When thinking of intranets, one name might come to mind above all others: SharePoint. With over 200 million users and counting, it’s needless to say that SharePoint is one of the largest intranet providers in the world.
Alongside its well known communication and collaboration features, the platform also provides some workflow automation capabilities. These allow users to streamline basic manual processes and augment employee workloads.
On paper, this may seem like a solid investment for businesses that require an intranet with business process automation (BPA) functionality.
But be careful of falling into this trap. Purchasing decisions should never be based on arbitrary popularity metrics, but rather the quality of the product and services you receive.
With that in mind, we’d like to discuss why SharePoint isn’t as fantastic as it appears to be – and why you should consider switching to an alternative.
How does automation work on the SharePoint platform?
Before we dive into the crux of this article, let’s first assess the platform’s automation features.
SharePoint sites come ready-made with a handful of automations, thanks to the integrated SharePoint 2013 workflow platform. These include:
- Document approval
- Signature collection
- Feedback collection
- Publication approval
Although you can adjust these workflows to an extent, they aren’t fully customisable. For more customisation and no-code build options, you’ll need to use SharePoint Designer 2013, Office Visio 2013, and/or Visual Studio.
However, it’s worth noting that Microsoft plans to kill many of these platforms in the near future. SharePoint 2013 workflows will retire for all existing tenants by April 2026, while SharePoint Designer 2013 is set to retire on July 14 2026.
This means that any users who wish to continue automating on the platform must migrate their workflows to Power Automate – another platform in Microsoft's suite of business tools.
5 reasons why you should consider SharePoint workflow automation alternatives
While it’s clear that there are some benefits to SharePoint – namely its integration with the wider Microsoft suite – the platform does have its limitations.
When it comes to automating work processes, users will have to contend with:
- Short-life workflows. In Power Automate, flows have a meagre 30-day lifespan. In order to extend this lifespan, your flow has to call itself into restarting, which Microsoft claims may require a premium license. More than this, Power Automate only keeps a historic log of each workflow for 28 days.
- Limited customisation. It’s difficult to customise Power Automate forms unless you purchase Microsoft Power Apps.
- Inflexibility with non-Microsoft environments. Power Automate and SharePoint workflows do not integrate well with processes that rely on platforms outside of the Microsoft ecosystem.
Bearing these setbacks in mind, let’s take a look at why you should consider a SharePoint alternative:
1. Enhanced customisation and flexibility
SharePoint’s automation capabilities are best suited to basic, repetitive tasks. However, as soon as your scenario becomes large-scale or complex, the cracks begin to show.
With very limited form customisations available, a restriction of 250 actions per workflow, and the inability to edit a flow once it’s live, it’s difficult to build large processes, nevermind test and reiterate them.
If your business needs highly specific processes and wishes to follow a continuous improvement approach, you’re better off finding another platform.
2. Improved user experience
Getting to grips with SharePoint’s automation capabilities and integrations requires a steep learning curve. This is particularly the case if you’re looking to build more complex flows. Because of this, you may experience development bottlenecks and slow process improvement cycles.
To streamline the creation of your processes, it’s better to select a BPA platform that’s highly customisable and easy to use for everyone in your business. A no-code tool, backed up by expert user guides, training and consultancy support will ultimately boost the user experience. Not to mention, it’ll accelerate your process improvement efforts now and in the years to come.
3. Better integration options
When purchasing any Microsoft platform, you’re buying into the wider ecosystem. That can be highly beneficial if you’re already using the 365 suite. But, if you’re not? Well, that’s a little bit like purchasing an Amazon music subscription and wondering why you can’t migrate your iTunes library across.
If you need your workflows to communicate with non-Microsoft platforms, SharePoint probably isn’t the right platform for you.
Other vendors will offer better integration options and may also provide custom integration and plugin builds, should you need them.
4. Cost-effectiveness
If you’re looking to automate high-value, complex processes on a budget, you might want to rethink your SharePoint investment.
Unfortunately, many basic capabilities – such as extending flow lifespans and customising forms – require premium licenses or subscriptions to affiliate applications, including Power Apps.
It’s far more cost effective to choose a robust, highly customisable workflow automation tool that doesn’t slap you with costly add-ons.
5. Custom development and support
Microsoft may provide troubleshooting and tech support, but as a large corporation their services won’t extend far beyond this. If you require consultancy or development support, you’ll have to find your own Microsoft partner.
This can be frustrating for some organisations. After all, not all Microsoft partners will offer the same services or pricing packages.
A platform with in-house development, workflow creation and customer support services will give you greater peace of mind. You’ll also spend less time vetting yet another vendor.
How Claromentis outperforms SharePoint
While there’s no shortage of SharePoint alternatives on the market, we’d like to take this opportunity to shine a light on our own unique solution.
Claromentis is a powerful digital workplace software, comprising four integrated platforms:
- A feature-rich intranet
- A highly customisable business process automation tool
- An engaging learning management system
- An intuitive project management software
Together, these platforms help you to boost employee engagement, enhance operational efficiency, and maximise ROI.
Unlike SharePoint, there are no hidden costs, customisation limitations or third-party integration challenges. Claromentis is a cost-effective platform that can adapt to any business requirement or process, no matter how complex or unique.
It’s this extreme customisation that sets it apart from SharePoint and its competitors.
And it’s fair to say our customers agree. Just take a look at our G2 ratings in comparison to SharePoint’s:
Find your perfect intranet and workflow automation platform
To summarise: SharePoint may be the most popular intranet platform out there, but that doesn’t make it the best.
To find a solution that drives the most value for your business, you need to do your due diligence. This involves crafting a watertight BPA strategy and taking the time to thoroughly vet your vendor shortlist.
To help you with this journey, we created ‘Business Process Automation: The Strategic Buyers’ Guide’: a free, downloadable resource full of practical advice.
Access your copy here and get one step closer to reaching your automation goals.
