In today’s fast–moving business world, a seamless digital employee experience isn’t just a ‘nice to have’ – it’s business critical. Yet, many organisations are still stuck with outdated SharePoint intranets that quietly kill productivity and frustrate employees. Here’s the truth: failing to optimise your SharePoint intranet and seamlessly integrate the rest of the Microsoft 365 suite could cost your business millions annually.
A clunky, outdated SharePoint intranet does more than just slow things down, it erodes culture. It isolates people, it turns what should be a connected, collaborative workforce into siloed teams scrambling for answers in a maze of outdated content, often frustrated further alongside other workplace tools. An outdated system guarantees wasted time. Employees spend hours chasing information and duplicating effort. It’s a recipe for disengagement – and it’s unavoidable.
Modern digital employee experiences on Microsoft 365 go far beyond document storage or top-down comms. They act as the beating heart of your digital workplace; centralising knowledge, streamlining workflows, and helping real human connection thrive, wherever your people are working from.
The most immediate and palpable cost of not providing employees with an intuitive digital experience is financial. An outdated SharePoint intranet lacks the functionality and user-friendly design required to support the dynamic needs of today’s workforce. Upgrading to make use of Viva Connections and Viva Engage, improving findability of content and reflecting your brand is essential.
Employees spend more time navigating complex and fragmented systems, looking for information and trying to connect with colleagues. This lost time translates into a significant financial loss for any organisation still trying to make an outdated SharePoint intranet work.
According to McKinsey & Company, the average employee spends 1.8 hours a day searching for information — much of it across tools such as email, shared folders and the intranet. That’s 9 hours every single week of wasted productivity due to poor, fragmented internal communications and knowledge management. In a company of 1,000 people, that adds up to £8.14 million in lost productivity per year.
When people struggle with clunky systems, they disengage. Morale drops and so do performance and productivity. But, when your digital tools are beautifully designed and intuitive, everything changes. Communication flows, collaboration improves, and people feel more connected to the business and to each other. In fact, in 2023 Gallup reported that highly engaged employees boost productivity by 18% and profitability by 23%, highlighting the significant financial benefits of a modern, optimised SharePoint intranet, that makes use of social capabilities such as Viva Engage.
Your digital workplace is a reflection of your workplace culture. If it feels difficult to use and outdated, it can significantly affect employee morale and productivity. The frustration of navigating inefficient systems and fragmented tools exacerbates disengagement and poor performance. Where it is unlikely that an employee will resign solely because of an unloved digital workplace, it is the kind of irritation that makes day-to-day work frustrating and can add to the appeal of a new employer with their digital workplace on point, where an employee’s perception is that they can maintain enthusiasm and efficiency in everyday tasks.
Today’s workforce expects consumer-grade tech in the workplace. A clunky SharePoint intranet not only frustrates employees, but it also signals that the company is behind the curve. A slick, intuitive digital employee experience on Microsoft 365 tells candidates that you care and you invest in your people. It’s a powerful edge in a competitive job market and a critical factor in retention. It shows an organisation values its people and is willing to invest in the tools they need to thrive.
What happens inside your company shows up on the outside too. When employees are bogged down by poor systems, the ripple effect reaches your customers. They experience the downstream impact through slow service, inconsistent messaging, and missed opportunities – all of which are symptoms of a broken internal digital workplace. When teams are unable to collaborate seamlessly or stay aligned, it creates friction at every touchpoint. Customer-facing employees spend time troubleshooting internal hurdles rather than delivering value to customers.
Fix the internal and the external thrives. An optimised SharePoint intranet, integrated with the entire Microsoft 365 suite, empowers employees with the right tools to work efficiently and confidently, leading to faster response times, better decision making and an optimised customer experience.
Creating a compelling business case for a new digital employee experience starts with understanding the real, measurable cost of doing nothing, which we have just uncovered.
However, many organisations still haven’t made the switch. Why?
Often, internal comms professionals underpin their business case by focusing on poor engagement or rising frustration with the current intranet, but they overlook the critical step of positioning a revamp in terms that resonate with senior executives.
The reality is that C-Suite leaders are focused on measurable outcomes. If you are not framing the investment in an optimised SharePoint intranet as a strategic lever that supports business strategy and goals, you’re simply not speaking their language.
Approval for investment is more likely to follow the C-Suite understanding the direct connection between a good quality digital workplace and business performance. In our experience, this trumps leading with the features that the business doesn’t have today.
If a business objective is to drive the productive output of the business, the optimised digital workplace can:
If a business objective is to deliver a better customer experience, the optimised digital workplace can:
The point is to talk to the C-Suite about an optimised digital workplace as solving their challenges, in this example, of driving productive output and a better customer experience, rather than delivering an intuitive navigation.
Investing in a modern digital workplace on the Microsoft 365 platform avoids loss – but more importantly, it drives serious value to your organisation by improving findability, delivering increased employee engagement, attracting and retaining talent and delivering a better customer experience.
We have helped our forward-thinking clients make the business case for investment in a new digital employee experience. Ready to get C-suite buy-in? Our Microsoft MVPs are ready to support your journey.
