Table of Content
- Introduction to SharePoint Online
- What to choose between Microsoft 365 and Sharepoint?
- Comparison between Sharepoint Online and On-premise
- SharePoint Online data features
- Benefits of Sharepoint Development
- SharePoint Online Pricing Structure
- Final thoughts
Do you think changing technology evolution demands business owners to continuously work 24*7? But then how should they constantly access the server that is located at the company or even if it’s on clouds. The proximity of servers has now become a barricade for businesses to work. We know discoveries have made work easier. One such innovation that has streamlined the work of many businesses is SharePoint. Yes, this technology is the talk of the town, and yet there are mixed reviews of SharePoint from different users. So, to blow up this debate on how Sharepoint Online works, let’s start understanding what it is, how will it benefit your businesses and key differentiators that will help you decide whether to opt for SharePoint Online or on-premise services.
Introduction to SharePoint Online
Collaboration and Communication are two solitary cornerstones of SharePoint Online. The definition of SharePoint Online goes as a popular web-based platform used within the organization for communication and knowledge sharing. If we were to put simply put in words, it is the SharePoint cloud edition. SharePoint Online, like SharePoint On-Premises, helps users to seamlessly store, share and manage content. SharePoint Online is available with Office 365 as a SaaS (Software-as-a-Service)
What to choose between Microsoft 365 and Sharepoint?
Microsoft has developed SharePoint and its variants. When I say variants, it means other renowned names of SharePoint online. These are Office SharePoint, Microsoft 365 SharePoint, SharePoint 365 Online Sharepoint, and similar other names. Also, most of the businesses are in a dilemma about which one to use from Microsoft 365 and SharePoint.
The confusion is because Microsoft 365 and SharePoint both provide all the facilities of basic productivity apps. While SharePoint Online provides Cloud-based services such as Teams, Exchange Online, Microsoft Azure, and other functions. Does this mean SharePoint online is just cloud-based? No, it is not, It has a wide spectrum of on-prem and cloud-based services.
Comparison between Sharepoint Online and On-premise
Majority of businesses would have assumed that Sharepoint is all-inclusive and offers both on-premise facilities as well as the cloud. They do offer both facilities but not in the same plan. Although they share common functionalities and features these are two different products and can only be deployed separately. You need to be strategic and intellectual while deciding to choose the right platform for your business. Let’s understand what makes both of them different.
| SharePoint On-Premise | SharePoint Online |
| As per the name, we can host SharePoint on the company’s premises and the other name is SharePoint Server. | It is based online and the cloud service of SharePoint is accessible from anywhere anytime. |
| As we can host it on-premise so, the dependency is based on architecture, infrastructure, and servers. | Independent of infrastructure or network or area but dependent on storage capacity |
| We can host it in any environment irrespective of the size of the company or vertical. | We can host it only on SharePoint’s cloud environment which does not require any hardware or implementation cost. |
Advantages of Sharepoint Online Development
- Documentation Collaboration
When you work on a document, it is not just you who work on that document. There are many people involved and have to work collaboratively. Also, you might want to revisit all the previous versions created without losing any change. SharePoint online empowers you to check the document and refresh it to see the changes they’ve made. SharePoint Online offers hassle-free collaboration and coordination.
- Easier Rollback of previous versions
“Too many cooks spoil the brook”- to prove this quote wrong, SharePoint is here. It allows all the teammates involved to make changes and store their respective versions so as to revisit anytime and anywhere.
- Transparency
Collaboration can give businesses a vast option of using accessing files of colleagues, clients with restricted rights. It can help you keep an eye on what is going on and what is upcoming. A complete transparent suite that gives you a glimpse of popular documents and its usage.
- Team integration
Microsoft is a leader in catering to all business needs and thus businesses can use all the tools. For communication, it offers Skype, for emails it offers outlook, for planning and scheduling it offers Microsoft planner and finally for online working it offers Sharepoint cloud services.
- Storage gets Simple
It’s time for you to bid goodbye to server storage. SharePoint Online- OneDrive can offer you a facility to use maximum storage. You can save and sync innumerable files and can eliminate the risk of data storage full or losing file track and monitor.
Sharepoint Online Pricing Structure
Now that we know all the predominant aspects of SharePoint development services, we should also know whether it is cost-effective or not. It is a subscription-based program that is available in two different plans which can be chosen as per the business budget and requirements. It varies as per the business size and modules, there is a plan 1 which mostly favors SMB’s(Small Medium Business), and the second plan can benefit Large business size. Let us see both the plans in depth.
More useful Resources on SharePoint:
SharePoint framework Development
Details of SharePoint Online Plan 1
- This Plan is based on the boundaries of minimal investment and maximum utilization. It comes with a monthly charge of $5 per user and the office apps are not included.
- It offers all basic online features like SharePoint, Onedrive, and Lists
- For more collaboration, it allows to effortlessly sync apps internally or externally
- Simpler and easier to share information and updates of employees via intranets and portals
- Availability of round the clock support
- SharePoint Online enables licensing for commercial usage.
- Can Simply make a shift between Sharepoint, Lists and OneDrive
- Boost the process by buying 50+ user subscriptions.
- You can work from anywhere, anytime using SharePoint mobile apps for Android, iOS,
Details of SharePoint Online Plan 2
This plan is based on the features offered by Plan 1 and in addition to this, it gives access to additional features that can be beneficial for business. All the benefits of Plan one can be benefited with these additional features.
- Starting with the cost, it charges around $10.00 user/month which can also be taken as an annual commitment.
- It also offers services in the package such as SharePoint, OneDrive, and Lists
- Continuous and Unlimited Access of Cloud for 5 and 5+ users. Additionally as per Plan 1, 1TB of storage data per user.
- Tailored to enterprise search results more advanced features can be added.
- Data and content in digital form can be used for auditing
- Using this plan-2 you can access, rectify and safeguard from data breaches.
- You can also preserve data from any unexpected deletion or editing using the ‘In-Place Hold’ feature.
- The Office applications are not included
Final thoughts for SharePoint users
In 2020, Leading Market research company –Statista states that around 81 percent of Microsoft SharePoint users utilized cloud-based SharePoint servers rather than on-premises servers, an increase from the year before.
And this brings us to the conclusion that the utilization of SharePoint Online is just burgeoning. There is no way your business can restrict itself from reaping benefits from it. SharePoint is lightweight, can be used anywhere, anytime, and offers an economical plan structure that can be easily afforded by companies of all sizes. Contracting to a top SharePoint development company can offer streamlined processes, a collaboration between internal and external teams, and performance. What else does your business want? It’s time to take up SharePoint and maximize business growth.