SharePoint VS Teams VS OneDrive
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Differences and When to Use Them
Microsoft has many programs as a solution for collaborative work and communication. In the case of SharePoint, Teams and OneDrive share some similar functionalities that can present confusion when choosing one of these solutions (or several of them).
The IT environment of a company is dynamic so it is always in constant change and evolution. The heads of the IT department must offer the best tools to the members of the company to improve working conditions, increase their efficiency and promote effective collaboration.
That is why, in this article, we are going to define these three Microsoft collaborative work programs, looking at their functions and advantages. Finally, we will explain when it is advisable to choose to use one or more of them in a company.
What is SharePoint
SharePoint is a Microsoft product that encompasses a series of web-based tools designed to build business solutions that have to do with communication, collaboration and management of a company. SharePoint can be used in the cloud with SharePoint online or deployed locally on a company network with SharePoint Server.
SharePoint is characterized by being highly configurable and being integrated with the multiple tools that Microsoft Office 365 includes. It is a true “Swiss Army knife” when it comes to implementing solutions that require collaboration and productivity.
Advantages of using SharePoint
The different tools that SharePoint includes allow you to create different solutions in a business environment, among which we can highlight:
- Collaboration applications.
- Workflowengine (workflow)
- Data storage.
- APPS ion intelligence business.
- Intranet and extranet solutions.
- Development platforms.
- ECM business content manager and CSM web content.
- Portal manager (for example, employee portal).
SharePoint offers a variety of applications according to the needs of each project, such as lists and tasks. It is interactive, easy to use and is ideal for multiple users, being able to handle a huge amount of stored information.
What are Teams
Microsoft Teams is a professional tool for instant communication between two people or between groups. All participants have access to common work projects so that they are informed about them.
Teams are the ideal solution to include instant conversation integrated into a business environment that works with Office 365, providing the necessary interaction and security for it.
Many people make the mistake of classifying Microsoft Teams as a tool used solely for chatting, but it goes much further. The Teams solution makes chat another tool within the communication of a work team, providing all its advantages and encouraging communication between team members to become more frequent and fluid.
Advantages of Using Teams
With Microsoft Teams, a company will have a powerful communication and collaboration tool among its workers, highlighting:
- Business chat including configurable bots. These are group chats or for two people who have access to all the resources of the work team. Using BI, programmed bots can be created to automate tasks and facilitate access to tasks or queries.
- Access to Office 365 documents. Teams integrate with the Office 365 suite, being able to share the work teams and documents of the different office tools quickly and easily.
- Video calls integrated into mobile devices. In addition, these calls can be shared with other members of the work team, creating groups of calls (configuring audio, image or text messages to notify of a shared call).
- Integration with external applications such as Power BI panels or SharePoint pages. The ability to integrate with external applications to expand the capabilities of the work team is a great advantage of Teams.
- Improve meetings. Using Teams for work meetings is much easier. From the moment the meeting is created, you can start chatting with the members of the meeting about the agenda, share and review documents, take notes and share them, generate lists of pending tasks, etc. At the end of the meeting, a tab will be created with everything that happened, so if someone was unable to attend or joined the meeting late, they can review everything that happened as many times as they want.
Teams provide numerous benefits for businesses and organizations. On the one hand, it increases your productivity by streamlining collaborative tasks, offers effective communication between the different members of the workgroups or with other departments, and configures each work environment according to your needs.
What is OneDrive
OneDrive is primarily Microsoft’s solution for cloud storage. Its popularity has grown in recent years as it is integrated into Microsoft’s operating system, Windows 10. In addition, in its free version, it offers 15 GB of cloud storage, making it very useful for small businesses and individuals.
OneDrive is fully integrated with Office 365. If you subscribe to Microsoft’s office suite, you will enjoy 1 TB of OneDrive storage.
Advantages of using OneDrive
The main benefits of using OneDrive cloud storage in your business are:
- Full integration with Word, Excel, Powerpoint, One note, in short, with Office 365.
- Automated synchronization with multiple devices (computers and mobile devices).
- Quick and easy access to stored files.
- Allows file sharing for group work.
SharePoint, Teams, and OneDrive: When to Use Them
The three Microsoft solutions share some things in common, but they are not mutually exclusive, so they can be used together in the IT environment of a company.
SharePoint is more focused on collaborative work and creating work environments within the company where information, projects, etc. can be shared. Teams, for its part, focuses more on the area of direct communication with its messaging or instant chats, creating associated workspaces. OneDrive is integrated into Office 365 and Windows 10, its main function being the storage of all types of files (text, video, images, even backups) in the cloud.
When to Use SharePoint
When you need to create a professional collaboration system within a company SharePoint is the right option. SharePoint IT control adapts to each company environment within a security framework and allows other applications to be integrated as required.
SharePoint is ideal for sharing files within the work environment, giving access according to user profiles. Each user profile will be assigned a series of permissions that will allow them to access certain files.
In a corporate intranet, it is necessary to have an employee portal that includes interactive elements and that is not merely an information portal. With SharePoint the ability to configure an offered portal employee person liable, depending on the department or area of expertise, including interactive features such as blogs, IM, merits, updating training, and anything that might be useful or interesting for workers.
Another of the most common uses of SharePoint is as an advanced platform for Business Intelligence applications, using Performance Point Services, Excel Services and business connectivity services.
SharePoint as a content manager ECM offers tools to manage and organize all company content throughout its life cycle (from creation to archiving). All company content will be stored in a central repository with advanced search options so that users can find information easily and quickly.
In addition, multimedia content can be shared with direct playback options. The administration of all these information access records will be protected within the margins and legal regulations, using the SharePoint environment.
With SharePoint it is also possible to manage the company’s web content, using simple tools to generate and publish on the web, with a coherent structure and design in all the sites. This content edition can be used to publish both on the web and on an intranet or extranet, reducing implementation costs.
When to use Teams
Teams are ideal for fostering workgroup communication, avoiding, for example, having to search through numerous emails. With Teams you can create teams or workgroups that have a common chat where they can talk in real-time about the different aspects of a project, assigning tools and documents to it.
When working with Teams on a project, you have all the information and centralized communication, something that greatly facilitates group work and the monitoring of the different phases and actions of a project.
Teams include many tools that make it easier for members of a workgroup to work within a project. Team users can join meetings, start private conversations with any member, add annotations, share documents, and all within the same platform. All this encourages a more flexible, faster and much more frequent collaboration than with other traditional methods.
We can conclude that Teams is ideal to use in small work teams and even for collaboration between different groups.
When to Use OneDrive
OneDrive is great for storing all your Office 365 work, plus other files. With the advantages provided by cloud storage (secure access, from anywhere and at any time), you can share whatever files you want with other people, providing the appropriate permissions.
Typically, OneDrive is used as an individual workspace, occasionally sharing some files in a custom way. Despite the fact that SharePoint and Teams have storage capacity in the cloud, the former is used to store files for general use throughout the company, and access can be configured by user profiles. For its part, Teams storage is more used for specific needs in the different projects of the work teams.
Can All Three Options be Used at the Same Time?
The three Microsoft solutions can be combined to create a customized collaboration platform, defining a unique way of working tailored to the IT needs of the business.
Using SharePoint as a basis to create a solid collaboration structure, workgroups can be added with Teams that integrate chats, SharePoint pages and share documents stored by the different members in their OneDrive accounts.
Using OneDrive and Teams is very simple and common sense both tools are integrated within the Office 365 environment. In a work team created in Teams, documents stored in OneDrive can be easily shared by any of the members of that team.
Microsoft has three powerful tools to tackle collaborative work within a business environment. Depending on the needs of each company, the use of some and other alternatives may vary.
The possibility of using the three integrated solutions to create a comprehensive platform for collaborative work within the business environment makes these solutions Microsoft a great choice for both SMEs and large corporations.
SharePoint is a more powerful and flexible tool than Teams and OneDrive, which have more defined objectives. Al Rafay SharePoint consulting facilitates the creation of a robust structure for collaboration and business work that can be complemented with the advantages that Teams offer for teamwork, and with OneDrive with its integration into Office 365.