Effective knowledge sharing and collaboration with external parties? SharePoint can help you with that!

24 Aug, 2022

Knowledge is power, but sharing knowledge is even more powerful. Many organizations struggle with outdated systems, and unstructured and fragmented information. A major obstacle for cooperation. Not only internally, but also with external parties. But how to facilitate effective collaboration? SharePoint is a modern platform for making specific information accessible to those with the right authorization. For this, it makes no difference whether that person is inside or outside your organization. We go into more detail about the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and the power of templates in this article.

Secure knowledge sharing via SharePoint

We are often asked whether SharePoint can also be used as an extranet, for example, to share instructions and user manuals. The answer is yes. But then it is important to think about how you are going to safely share files with external parties, such as customers and suppliers. How do you arrange authorizations and how do you maintain control over this?

When you allow outsiders to browse through your own document management system, there is obviously a risk.

We are often asked whether SharePoint can also be used as an extranet, for example, to share instructions and user manuals. The answer is yes. But then it is important to think about how you are going to safely share files with external parties, such as customers and suppliers. How do you arrange authorizations and how do you maintain control over this?

When you allow outsiders to browse through your own document management system, there is obviously a risk.

Finding information in SharePoint quickly with AI

If you have set up an extranet for your customers or suppliers, it is a good idea to think about how you can make it easy to find the right information. Metadata plays an important role here. By indicating (automatically) for each document which product it concerns, in which language the document is written, and which version it is, finding the right information goes a lot faster.

By grouping content by topic, AI can also contribute to this. Viva Topics uses AI to search through all of the content and bring it together on a separate SharePoint site about that particular topic. Additionally, if you hover your mouse over a topic in Teams, for instance, you will see a theme map with more information, related documents and a list of experts. Very helpful for finding information quickly!

The power of SharePoint templates

To structure collaboration, such as for projects, it is best to work with templates. For example, we created a template and associated workflow for a customer’s New Product Development (NPD) process. This process is intended to create a new product, make improvements to an existing product, or introduce an existing product to a new market. And if you do not work together in a structured way in such a NPD process, the chances of a trade-off or a longer time-to-market are high. And yet, with innovations, it is so important to be able to adapt quickly.

How does the template work? First, a new project is created in the ERP system. At the same time, a SharePoint site is automatically created using a predefined template, roles and rights are assigned, folders are created and a project manager is appointed. The workflow then follows the next steps in the NPD process: research, design, development and commercialization. Of course, you can design and reuse your own template for your processes. In any case, a template ensures an efficient and qualitative collaboration.

Effective knowledge sharing and collaboration with third parties

Keeping information organized within your organization allows you to collaborate more effectively with outside parties and share knowledge. With an extranet, customers can provide themselves with the information they need. Of course, you ensure that documents are easy to find, topics are displayed in groups, and access is completely secure. And when you also work with templates, nothing will stand in your way to share knowledge and cooperate with external parties effectively.

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This is part 4 of a series of blogs about the possibilities of SharePoint. Did you also read the blog about Migration to SharePoint Online; 8 do’s en don'ts ? Or about SharePoint, Teams and OneDrive: a rock-solid combination?

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