Most of you might be familiar with Enterprise Content Management (ECM) systems like SharePoint or document management. Also, you might have heard that SharePoint Online and Office 365 are used interchangeably.
However, some people believe that Office 365 and SharePoint Online are one of a kind, but that’s not true. SharePoint Online and Office 365 might have similar capabilities, as both are Microsoft products. But, there are many distinctions between these two collaborative platforms.
Explaining Office 365
As per Microsoft, Office 365 is considered a subscription-based plan consisting of many Office productivity applications and services that can be accessed over the internet.
With applications like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, the business plans of Office 365 also offer e-mail services, audio, video, and web conferencing infrastructure, and internal communication platforms while allowing you to share and store data files on the cloud.
What’s with SharePoint Online?
SharePoint Online, also available with Office 365 subscription, is a collaborative platform integrated with Microsoft Office. SharePoint Online allows businesses to store, share, search, retrieve, manage, and track internal documents.
Although you can access it as a cloud-based Office 365 subscription component, SharePoint Online is also available as a standalone product.
The few functionalities that make SharePoint Online and Office 365 similar include the ability to store and share documents with other users. However, choosing between these platforms depends on your business needs and usage.
When to choose Office 365?
- When you need file-based storage for ease of use, which can be availed with Office 365’s OneDrive
- When collaboration between teams is not much complicated – Office 365 Teams is your best bet here
- When users need personal file management across devices – OneDrive serves best here.
- When users need to email larger files – again, OneDrive is an excellent choice for it.
When to use SharePoint Online?
- In case of highly complex collaboration, tight security, and maintenance
- When you need to configure data types
- You need advanced security measurements for certain types of content
- When a custom workflow is required for content management
Based on these criteria, you can decide which platform best suits your needs. If you have a small organisation or business, then Office 365 is your best bet. On the other hand, if you have a large enterprise, there is no better solution than SharePoint Online.
You can contact IT support services company to help you in having access to both Office 365 and Sharepoint subscription.
