If you’re using SharePoint as your company’s intranet, you’re not alone, it’s one of the most widely adopted platforms in the digital workplace space. But while it may seem like a convenient choice (especially for Microsoft 365 users), SharePoint often comes with its own set of hidden challenges, particularly when it’s used as a standalone intranet solution.
Whether you’re an internal comms lead, IT decision-maker, or just someone trying to get the right message to the right people at the right time, here are five of the biggest challenges organisations face with a SharePoint intranet:
It's not built for internal comms
At its core, SharePoint is a document management system, not a communication platform. While it can be customised for news, announcements and updates, doing so often requires significant configuration and support.
The challenge?
Communicators struggle to create engaging, targeted content without relying on IT. Meanwhile, employees miss key updates or don’t know where to look.
📣 Internal comms should be intuitive, targeted, and measurable, not buried under layers of SharePoint permissions.
Sorce can help you address this issue by configuring news and page templates that allow content contributors to confident that their content will end up in the right place and be seen by the appropriate audience.
Poor user adoption
Many intranets fail not because they’re technically lacking, but because people simply don’t use them. SharePoint’s interface can feel unintuitive and complex, especially for frontline or non-desk workers who just want quick access to info on the go.
The challenge?
If your intranet isn’t engaging or easy to navigate, people default to Teams chats, emails, or worse, just asking each other where things are.
💡 A great intranet should be where people start their day, not where they go when they’re lost.
As part of our implementation approach, we test multiple personas to ensure that content and navigation is structured based on real user scenarios. Our workshops always involve people from across your business ensuring that questions are raised before the intranet is built.
It's resource-heavy to customise and maintain
Yes, SharePoint is flexible, but that flexibility often comes at a cost. Custom builds require ongoing developer time, internal IT support, and budget for third-party add-ons or consultants.
The challenge?
You’re investing time and money into building something that looks like a modern intranet, but without the speed or agility of purpose-built tools.
🧱 Your comms team shouldn’t have to wait weeks for a homepage change.
Sorce always deliver training aimed at the content creators and page builders. This means that pages can be updated by the page owner, ensuring that they get what is needed in a timely fashion.
Lack of personalisation and targeting
SharePoint can technically support content targeting, but it requires complex setup, often involving Azure AD groups, audience segments, and admin overhead. For many teams, this ends up being too difficult or time-consuming to implement well.
The challenge?
Everyone sees the same content, whether it’s relevant or not. That leads to disengagement, especially for large or multi-site organisations.
🎯 An intranet should show employees what matters to them, not everything all at once.
Although this is one of the more complex parts of a deployment, it is always worth getting IT on board with what you are trying to do. One of the reasons that this part of the setup is challenging is that the need for targeting groups is often not fully explained to IT. Also, the use of dynamic groups can really help – addressing the issue of targeting feeling out of date just because people remain in groups which no longer relate to their job roles. Sorce are often used as the conduit between the IT teams and intranet owners to help make this a smoother process.
So, how can I use SharePoint to create a successful intranet?
Here at Sorce we work with clients to help them understand what their intranet needs are and work through our tried and tested unique implementation methodology and we help you build your SharePoint intranet using the best of SharePoint and M365.
Creating a SharePoint intranet this way, can overcome the challenges listed here and many more.
We work with clients to ensure that you create a cost-efficient intranet that your users engage with and use consistently to help with their day-to-day business tasks and communications.
If you are considering a SharePoint intranet, connect with Richard Frost and lets discuss how we can help.
