Also known as a “intranet as a service,” “turnkey” or “ready-to-go” intranet, an out-of-the-box solution is an intranet that comes with preconfigured settings. These settings may include templates and standard layouts that you can use when creating your intranet content.
Out-of-the-box intranets, like Portal Solutions’ One Window, are faster and easier to set up than custom intranet solutions, which means they can be a very cost-effective solution for most organizations. But what’s the difference between out-of-the-box solutions built on SharePoint vs. Microsoft Office 365? And which one is better? To answer this question, we first need to look at what out-of-the-box intranets are and how they developed.
Common Use Scenarios for Out-of-the-Box Intranets
Not all out-of-the-box solutions are equivalent, so it’s important to understand the differences and decide which one is right for your organization. This means first deciding what you need your intranet to do. What will your employees use it for?
Out-of-the-box intranets are designed to provide the features that intranet users need most. These include features that help employees discover content, find people within their organization, and work together on projects. Some out-of-the-box intranets are extendable, allowing you to customize them to suit your needs.
Looking for a ready-to-go Office 365 intranet? Check out OneWindow Workplace. Speak with anOffice 365 expert today online, or give us a call at 240.406.9960.
A Short History of Out-of-the-Box Intranet
Microsoft’s first out-of-the-box intranet solution was built on top of the Microsoft SharePoint platform. This early out-of-the-box intranet used SharePoint templates to present pages in a standardized way.
Microsoft has continued to develop its SharePoint-based turnkey intranet solution. This intranet platform depends directly on the features of SharePoint. While these features can be very useful, this dependency on SharePoint can be a problem.
But Microsoft is now offering an alternative ready-to-go-intranet solution based on its new Office 365 platform. Intranets that are built on this platform leverage Office 365 workloads. This kind of intranet provides a user experience that doesn’t share that same SharePoint dependency.
Microsoft Office 365 Intranet vs. SharePoint Intranet
Many people perceive out-of-the-box intranets based on SharePoint to be highly flexible. While there is some truth in that belief, the dependence on SharePoint of these intranets also brings with it some major pitfalls.
Intranets based on this platform often suffer from slow performance. In addition, there is the risk that Microsoft may make a change to the SharePoint platform that could have a negative impact on your turnkey intranet.
In contrast, intranets that are built on the Office 365 platform are not dependent on SharePoint infrastructure. That means you can design the Office 365 intranet system you want from scratch, with few constraints on the way the intranet looks, so you can customize it to reflect your preferences – for example, your brand’s colors and fonts. Compared to SharePoint-based intranets, custom intranets based on Office 365 often offer improved performance, while also giving you more control over the user experience.
The downside of Office 365 out-of-the-box intranets, however, is that they require more effort to set up. The flexibility of this kind of intranet is constrained by the in-house skills you have to help you create a custom portal using Office 365.
Considering a migration to Microsoft Office 365 and need an outside consultant for strategy and deployment? Or do you want more information on our SharePoint consulting and development services? Click the corresponding link to learn how we can help your organization make a smooth transition from one solution to the next.
Final Thought
Out-of-the-box intranets on the whole have many advantages. First, they address all the common use scenarios, allowing your users to collaborate and easily find the content they need. Second, they are easy to set up as compared to custom intranet solutions.
Both SharePoint intranets and Office 365 intranets can provide these benefits, but there is no straightforward answer to the question, “Which one is better?” There are key differences between the two solutions you need to consider when choosing the intranet platform that is the best fit for your organization – and what that solution is won’t be the same for everyone.
Have specific questions on the differences between SharePoint and Office 365 intranets?
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