Building an Intranet on SharePoint: Strengths, Limitations, and What to Know Before You Decide

A SharePoint intranet solution can serve as the central hub for internal communication, collaboration, and knowledge sharing. For organizations already using Microsoft 365, SharePoint is often the default choice when planning a new intranet.

However, choosing an intranet platform is a strategic decision. While SharePoint offers strong foundational capabilities, it also has limitations that become more visible as organizational size, content complexity, and governance needs increase.

This article explains what a SharePoint intranet solution is, outlines its core strengths and limitations, and highlights what organizations should evaluate before building an intranet on SharePoint or Microsoft 365. 

→ For a full comparison of your intranet requirements and SharePoint, download the free guide: Comparing Your Intranet Requirements with Microsoft 365, SharePoint, and Viva Connections »

→ Discover SharePoint intranet feature examples in this blog post: SharePoint Intranet Examples: 16 Top Ideas to Inspire Your Next Site. »

A SharePoint intranet is a secure, centralized digital workspace built on Microsoft SharePoint. It provides employees with access to internal news, documents, resources, and collaboration spaces within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem.

A well-designed SharePoint intranet connects people, content, and tools across locations and departments, supporting both day-to-day work and enterprise-wide communication.

SharePoint is one of the most widely used intranet platforms, largely due to its tight integration with Microsoft 365. Organizations commonly choose SharePoint because it:

✔ Integrates natively with Microsoft Teams, Outlook, OneDrive, and Microsoft Search

✔ Supports secure document management and collaboration

✔ Scales across departments and geographies

✔ Fits naturally into existing Microsoft licensing and IT strategies

For many organizations, SharePoint provides a strong baseline intranet without introducing an entirely new platform. However, while SharePoint might be a perfect platform for smallish organizations, we see many mid-sized and larger organizations struggle with the limitations of the platform, including basic capabilities as publishing targeted news, consistent templating, structured navigation, customized search, and the mobile intranet experience. 

When planning a new intranet based on SharePoint or Microsoft 365, it’s important to evaluate not only what the platform can do—but also where its native capabilities may fall short as requirements grow. Our recommendation is to evaluate the bullets below before building an intranet on SharePoint:

SharePoint is a solid intranet foundation, particularly for organizations already invested in Microsoft 365. Its core strengths include:

✔ Native Microsoft 365 integration: Seamless integration with Teams, Outlook, OneDrive, and Microsoft Search creates a unified digital workplace experience.

✔ Secure and scalable content management: Permissions, version control, compliance, and co-authoring make SharePoint effective for managing internal documents and content at scale.

✔ Modern communication capabilities: Communication sites and news publishing enable organizations to share updates, announcements, and corporate information.

✔ Familiar user experience: Employees already using Microsoft tools typically require less training, accelerating adoption.

For small to mid-sized organizations with relatively straightforward intranet needs, these capabilities may be sufficient.

As intranet requirements become more complex, organizations often encounter limitations in SharePoint’s out-of-the-box functionality:

✔ Limited structured publishing and personalization: SharePoint provides only basic tools for managing targeted, multi-channel news at scale, which can be restrictive for large or global organizations.

✔ Inconsistent branding and templating: Site templates and navigation must be applied individually, making it difficult to enforce consistent design and structure across many sites.

✔ Navigation and findability challenges: As content volumes grow, delivering intuitive navigation and tailored search experiences becomes increasingly difficult using native features alone.

✔ Content lifecycle and governance complexity: Managing critical business content across multiple sites, departments, and regions requires additional governance structures or third-party solutions.

✔ Mobile and frontline experience constraints: Organizations with advanced mobile, multilingual, or frontline worker needs may find SharePoint’s native experience limiting. 

Before committing to SharePoint as your intranet platform, organizations should evaluate:

✔ Business complexity: Organizational size, structure, and geographic spread.

✔ Communication complexity: Requirements for personalization, targeting, and governance.

✔ UX complexity: Branding, UX consistency, search and navigation needs.

✔ Governance complexity: Long-term scalability, information policies and content lifecycle management.

In many cases, SharePoint works best as the core intranet foundation, complemented by additional solutions that extend publishing, governance, personalization, and user experience capabilities.

SharePoint enables organizations to create and publish intranet pages, news articles, and announcements using modern templates and rich media. While effective for basic publishing, organizations seeking advanced branding and structured publishing workflows may encounter limitations.

Document management is one of SharePoint’s strongest capabilities. Features such as version control, metadata, permissions, and co-authoring support secure and efficient collaboration. Managing document lifecycles across multiple intranet sites, however, can be complex at enterprise scale.

SharePoint team sites support collaboration through document libraries, task lists, and shared resources. Integration with Microsoft Teams enhances teamwork, although customization of collaboration templates remains limited.

Communication Sites Communication sites act as hubs for organizational news and information. While visually modern and mobile-responsive, enforcing consistency and structured publishing across many communication sites can be challenging. SharePoint and

SharePoint integrates tightly with key Microsoft 365 services:

✔ Microsoft Teams: Access SharePoint content directly within team workspaces.

✔ Outlook: Share and collaborate on documents without leaving email.

✔ OneDrive: Sync SharePoint libraries for easy access across devices.

These integrations are a major advantage for organizations standardizing on Microsoft 365.

Organizations implementing a SharePoint intranet commonly experience:

✔ Improved internal communication through centralized news and updates.

✔ More efficient workflows via document collaboration and automation.

✔ Increased productivity by making information and tools easier to find.

These benefits are strongest when governance, navigation, and ownership are clearly defined. 

Learn more: For guidance on intranet management strategies that ensure business value year after year, check out our article Intranet Management: Strategies for Sustainable Success. 

For large enterprises with complex content needs, diverse audiences, and strict branding requirements, SharePoint’s native capabilities may not be enough. Challenges often emerge around:

✔ Personalized communication at scale.

✔ Consistent UX and branding.

✔ Advanced search and navigation.

✔ Mobile-first and frontline worker scenarios.

These are common enterprise intranet requirements and typically require solutions that extend beyond SharePoint alone.

Learn more: Download this free guide to compare your intranet requirements with SharePoint and Microsoft 365.

To illustrate the versatility and power of SharePoint intranet, let's explore some real-world examples of successful implementations across diverse industries using an Omnia- and SharePoint intranet. To learn more about intranet examples build on Microsoft 365 and SharePoint, contact us to setup a personalized demo.

WWF significantly improved internal communication and knowledge sharing by leveraging SharePoint's team sites, document libraries, and announcements. This enabled a more informed and connected workforce. Read more about the case study.

NCC Property Development, a thriving business unit in the NCC Group, streamlined project management and collaboration by utilizing SharePoint's task lists, calendars, and tight integration with Microsoft Teams. This facilitated better coordination and efficiency among project teams. Read more about the case study.

Global fintech leader, Finastra, enhanced employee engagement and culture through SharePoint's social features. This fostered a more vibrant and cohesive organizational culture. Read more about the case study.

Some of the most important learnings from this article to use before building an intranet on SharePoint are: 

✔ SharePoint intranets provide a centralized hub for communication, content, and collaboration.

✔ Microsoft 365 integration is a major strength.

✔ Native capabilities work well for simpler intranet scenarios.

✔ Enterprise-scale requirements often expose limitations in publishing, personalization, governance, and UX.

✔ Many organizations succeed by using SharePoint as a foundation, enhanced with additional intranet solutions.

✔ Before choosing a platform, organizations should align intranet capabilities with business needs—not just existing technology. Read more in this blog post.

Businesses are encouraged to explore the versatility of SharePoint intranets and seek expert guidance for successful implementation, unlocking the full potential of modern, efficient intranet portals that drive success in today's competitive landscape. 

Before you decide on a platform for your next intranet you of course need to compare its capabilities to your business needs.

Download this document for support in analyzing how your requirements can be met by Microsoft 365, SharePoint, and Viva Connections: Comparing your intranet requirements with Microsoft 365, SharePoint, and Viva Connections.

Discover more in our blog post showcasing 16 standout SharePoint intranet examples spanning communication, UX, employee engagement, governance, and beyond.

To assist your decision making, contact us to setup a personalized demo before building an intranet on SharePoint.