What is Lightspeed365 and what value can it deliver?

Content Formula continues to deliver a range of different services in the intranet, SharePoint, Microsoft 365 and digital workplace space. We deliver consulting, discovery, implementation, development, change management, training and more. But we also manage two highly versatile products; Xoralia is our dedicated policy management solution based on SharePoint, while Lightspeed365 intranet is our package of web parts that extends the power of SharePoint Online to deliver a world-class intranet, but at less than the price of a leading in-a-box product. We’re excited to announce we now have a new dedicated website for Lightspeed365.

In this post we’re going to explore what Lightspeed365 intranet is. We cover the value it delivers, what some of the specific capabilities are, and how much it costs. If you want to explore Lightspeed365 in more depth, you can look at the new website, get in touch for a chat or arrange a demo.

What is Lightspeed365 intranet?

SharePoint Online has a number of “web parts” or components that can be used to build sites and pages for your intranet. These are a little like “Lego” bricks; for example, there are dedicated web parts to display news, documents, list of contacts, a feed from Viva Engage and so on. However, the web parts that come out of the box with SharePoint Online rarely meet all the needs that intranet teams and internal communicators want to deliver in attractive, on-brand and intuitive intranet that improved productivity. There are gaps in functionality and limits to the ability to customise SharePoint to reflect your brand.

This is where Lightspeed365 intranet comes in. It provides organisations with a package of additional web parts that fill the major gaps in SharePoint so you have all the major features you need to deliver an excellent intranet, without having to resort to either customisation or buying a more comprehensive (and expensive) in-a-box intranet product. It also extends the design options in SharePoint that many teams find limiting, allowing your intranet to better reflect your brand and improve your user experience. Lightspeed365 also comes in different packages to suit different needs and budgets.

What value does Lightspeed365 intranet deliver?

Lightspeed365 delivers real value across a number of different fronts.

Reduced costs

Lightspeed365 intranet provides a way to deliver a fully featured SharePoint intranet with a wide range of capabilities, in a significantly cheaper way than having to buy a full in-a-box product or resorting to creating custom web parts. When you use Lightspeed365 you’re not paying for the same functionality twice, which can be the case with in-a-box products.

Speed-to-market

We called our product Lightspeed365 for a reason – it significantly reduces the time taken to build and launch your intranet as everything you need is already included and super easy to deploy, again with no need for any customisation.

A better user experience

Lightspeed365 intranet contributes to an improved user experience with enhanced personalisation, for example in how essential knowledge-related content is presented to users.

Plugs the gaps in SharePoint

Lightspeed365 delivers some essential functionality that is missing from SharePoint Online, such as personalised App Launcher web part that allows users to configure their own links to key tools and apps. We’ve designed Lightspeed365 with close attention to the SharePoint roadmap so there is no duplication of functionality.

Extends design options

Lighstpeed365 intranet extend the branding and design options within SharePoint, including the ability to add a custom font, for example.

Seamless integration

Lightspeed365 integrates seamlessly with your SharePoint intranet and all data is kept within your Microsoft 365 tenant, making it a popular option with IT teams.

Loved by internal comms

SharePoint Online alone doesn’t always tick all the boxes for internal communicators, but Lightspeed365 adds specific features, for example to support better display of news.

Continuous improvement

Content Formula continues to invest in Lightspeed365  introducing new web parts and improving existing ones; we also listen to customers who heavily influence our roadmap.

Builds on SharePoint rather than replacing it

Some SharePoint in-a-box intranet products have a different design and UI which means you can’t actually deploy SharePoint and their web parts on the same page: Lightspeed365 just adds to the range of web parts available, meaning you can use the existing SharePoint web parts and Lightspeed365 web parts together for the best possible combination.

Minimises disruption

Lightspeed365 web parts are ready-to-go and easy to implement, minimising disruption for users, but also for content contributors who just add Lightspeed365 web parts to their pages using the same existing SharePoint editing interface, so there is little to no additional training required.