For IT leaders, SharePoint can feel like a safe bet
Microsoft tools already power your organization. So why wouldn’t you use SharePoint as your employee intranet?
The truth is, while it can seem like a quick-fix solution, SharePoint has its drawbacks. It’s complex to learn and use. It doesn’t support frontline access or employee engagement. It simply isn’t built for every employee or every intranet task.
The upshot? SharePoint lands your organization with a hidden IT tax — in the form of resources, consultants, workarounds, and additional software. It can quickly become a drain on your IT team’s time and budget.
So here, we look at exactly where SharePoint falls down — and explore modern intranet alternatives that make life a whole lot easier for your IT crew.
The promise vs. the reality of SharePoint
SharePoint is marketed as an “all-in-one” employee intranet and internal communications solution. File storage. Team sites. A knowledge base. A communication hub.
But the practical reality is a little different. The fundamental role of SharePoint is to store files. So, as an intranet, supposed to go way beyond file storage, there are some key ways that SharePoint fails to deliver:
- Top-down communication. SharePoint prioritizes corporate broadcasts over peer-to-peer interaction. Without additional software, teams miss out on the human connections that drive satisfaction and retention.
- Limited personalization. No intuitive dashboards or role-based filters here. So employees have to wade through irrelevant content to find the information they need. This is bad for intranet engagement and employee productivity.
- An outdated user experience. In a world where TikTok and WhatsApp set the standard, SharePoint feels like a dusty corporate archive. Employees expect simple, fast, consumer-grade experiences — and SharePoint simply isn’t up to the task.
And those are just the headlines, not the full story. Beyond these issues, SharePoint poses problems for two key segments of your workforce — the IT team tasked with implementing it and the frontline workforce struggling to access it.
{{mobile-hub="/image"}}
The IT tax of SharePoint explained
First, let’s look at SharePoint from the perspective of your IT team. What does using SharePoint as an intranet platform mean for the people tasked with running it?
#1. Complex customization and integration
Configuring SharePoint isn’t a case of plug-and-play. Setting up permissions, workflows, and integrations requires specialized IT knowledge. Even small changes — like tweaking layouts — become time-consuming tasks.
Yes, SharePoint is customizable. But for many, that flexibility comes at a cost in the form of heavy technical requirements. Developers are essential to get just the basics working smoothly.
#2. Ongoing maintenance and updates
SharePoint setup is never “done.” Updates, patches, and version issues all demand ongoing IT oversight. This can be a huge burden for small IT teams and another cost to consider if you have to outsource this maintenance work.
#3. Reliance on consultants
Most organizations don’t have deep SharePoint expertise in-house. That means relying on external consultants for custom builds, integrations, and even routine maintenance. This can drag out timelines and inflate your IT budget.
#4. Extensive training
Training existing staff is an alternative to getting in the consultants. But it’s, again, expensive and time-consuming. It can take months of training to ensure that teams are proficient, and across a large IT team, getting everyone up to speed turns into a long-term project.
#5. Managing additional software
When you use SharePoint as your employee intranet, there are inevitably going to be gaps. IT has to find software that supports employee engagement, mobile access, and custom notifications.
This can bring its own problems. Your IT team shoulders the burden of keeping all software updated and integrated. And when employees have to navigate a complex tech stack, juggling multiple logins and passwords, tickets start to mount.
#6. Constant employee support
SharePoint’s complex infrastructure makes it hard for non-technical users (like your comms team) to create, update, and manage the intranet. Routine tasks turn into IT tickets, creating delays and frustration.
Comms teams can’t publish updates quickly, employees wait a long time for information, and IT is stuck in helpdesk mode. Instead of driving innovation, your tech team only has the bandwidth to wade through support requests.
#7. Adoption issues
Employees are used to fast, easy, and convenient online experiences. And SharePoint doesn’t live up to their high expectations. Intranet adoption suffers. Your IT budget is spent on an intranet platform that a large proportion of your employees avoid using.
{{mobile-main="/image"}}
How SharePoint falls down for the frontline
SharePoint causes problems for another segment of your workforce — frontline employees. The platform was never designed with deskless workers in mind. So, if you choose to use it as your only intranet platform, your frontline experiences the following.
A clunky mobile experience
SharePoint’s mobile navigation is awkward and slow. For employees on the go, employee communications are hard to access. This damages internal communications and the frontline employee experience.
The need to “go seek” information
Without real-time notifications, role-based alerts, or clearly defined communication channels, SharePoint forces employees to hunt down updates. For busy shift workers and deskless teams, this means critical comms are often missed.
No support for asynchronous work
SharePoint emphasizes live chats and video calls but ignores the reality for employees working shifts or across different time zones. If frontline staff aren’t online at the right time, they struggle to keep up with organizational updates.
A disconnected culture
Without a central, easy-to-use space for celebrating wins, sharing knowledge, or connecting co-workers, frontline employees are excluded from the company conversation. They miss out on the camaraderie that boosts engagement.
A digital divide
SharePoint creates a digital divide. Your desk-based employees can use it to access comms and resources online. Frontline employees have to make do with word-of-mouth messaging and the chaotic memo board. This two-tier approach leaves deskless workers feeling undervalued and less loyal to your organization.
And — in another bit of bad news (sorry!) — frontline accessibility issues spell further problems for IT.
Your IT team spends a huge amount of time troubleshooting accessibility gaps, finding workarounds, third-party plugins, and manual fixes. All the while, comms go unread, resources go unused, and the cost and complexity of your intranet ecosystem spiral higher.
{{mobile-hub-documents="/image"}}
The alternative? A modern employee intranet
Let’s give SharePoint its due. It’s a powerful document management system, deeply integrated with Microsoft 365. For compliance-heavy workflows and content storage it does the job.
But here’s the issue. SharePoint was never built to be an all-in-one employee intranet. And in 2025, an intranet needs to do far more than simply manage files.
An employee intranet has to work for all members of staff, including those hard-to-reach employees on the frontlines of your organization. It needs to support information sharing, employee engagement, and company culture. And it needs to alleviate the pressure on your IT team, rather than adding to it.
If you want an intranet that does all of the above, SharePoint isn’t the answer. Instead, you need a modern intranet solution, with the following intranet features:
- Mobile-first design. A modern intranet is designed to work beautifully across all devices. It provides real-time notifications, offline access, and easy login — even for employees who don’t have a corporate email address.
- Easy admin. Comms teams can post updates, share resources, and customize dashboards without sending a single IT ticket. With user-friendly drag and drop controls, they can tailor the platform to fit their needs without complex back-end development.
- Culture-building tools. Modern intranets aren’t just information repositories. They’re engagement platforms — places where employees can share successes, receive recognition for a job well done, connect with peers, and feel part of something bigger.
- A consumer-grade experience. The best modern intranet solutions are as intuitive and engaging as the comms apps employees use away from work. They feature social media-style tools, deep integrations, and single sign-on technology. So employees can access all workplace tools in a few easy clicks.
Bear in mind that a modern intranet doesn’t have to replace SharePoint altogether. It can integrate with it, pulling through documents, policies, and resources, while layering on the communication and engagement features SharePoint lacks.
That way, IT gets to keep Microsoft compliance and storage, and employees get an interface they’ll actually use — all without the associated implementation headache.
{{mobile-chat="/image"}}
SharePoint isn’t all bad — it’s just not enough
SharePoint is perfect for storage. But it’s not built for connection.
If you want a true intranet — one that engages frontline employees, strengthens culture, and reduces IT overheads — you need a modern platform, designed for today’s workforce.
That might mean ditching your current setup and opting for a SharePoint alternative. Or it could mean layering a digital front door on top of SharePoint, retaining the software’s good points while fixing its flaws.
An intranet like Blink is the perfect solution. Think mobile-first design, a consumer-grade user experience, and deep integrations with the workplace tools you already use.
With Blink. comms and employees can publish updates, share resources, and customize dashboards without waiting on IT — and IT finally gets to step away from firefighting SharePoint problems to focus on strategic projects.
The result? No more workarounds. No more time and money spent on that hidden IT tax. Just an employee intranet that works for everyone — from HQ to the frontline to your IT team.
Blink. And go beyond SharePoint to discover what really works for internal comms.
