Here's the thing about SharePoint: it's fantastic at managing documents, but asking it to power your entire intranet is like using a Formula One engine to drive to the grocery store. Technically possible, but you're missing the point entirely.
Most organisations find themselves trapped in this exact scenario. They've got SharePoint handling their document libraries beautifully, but their employees are still bouncing between multiple platforms just to get through their day.
The irony? The solution isn't necessarily choosing between SharePoint vs an intranet. It can be to connect them!
Enter what is a SharePoint connector integration: the technology that lets you keep SharePoint doing what it does best while plugging it into a purpose built intranet platform. Think of it as creating a unified command centre where your team can access SharePoint documents alongside social features, personalised dashboards, and mobile functionality, all from one place.
The benefits of Sharepoint Connector technology are immediate and obvious. When you build an intranet with SharePoint integration, you're not just solving a technical problem. You're eliminating the daily frustration of system hopping and creating a digital workplace that actually makes sense.
Here's how this integration is quietly changing the way organisations think about their digital workplace.
What Is a SharePoint Connector?
A SharePoint Connector is essentially a digital bridge that links your SharePoint document libraries with your intranet platform. Think of it as a translator that allows two different systems to have a conversation and share information seamlessly.
At its core, it's a piece of software that uses SharePoint's REST API and Microsoft Graph API to create a live connection between your existing SharePoint environment and a purpose built intranet solution. Rather than forcing employees to jump between different platforms, the connector brings SharePoint's document management capabilities directly into their daily intranet experience.
What makes this particularly clever is that you're not replacing SharePoint or duplicating your documents. Instead, you're creating a unified interface where users can search, access, download, and interact with SharePoint files without ever leaving their intranet. Your documents stay exactly where they are in SharePoint, but they become part of a more user friendly digital workplace, helping with digital employee engagement.
The connector handles all the technical complexity behind the scenes, including authentication, permissions, and data synchronisation. From your team's perspective, it simply looks like everything lives in one place.
Key Capabilities:
- Document Access: Browse and search SharePoint libraries directly from your intranet
- Real time Search: Find documents across multiple SharePoint sites from a single search box
- Permission Respect: Maintains all existing SharePoint security and access controls
- Download Integration: Direct download capabilities without redirecting to SharePoint
- Mobile Compatibility: Access SharePoint documents through your intranet's mobile experience
How Does a SharePoint Connector Work?
The magic happens through a series of behind-the-scenes connections that create a seamless user experience. Here's how the process unfolds:
The Technical Journey
SharePoint Connector Integration Process
| Step |
What Happens |
User Experience |
| 1. Authentication Setup |
Your IT team registers an application in Azure Active Directory and configures API permissions |
Users log in once to their intranet and automatically have access to SharePoint documents |
| 2. API Connection |
The connector establishes secure connections to SharePoint via Microsoft Graph API and SharePoint REST services |
Documents appear as if they're native to the intranet platform |
| 3. Document Mapping |
The system discovers and maps your SharePoint sites, libraries, and folder structures |
Users can navigate familiar folder hierarchies within the intranet |
| 4. Permission Sync |
SharePoint's existing security model is respected and maintained |
Only authorised users see the documents they're supposed to access |
| 5. Real time Updates |
Changes in SharePoint are reflected immediately in the intranet interface |
Users always see the latest versions and newest documents |
What This Looks Like in Practice
When a user searches for a document in your intranet, the connector simultaneously queries both your intranet content and SharePoint libraries. Results appear as unified search results, with SharePoint documents clearly identified but seamlessly integrated.
Need to access a specific SharePoint site? Users can browse document libraries directly within the intranet interface, complete with familiar folder navigation, file previews, and download options. The connector handles all the complex API calls, authentication tokens, and permission checks automatically.
The most impressive part is how it handles different types of content. Whether you're dealing with Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, or PDFs stored in SharePoint, they all become searchable and accessible through your intranet's unified interface.
Behind the Scenes Technology:
- Microsoft Graph API: Provides unified access to Microsoft 365 data and intelligence
- SharePoint REST Services: Enables direct interaction with SharePoint lists and libraries
- OAuth Authentication: Ensures secure, permission based access to documents
- Real time Synchronisation: Keeps intranet and SharePoint data current without manual updates
I would recommend Elcom to other people. The implementation team were amazing. Central is bringing everything together for our 12,000 employees, with the major benefit being the ability to deliver content and communication to the entire organisation from one location.
Melissa Adeson
Learning & Development Manager
Spotlight Group
Read the case study
Why SharePoint Connector Matters to the Modern Workplace
Picture Sarah from marketing. It's 3pm on a Tuesday, and she's just been asked to pull together a client presentation for tomorrow morning. She needs the latest brand guidelines, last quarter's performance data, and that compliance document from legal that everyone keeps referencing but no one can seem to find.
Without a connector, Sarah's afternoon looks like this: log into SharePoint, hunt through three different site collections, switch back to the intranet for company updates, check email for document versions, repeat the process when she can't find what she needs. Twenty frustrating minutes later, she's finally got her files together but she's already mentally exhausted.
With a SharePoint connector?
Sarah types "brand guidelines Q4 compliance" into one search box and gets everything she needs in under two minutes. That's the difference between technology that works for you versus technology that works against you.
The advantages of SharePoint connector technology aren't just about convenience. They're about fundamentally changing how work gets done.
What This Actually Means for Your Team
Search That Actually Works
Your employees won't need to become archaeologists to find documents. One search box, comprehensive results, job done. No more "does anyone know where we keep the..." conversations in team meetings.
Mobile Workers Who Can Actually Work
SharePoint on mobile? Let's be honest, it's not great. But when SharePoint documents flow through your intranet platform, suddenly your mobile workforce has access to everything they need in an interface that doesn't make them want to throw their phone across the room.
Time That Actually Gets Spent on Work
According to a McKinsey report, employees spend 1.8 hours every day or 9.3 hours per week, on average searching and gathering information. Even small improvements add up fast. Multiply two minutes saved per search across your entire organisation, and you're looking at hours of productivity returned to where it belongs.
Systems People Actually Use
Here's the uncomfortable truth: half your team probably avoids using SharePoint because it's clunky. A connector fixes this by putting SharePoint's power behind an interface people genuinely want to use. Better adoption, better outcomes.
The Bigger Picture
Remember when email revolutionised workplace communication? Not because it was technically impressive, but because it made communication effortless. SharePoint connectors do the same thing for information access.
They eliminate the mental overhead of remembering which system contains what. They end the frustration of conducting multiple searches across different platforms. Most importantly, they create a digital workplace that feels unified and intelligent.
Your project manager searching for budget approvals finds the original SharePoint document, recent email updates, and intranet announcements all in one place. Your sales team accessing product specifications gets current documents without wondering if they're looking at the latest version.
This isn't just about making technology work better. It's about removing the friction that prevents your team from doing their best work. And in a competitive market, that friction might be costing you more than you think.
Elcom Intranet with SharePoint Integration
Here's where theory meets reality. While SharePoint connectors sound brilliant in principle, most organisations hit a wall when it comes to implementation. The technical complexity, the Azure configurations, the API permissions, the ongoing maintenance – it's enough to make even experienced IT teams break out in a cold sweat.
Elcom's SharePoint Connector takes a different approach entirely. Rather than expecting your team to become SharePoint integration experts, it handles all the technical complexity behind the scenes while delivering the seamless experience your employees actually want.
How It Actually Works in Practice
The beauty of Elcom's solution lies in its simplicity. You don't need to register applications in Azure Active Directory or configure complex API permissions manually. The platform handles the authentication setup, establishes secure connections to SharePoint via Microsoft Graph API, and maps your document libraries automatically.
What took weeks of technical configuration in traditional approaches happens in hours with Elcom's SharePoint Connector. Your IT team focuses on selecting which SharePoint sites to integrate rather than wrestling with OAuth tokens and REST service endpoints.
Key Capabilities Available Out of the Box:
Document List Integration
Add SharePoint document libraries directly to any intranet page with a simple page element. Users can browse folders, download files, and navigate SharePoint content without ever leaving the intranet interface. The system respects all existing SharePoint permissions, so users only see what they're authorised to access.
Unified Search Experience
The search functionality combines Elcom intranet content with SharePoint documents in a single results page. Users can toggle between intranet results and SharePoint results, or view comprehensive results that span both systems. Real-time search suggestions appear as users type, making document discovery fast and intuitive.
Mobile-Optimised Access
SharePoint's mobile experience gets a complete makeover when accessed through Elcom's platform. Documents become easily browsable on mobile devices, with download and sharing capabilities that actually work properly on smartphones and tablets.
Use Case: Marketing Team Transformation
Consider how this plays out for a marketing team at a mid-sized Australian consulting firm.
Previously, their content creation process looked like this: Finding everything for a new campaign required checking five different locations, logging into SharePoint multiple times, and hoping they had the right permissions for each site.
After Elcom SharePoint Integration: The marketing manager creates a dedicated campaign workspace in the intranet. Using Elcom's SharePoint Connector, she adds document list elements that pull in:
- Creative brief templates from the main marketing SharePoint site
- Brand assets from the design team's SharePoint library
- Historical campaign data from the analytics SharePoint repository
Now team members access everything from one location. When they search for "Q4 campaign assets," they get results spanning intranet discussions, SharePoint documents, and historical campaign files – all ranked by relevance and presented in a unified interface.
Why This Approach Works
Unlike solutions that require deep SharePoint expertise, Elcom's connector is designed for organisations that want results without complexity. The platform includes unlimited user licensing, so every employee – including contractors, part-time staff, and those without Microsoft 365 accounts – can access integrated SharePoint content through the intranet.
The technical setup is handled by Elcom's implementation team, while ongoing maintenance and updates happen automatically. Your IT team gets a powerful integration without becoming SharePoint specialists, and your employees get the unified digital workplace they've been asking for.
Make the Most of SharePoint with Elcom
SharePoint connector integration isn't just about connecting systems: it's about connecting your people to the information they need to do their best work. When employees can find documents in seconds instead of minutes, when mobile workers get the same seamless experience as desk-based staff, and when IT teams can deliver powerful integrations without technical complexity, everyone wins.
The benefits of SharePoint connector technology become clear the moment your team stops wasting time hunting for information and starts focusing on meaningful work. An intranet software solution with SharePoint integration transforms your digital workplace from a collection of disconnected tools into a unified, intelligent hub where everything just works.
Think about it: your SharePoint investment is already there, storing thousands of documents and years of institutional knowledge. The question isn't whether you should leverage that investment. It's how quickly you can make it accessible to everyone who needs it. Every day you delay is another day of productivity lost to system switching, failed searches, and frustrated employees.
Elcom has spent over 20 years perfecting intranet solutions for Australian organisations. We understand that you want SharePoint's document management power without the frustration. Our SharePoint Connector delivers exactly that: all the benefits of integration with none of the technical headaches.
Ready to see how SharePoint integration should work?
Book a demo and discover why hundreds of organisations trust Elcom to bridge the gap between their SharePoint investment and their employee experience.
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