Labs | Content Formula

What help do you need with SharePoint?

I want help managing my SharePoint site, creating content and engaging the community

We often come across clients who need help with the actual management and running of their site. This is usually because they lack the internal resource and skills to give it the full attention it needs. We provide a comprehensive site management service for websites, extranets and intranets (yes – it’s a myth that intranets can only be run from the inside – we run intranet sites for companies big and small including Johnson & Johnson, Cadbury, NHS and more). The service includes editorial support, content writing, interaction with your user community, technical, design, metrics and more. We assign an editor to the site who is the single point of contact for the client. The editor works to understand the business objectives and then deliver against these by leveraging the various skills and expertise within Content Formula. You can find out more about our site management service here.

I want to better utilise the social media functionality on SharePoint

SharePoint contains loads of social media and collaboration functionality. But just because you switch it on does not mean that suddenly your user community will become a thriving social hub. It takes a lot more than that. At Content Formula we have lots of experience building, launching and managing successful social media tools on websites and intranets. We can provide a tailored service for your social media needs that includes technical, design, consulting, incubation and management.

I want to improve the look and feel of my SharePoint site

Let’s face it, out-of-the-box SharePoint doesn’t look great. However, it’s possible to make your site look nothing like a SharePoint site. In fact, we can apply any design look and feel onto your site whilst still retaining the rich functionality available in SharePoint. Take a look at some of the sites that we’ve designed in the gallery above.

I want help with information architecture so that my SharePoint site is more user friendly

SharePoint is a powerful tool. It’s easy to set up new sites, sections and add out-of-the-box functionality. However, this ease-of-use in itself can create problems. Very quickly a SharePoint site can become confusing and difficult to navigate and use. We offer an information architecture (also known as IA) service whereby we help you take a fresh, user-centric look at your site. Employing proven IA techniques and a structured process, we help define exactly how your SharePoint site should be structured so that it can best serve the end user and deliver against your business objectives. So if you want to build a new site or you want to fix an existing one, we can help you optimize all elements of your site including layout, navigation, labels, search, metadata, content structure and more. Click here to view a presentation on information architecture and how we approach it.

I want to build some custom functionality on my SharePoint site

Although SharePoint contains a lot of out-of-the-box functionality, most site owners find that it doesn’t always provide the right solution to their business problem. We can help you develop custom functionality for just about any business need. What’s more, we take a refreshing approach compared with other SharePoint agencies. Rather than dive in and start developing expensive custom functionality, we start out by understanding if your business need can in fact be addressed using out-of-the-box functionality. This is always much cheaper and requires less involvement from your own IT department. Because we work with SharePoint all the time, we’ve learned how to stretch the out-of-the-box webparts – you’ll be amazed at what you can achieve without needing to "lift the hood". Take a look at some of the custom functionality we’ve built in the gallery on the right.

I want to train my team to better use SharePoint

Because SharePoint contains so much functionality, it’s important that your intranet or web team is properly trained into how to use SharePoint. We offer a training package tailored for your site and your team. We start out by analyzing your site and understanding what functionality you are using and how it all works at the back end. We then pull together a hands-on training course based on your site and your business needs. And if you want more than just a technical training course, we can also provide tips, advice and techniques on how to optimize your content and how to better engage your user community.