The terms “communication” and “collaboration” are brandished very loosely in the software market. Businesses are looking to solve specific problems, but with every manner of software from video conferencing platforms, to project management solutions, to intranet platforms, to group chat solutions billing themselves as “communication/collaboration” platforms, they are left understandably confused.
This confusion frequently brings two software successes - Slack and Sharepoint - head-to-head against each other. However, this competition can be likened to a sparring between a soccer striker and an MMA champion - two players in completely different sports.
In this article, we try to clear the clutter by highlighting the differences between Slack and Sharepoint, and how they solve very different business needs.
What is Slack, and what it is not
Slack is a great real-time communications tool that lets teams create private and shared chatrooms. It lets users communicate through different modes - chat, video conferencing, audio conferencing, in addition to allowing them to do things which are peripheral to their conversations - share files, get updates from third party tools, create notes and so on.
Slack’s stand-out feature is its library of integrations that make Slack it way more than simply a chat, but a “hub” teams that lets them converse, but also get updates about important aspects of their business managed through other software tools - for example a Sales team can use Slack to interact with each other, and also be notified whenever a new lead enters their CRM systems, or a PR team, which can have discussions, and be notified whenever their brand is referenced in social media.
However, if your business requirement is a platform which allows you to create a company intranet where you can highlight important information for your employees - company news, important templates, company events etc - Slack is probably not a good choice.
Or, if you need to automate very specific business processes - like how a new order is managed, or managing feedback etc - Slack has nothing to offer.
This is where Sharepoint comes in. However, if you are primarily looking at communication capabilities, it makes sense to consider alternatives like uShare.to, Microsoft Teams, Zoho Cliq etc. The following article on Slack alternatives gives you a more detailed analysis.
What is Sharepoint — and how it is completely different from Slack
Sharepoint is a really powerful platform which combines a variety of capabilities in a single platform - content management, document storage, workflows, enterprise search etc. While Sharepoint is highly configurable, organizations commonly use it for the following:
- Sites. Sharepoint is a robust Content Managament System which allows organizations to create intranet sites for the entire organization or for specific teams and departments. It allows for deep customization.
- Document Management. Sharepoint allows organizations to store, organize and collaborate on documents through repositories and features like version control, audit trails etc.
- Workflows. Sharepoint allows organizations to create workflows around documents and automate business processes
- Team Collaboration Toolkit. Sharepoint includes a variety of team tools than help teams manage different aspects of working together - Wikis, project management, shared calendars, blogs etc.
As you can see, Slack is not an option at all when it comes to achieving the above objectives. If you are looking for Sharepoint-like capabilities, you should be considering other options like HyperOffice Atlas, GSuite, Atlassian Confluence etc. The following is a more detailed list of Sharepoint alternatives.