New experience SharePoint Online vs plugins and the Classic experience

Before comparing SharePoint Online and Intranet-in-a-Box solutions, it is important to understand where Microsoft have come from and are going with the SharePoint platform and where their efforts are focused.

Over the past decade, SharePoint has been extensively used for Enterprise Document and Records Management (EDRM) and is probably the de-facto collaboration platform for businesses through the world. The corporate Intranet/Extranet is a logical expansion of these environments. The SharePoint intranet nicely ‘plugs in’ to the EDRM environment, allowing content to be managed and surfaced seamlessly, whilst it’s collaboration features power staff engagement.

Microsoft have recently made significant investment in their cloud-based platforms, specifically the Office 365 environment and SharePoint Online.

The Microsoft team have made some huge leaps with SharePoint since mid-2017, redeveloping the core technical architecture called the SharePoint Framework (SPFx) and re-designing the user experience for SharePoint sites. This shift has effectively given us two SharePoint environments: The Classic and the New Experience. Whilst both are still core SharePoint, at a publishing level the site makeup is totally different.

The older Classic SharePoint is unlikely to be deprecated for a long time, given the numerous solutions still hosted within this environment. However, there will be no further investment made. More disconcerting is some of the ‘forced’ modernisation of the classic space that has the potential to break some legacy solutions.

The New Experience SharePoint is where Microsoft are investing their efforts – and for good reason.  

Classic SharePoint

The Classic SharePoint sites use a system of page layouts based on Master Pages. Master Page templates out-of-the-box (OOTB) are relatively limited and not mobile compatible. Third party vendors soon took advantage of the limited OOTB experience and started to create products that essentially ‘skinned’ SharePoint for a better Graphical User Interface (GUI) and User Experience (UX). The advent of Office 365 and the incredible global take-up has powered the thirst for these solutions.  

‘Intranet-in-a-box’ plugin solutions

During late 2016, early 2017 we saw a hand-full of venders offering Intranet- in-a-box (IIAB) solutions. In 2018 there are over thirty listed in the ClearBox IIAB Report and still more, unlisted. At the same time as these vendors were developing their products and launching them into the marketplace, Microsoft launched their own competitive ‘New Experience’ SharePoint Communication and Team Sites.

IIAB solutions mostly use the Classic SharePoint environment. At one level this is good in the sense of a known platform - although behind the scenes the New Experience lists and libraries experience are used – which can lead to a slightly confusing and disjoined user experience.

Using the Classic environment misses out on the opportunities and investment Microsoft are undertaking to make Office 365 The Intranet of choice with New Experience sites and the exciting integrations they are building upon.

There are developments underway by IIAB vendors to use the New Experience interface. At this point in time (Autumn 2019), these developments are too new to comment on. However, the cost/benefit gap of IIAB solutions against the New Experience SharePoint Online sites is very narrow. IIAB vendors will likely struggle to maintain the leverage they once had.

Where IIAB solutions have historically made significant headway is with mobile compatible pages (responsive master pages), and the extensibility of branding using CSS and JavaScript. Most also offer global navigation and some bespoke webparts. The New Experience sites are continuing to challenge this benefit.  

The New Experience Sites

The New Experience SharePoint Online is being actively invested in, together with the over-arching Office 365 environment and integration of Office Apps, Power Apps etc.  The New Experience sites have significantly narrowed the cost/benefit gap of IIAB solutions against SharePoint online OOTB, and we are now seeing the majority of new Intranet contracts using native SharePoint online.

So why is this the case?

SharePoint Online benefits:

• Mobile compliant (responsive template system used)
• Integrates with SharePoint mobile app (and mobile browser)
• Considerably better editing experience than Classic SharePoint
• Considerably better end user experience than Classic SharePoint
• Rapid and easy to deploy sites
• More contemporary look and feel
• Evergreen environment (actively updated and developing)
• Integration with O365 apps (Teams, Exchange, Yammer, Power Apps, Flow, Forms…)
• Hub-Site adoption – flat IA (very flexible), search reach, branding pushed to associated sites, global navigation…
• News aggregator (picker) from all associated sites
• Email newsletter (article picker), integration with Exchange
• Yammer integration
• Collaboration tools (Group connected sites)
• Efficiency gains (CDN, independent sites)

Ultimately, the New Experience sites are very good. At the time of writing, they lack some of the features that were available under the old system, such as the Script Editor web part and the ability to inject code directly onto a page. But this is mostly due to the more robust environment Microsoft are trying to establish where bespoke developments do not break in the evergreen cloud environment. The new system of deploying web parts and site tailoring is via SPFx - designed to ensure O365 updates don’t break these deployments.

The investment Microsoft are clearly making with Office 365, SharePoint and the various apps such as Teams, Power Apps and Power Automate, are mostly exclusively tied into the New Experience / Modern world of SharePoint online.

If you are using the Classic Experience for your intranet, you are at risk of missing out from the investment and integrations Microsoft are investing in. Furthermore, we have to consider the longevity of IIAB Solutions – can the technology vendors compete or even keep up with the changes Microsoft roll-out?

As expressed earlier, my major concern is for the ‘forced’ modernisation within the classic environment where shared technologies within SharePoint are being updated for the modern experience and impacting on the classic experience. This has the potential to break some legacy solutions and IIAB deployments. Some updates have already caused such issues.