yammer integration: SharePoint integrates smoothly with Yammer, Microsoft's enterprise social networking service, providing users access to social features and inviting participation in larger conversations as well as joining additional networks.

Organizations often turn to SharePoint consulting services to boost the social capabilities of SharePoint and boost user engagement. These experts offer customized SharePoint digital solutions and tailor social features to users' requirements while seamlessly integrating existing workflows. SharePoint consulting services are focused on these areas.

1. Customization: SharePoint consultants work closely with each organization they assist to fully comprehend their business requirements. Custom solutions designed by SharePoint consultants ensure that an organization's branding, culture, and preferences match the desired results for an engaging user experience.
2. SharePoint Integration: SharePoint is the cornerstone of an organization's digital ecosystem. SharePoint consulting services ensure seamless integration of Microsoft 365, third-party apps, and data sources into SharePoint platforms, providing users with improved user experiences via one central place for sharing information and collaboration.
3. Adoption and User Training: SharePoint consultants organize user adoption and training programs designed to familiarize employees or users with the platform's social features to optimize engagement from day one and maximize the productivity of collaboration tools. Such training programs also equip users with the knowledge needed for maximum benefit from collaboration tools available within SharePoint.
4. Optimization of Performance: SharePoint Development Services specializes in optimizing performance to deliver a responsive and efficient user experience. Performance tuning ensures features like activity feeds and newsfeeds work smoothly even under heavy traffic loads.
5. Security and Compliance: Engagement activities of users should not compromise security and compliance standards, with SharePoint consulting services employing comprehensive measures to secure sensitive data while fostering collaboration. Likewise, compliance regulations will be addressed to guarantee their engagement activities meet regulatory standards.

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Sharepoint Development Services Offshore

Organizations often search for cost-effective yet scalable solutions in today's globally integrated business intelligence environment. SharePoint development services offshore offered offshore provide organizations with access to an abundance of highly skilled SharePoint developers at competitive rates; remote collaboration allows offshore development teams to work closely together so that organizations may adapt resources according to their specific requirements.

Offshore SharePoint services present several distinct advantages:

1. Offshore services are often cheaper than in-house development or development onshore. These cost savings could be used to fund other strategic initiatives in the company.
2. Offshore development centers feature teams of highly skilled SharePoint developers. Organizations can tap this talent pool for assistance with integration, customization, and development services for SharePoint solutions.
3. Scalability: Offshore development centers feature teams of highly skilled SharePoint developers. Organizations can tap this talent pool for assistance with integration, customization, and development services for SharePoint solutions.
4. Collaboration Globale: Offshore development allows organizations to collaborate across time zones on project idea development with various teams around the clock, speeding up project basis delivery.
5. Outsourcing SharePoint Development to Experts : Organizations can concentrate on core competencies by outsourcing SharePoint development.

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Social Features Of Sharepoint

After exploring the importance of SharePoint development and consulting services and offsite and offshore options, we will now explore the social features of SharePoint and their benefits to user engagement.

1. Improved Collaboration: SharePoint's social functions promote collaboration between team members, departmental groups, and migration project teams. Users can exchange ideas, documents, and updates instantly, creating a culture of collaboration.
2. Knowledge sharing: The platform's social tags, ratings, blogs and wikis encourage knowledge-sharing. Users can discover and contribute relevant content. They also have the opportunity to create valuable repositories of information.
3. Building Communities: SharePoint Community Sites create space for people with common goals or interests. These communities encourage a feeling of belonging, and users are encouraged to participate actively in discussions and projects.
4. Personalization: My Sites and user profiles allow users to customize their SharePoint extensive experience. Personalization enhances user engagement and helps them connect with colleagues with the same interests.
5. Interaction in Real Time: The newsfeeds and activity feeds ensure users are informed and connected. The immediacy of the experience keeps users updated and engaged.
6. Feedback Method: Social features like comments, ratings, and likes allow users to give feedback about content. The feedback loop increases user satisfaction and promotes continual improvement.
7. Yammer Integration: SharePoint's integration of Yammer expands social collaboration outside the boundaries of an organization. Users can join broader discussions, connect to external networks, and access additional social resources.
8. User Generated Content: SharePoint's social features enable users to create and share content. The user-generated material enriches SharePoint and fosters ownership.
9. Professional networking: SharePoint's user profiles and connections allow for professional networking. The networking of users can increase cross-functional knowledge sharing and collaboration.

Read More: What SharePoint Application Development Process Do You Follow In 2023?

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Sharepoint Offsite Development Services

SharePoint services can be delivered offsite outside of an organization's physical location. Offshore services combine onshore and offshore resources to efficiently complete consulting and development tasks regardless of location.

Sharepoint development services offsite which are Available:

1. Remote collaboration: SharePoint skilled developers collaborate with organizations remotely to design and implement solutions. Tools for communication and project management facilitate collaboration.
2. Flexibility: Organizations may choose to use offsite SharePoint services for a specific project or on an ongoing basis. This flexibility allows organizations to adjust to their changing needs.
3. Experience: Offsite SharePoint Development Teams bring an abundance of experience to the table. These teams are familiar with SharePoint's best practices and can offer valuable insight and recommendations.
4. Optimization of Cost: Offsite services are a good option for companies that do not want to spend money on infrastructure and office space.
5. Agile development: Offsite SharePoint Development Services often adopt agile methods, which enable rapid development cycles. Iterative improvements are also made to continuously improve user engagement.

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Application Scenarios For Sharepoint Social Features

Let's examine some examples of how SharePoint social features can enhance user engagement in different organizations.

1. Corporate Intranet: A corporate intranet powered by SharePoint allows social functions to be leveraged to create an exciting digital workplace. The intranet allows employees to connect with each other, read company updates and news, participate in discussions, foster a community spirit, and share a common purpose.
2. Collaboration: SharePoint's social functions are essential for collaboration. Community sites allow dedicated team members to work together on specific project tasks, share documents related to the project, and engage in discussion to ensure project success.
3. SharePoint Knowledge Management: Social features enhance SharePoint's capabilities for knowledge management. Users can add content to wikis and blogs. They can also tag their posts for easier discovery. The knowledge-sharing ecosystem promotes innovation and learning within organizations.
4. Employee Onboarding: Social features within SharePoint streamline the employee onboarding process. My Sites allows new hires to connect with colleagues and mentors and access training materials.
5. Customers Portals: Organizations with portals for customers built on SharePoint can use social features to improve customer engagement. Customer portals allow customers to interact with the support team, provide feedback, and gain access to self-help materials, thereby improving their overall experience.
6. Cross-Departmental Collaboration: Collaboration across departments can be challenging in large organizations. SharePoint's social capabilities bridge the gap, allowing departments to collaborate, exchange insights, and connect.
7. Professional development: SharePoint is a great platform for developing your career. My Sites allows employees to share industry insight, showcase their expertise and skills, and connect with peers and mentors for professional growth.
8. Announcements For The Whole Company: SharePoint newsfeeds and activities feeds can be used to disseminate company updates and announcements. All employees will be informed about important organizational matters.
9. Documentation and Compliance: SharePoint's social features support compliance by providing a forum to discuss compliance topics. Users can ask questions and contribute to compliance-related wikis. They can also stay up-to-date on regulatory changes.

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The Best Practices To Leverage Sharepoint's Social Features

Best practices should be tailored to the organization's needs to maximize SharePoint's social features. These are some of the key recommendations.

1. Define clear goals: Set your business objectives to leverage SharePoint's social capabilities. Understanding what you want to achieve about user engagement, knowledge sharing, and collaboration is key.
2. Training: Investing in training programs for users will ensure employees have the skills to use social tools. Give guidance about etiquette and privacy policy settings.
3. Moderation of Content: Implement policies for content moderation to create a respectful and positive online environment. Encourage users to flag inappropriate content and act quickly when needed.
4. Curation of Content: Actively curate, organize, and arrange content so that it is easy to find valuable information. Social tags and ratings can be used to identify the most useful and relevant content.
5. Promote Participation: Encourage user engagement by rewarding and recognizing contributions. Gamification or incentives can be used to encourage users to participate more often.
6. Integrating Other Tools: Combine SharePoint's Social Features with Collaboration and Communication Tools, like Microsoft Teams or Outlook, to create a seamless user hands-on experience.
7. Channels of Feedback: Create clear channels through which users can share their ideas and suggestions about social features. This feedback can be used to improve the social features.
8. Accessibility: Make sure that SharePoint's social features, such as the chat feature and group discussion board, are available to everyone. This includes users with disabilities. Complying with accessibility standards increases inclusivity and user engagement.
9. Measurement and Analytics: Track user engagement metrics using analytics tools. Data analysis can provide insights into user behavior, popular content, and improvement areas.
10. Change Over Time: Recognize user engagement strategies need to evolve with time. Assess the social media features regularly and adapt your strategy based on user feedback and evolving organizational needs.

Want More Information About Our Services? Talk to Our Consultants!

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Conclusion

SharePoint Social features are an incredibly effective way of increasing employee engagement within organizations. They facilitate meaningful collaboration and connection among users, whether creating an intranet for internal use, knowledge-sharing among colleagues or encouraging knowledge transfer between departments.

Sharepoint development consulting services allow organizations to tailor the platform specifically to their organizational requirements by setting clear business goals, investing in training users and adhering to best practices. Businesses can then create an immersive digital environment that fosters innovation while encouraging productivity.