SharePoint build or buy

Native, build or buy? Things you must know before launching a new SharePoint intranet

SharePoint Online is a highly versatile communication and collaboration platform that is the base technology behind the majority of the world’s intranets. But before launching an intranet it is critical to explore some fundamental questions about how you are going to use SharePoint to actually power your intranet. One of the most basic is:

Should I use SharePoint completely out of the box (OOTB), customise SharePoint or enhance SharePoint using a product?

Of course, there is no right answer, and the best approach will depend very much on what you are trying to achieve, your budget, your project timetable, your technical and security requirements, ongoing resourcing and more.

When it comes to SharePoint intranets, one size does definitely not fit all. In some ways the beauty of SharePoint is typified by the fact that you actually have a choice in the matter.

In this post we’re going to explore the five major choices you have for your SharePoint intranet, and some of the relative strengths and weaknesses of each approach:

• Buy (OOTB): SharePoint Online straight out of the box
• Build: Custom SharePoint intranet.
• Buy & Build (OOTB): SharePoint Online out of the box with limited customisation.
• Buy (OOTB & Product): SharePoint Online enhanced by an in-a box product.
• Buy (OOTB & Product): SharePoint Online plus a modular in-a-box product like Lightspeed365.

Let’s explore each option in turn.

1. SharePoint Online out of the box

What is it?

Using SharePoint Online straight out of the box without any customisation or additional intranet products.

Advantages:

There is obvious appeal to just using native SharePoint Online to drive your intranet, and it is often a popular option from an IT perspective:

• There are no additional licensing costs, you don’t have to spend time procuring an additional solution.
• It ticks all the boxes for security and governance, which will have already been applied across your Microsoft 365 tenant.
• On paper the intranet should also be quicker to implement – the features are all there available and ready to go.
• Understandably, many IT functions steer away from customisation and all its negative associations around technical debt and additional cost, so want to go for native SharePoint because it’s cheaper and easier to manage and upgrade.

Disadvantages:

However, there are some disadvantages in just using SharePoint alone that are important to consider:

• Surprisingly, SharePoint Online has some major gaps in intranet functionality and often does not meet the needs of internal communicators, so you inevitably are making some compromises.
• Native SharePoint Online functionality will also not meet any specialist needs or processes you want to support and may not support a particular integration.
• These compromises are felt most in medium, large, and more complex organisations with more than 200 employees, global offices or with particular compliance needs.
• There are less flexible branding options, so while the intranet will still look good, it is unlikely to meet the look and feel adopted across other major digital channels.
• You will need more in-house technical resources and access to expertise to set up, manage, and maintain your intranet, or you may need to source an implementation partner.
• You will also need more resourcing from the business side to set up and manage the intranet and support governance across a devolved publishing model – ensuring content is up to date, for example is harder without a product.
• Although you avoid licensing costs, the extra resourcing you need may mean the total cost of ownership for your intranet over three years will usually be more than acquiring a product.

2. Custom SharePoint intranet

What is it?

Customising SharePoint Online to deliver features, branding and integrations that will help deliver value for your intranet and increase adoption.

Advantages:

Sometimes if you have a particular intranet need that is not fully supported by SharePoint’s native functionality then customisation is still a valid option:

• You can build an intranet that is perfectly fitted around the way you and your employees work, supporting key business processes and driving adoption.
• You can ensure the intranet is customised exactly to the look and feel you want to achieve.
• You can fashion deep integrations with other business systems – including legacy technology you still have to use – to drive productivity and improve the employee experience.

Disadvantages:

A customised intranet can come with a lot of baggage, and it is important to consider carefully the ramifications of going down that path:

• Custom development comes at additional cost and can be very expensive, and you will usually need to go through an implementation partner.
• It also involves a lot of effort and will slow down your time to market.
• Custom development comes with potential additional risk around security, compliance, and accessibility, which you or your implementation partner will be responsible for, rather than your product vendor.
• Custom development builds technical debt that means upgrades are expensive and require more effort.
• Any custom development also requires ongoing support and maintenance which can also prove to be expensive.
• Extensive customisation can limit the opportunities to use new SharePoint features released by Microsoft, for example with AI, and prevent continuous improvement over the longer term.
• The total cost of ownership for a heavily customised intranet is likely to be the highest of all the options described in this post.

3. Out of the box SharePoint Online with limited customisation

What is it?

This is a hybrid approach where an intranet is based mainly on SharePoint Online out of the box but add limited customisation to only essential areas, usually restricted to particular web parts or an area of the intranet.

Advantages:

• This “hybrid” approach can be an effective way to balance all the advantages of out of the box SharePoint Online but also essential customisation to better manage costs, risk, and effort.

Disadvantages:

• However, potentially this “compromise” approach can end up leaving nobody quite satisfied as there will still likely be gaps in SharePoint and customised web parts still need managing.
• There are still additional costs and technical debt to consider with the related impact on efforts to upgrade.
• The overall total cost of ownership may end up being high due to the extra effort required for the ongoing management of what is still predominantly an out of the box intranet but with additional costs relating to the few customised web parts.

4. SharePoint plus an in-a-box product

What is it?

There are a number of SharePoint intranet “in-a-box” products which sit alongside or on top of SharePoint and complete some of the gaps in functionality, have more flexible branding options, add templates, and introduce additional capabilities relating to communication, engagement, and productivity. These products vary in cost, extent, and maturity, but all add value. Invariably, they also rely on SharePoint.

Advantages:

• There products fill the missing gaps in SharePoint, particularly in areas such as internal communications and engagement, and therefore will meet the requirements for larger and complex organisations.
• In-a-box products have intranet management and content governance features that make it easier and less effort for intranet teams and content editors to run the platform.
• There are usually more flexible branding options.
• There are additional capabilities often bundled that sometimes go beyond a traditional intranet, for example to deliver omni-channel communications, and move the product to being a wider employee experience platform
• In-a-box products usually allow for a smoother and potentially quicker speed to market because they have ready-to-go templates and tools.
• You can often use the full SharePoint capabilities, but not always.
• You will usually get additional support from the in-a-box vendor so you will not require as much technical support and you can also get help to drive adoption and customer success. Sometimes support services are bundled in the licensing costs, or available as extra.
• SharePoint intranet in-a-box products tend to have an active product roadmap that continues to add new features – for example that incorporate AI – while remaining close to the Microsoft 365 roadmap.
• It depends very much on the product you choose, but the overall total cost of ownership over three years may end up being lower than just using SharePoint out of the box.

Disadvantages:

• The upfront costs for acquiring an additional in-a-box product can be considerable.
• You are often paying twice for some of the same features which are replicated across SharePoint and also natively within the in-a-box product.
• You will also need to procure the solution which can be time-consuming and also manage an additional vendor relationship.
• In some in-a-box products some data may sit outside your Microsoft 365 tenant which may not sit comfortably with your IT security team.

5. SharePoint plus a modular in-a-box product like Lightspeed365

What is it?

There are a limited number of in-a-box products like Lightspeed365 that don’t offer a full platform but instead offer a more modular approach with a discrete number of features (web parts) that extend the number of web parts that SharePoint has to offer. These are tightly built around the gaps in SharePoint so provide everything you need to deliver a world-class intranet but avoids the unnecessary bells and whistles you don’t really need to pay for. This offers a far more cost-effective approach but does not compromise the ability to deliver a fully featured intranet.

Advantages:

• Offers all the advantages of an in-a-box product including bridging the gaps in functionality, more flexible branding, an active product roadmap and more.
• It extends SharePoint so you can still use all of the existing out-of-the-box web parts.
• It preserves the existing SharePoint editing interface so there is no learning curve for content editors or intranet admins.
• It comes at a significantly reduced price compared to most SharePoint in-a-box products.
• You don’t pay twice for any capabilities that are already covered in SharePoint.
• The modular approach means you have far more control and only need to implement the features that you want and when you want.
• A modular product like Lightspeed365 and related data sits completely within your Microsoft 365 tenant so ticks the boxes for security and compliance teams.

Disadvantages:

• Some organisations want to invest in the wider capabilities of an employee experience platform so may get more value from a broader in-a-box solution, but this will come at significantly greater cost.

Native, build or buy for my SharePoint intranet: Comparison table

| Element

|

Out of the box

|

Custom

|

Limited custom

|

In a box product

|

Modular product

| | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | |

User experience

|

Good

|

Strong

|

Good / strong

|

Strong

|

Strong

| |

Feature set

|

Incomplete

|

Complete

|

Incomplete / complete

|

Complete

|

Complete

| |

Comms & engagement

|

Incomplete

|

Complete

|

Incomplete / complete

|

Complete

|

Complete

| |

Branding options

|

Limited

|

Very flexible

|

Flexible

|

Flexible

|

Flexible

| |

Implementation cost

|

Low

|

High

|

Medium

|

High

|

Low

| |

Total cost of ownership

|

High

|

Very high

|

High

|

Medium

|

Low

| |

Implementation speed (MVP)

|

Quick

|

Slow

|

Medium

|

Quick

|

Quick

| |

Level of technical debt

|

None

|

High

|

Medium

|

None

|

None

| |

Scalability

|

High

|

Medium

|

Medium

|

High

|

High

| |

Maintenance effort

|

High

|

High

|

Medium

|

Low

|

Low

| |

Technical knowledge required

|

High

|

High

|

High

|

Low

|

Low

|