The Overlooked Asset: How to Boost Team Productivity with SharePoint Training

For many organisations, SharePoint is already part of the business toolkit – used to store files, share information or collaborate on documents. Yet SharePoint is one of the most underutilised platforms in the modern workplace.

For IT managers, operations directors and team leaders who are often trying to do more with less, this can be a costly problem. When SharePoint for business is treated as just a document library rather than a productivity platform, many miss out on significant efficiency gains.

In this blog, we’ll look at why SharePoint training is an overlooked asset that can unlock meaningful improvements in workflow, communication and operational performance. We’ll explore:

• The hidden costs of SharePoint underutilisation
• What effective SharePoint training looks like
• The business benefits of well-trained SharePoint users
• Why SharePoint training is a strategic investment for your business

The hidden costs of SharePoint underutilisation

According to McKinsey, workers were spending up to 19% of their time searching for information pre-pandemic. Add in remote working, dispersed teams and a need to store everything digitally, and it becomes clear that inefficiencies in document management and information finding can create a real productivity drain.

Inefficient use of SharePoint carries real, measurable costs for businesses. Do these sound familiar?

Lost documents

Employees can waste hours searching for or recreating documents that already exist. When folder structures are inconsistent or tagging isn’t used properly, finding key information becomes a time sink. SharePoint’s metadata, filters and advanced search solve this – but only if teams understand how to use them.

Poor version control

Multiple versions of the same file create confusion and increase risk. SharePoint’s co-authoring and version history capabilities eliminate these issues and enable customised views for better data organisation and accessibility, but many users never receive hands-on guidance on how these features work.

Siloed communication

When SharePoint isn’t used correctly, teams revert to old habits – moving to email threads, Teams chats, local file storage or private folders for admin and collaboration. This leads to fragmented information, duplicated effort and limited visibility.

Approvals for documents, holiday requests, onboarding tasks or project updates are often managed through spreadsheets or emails. This slows down operations and increases errors.

SharePoint for business is built to eliminate exactly these problems, but without the right training, teams never reach the level of maturity required to see the real benefits. Corporate-wide SharePoint training reframes daily workflows, enabling teams to use the platform the way it was designed – efficiently, confidently and collaboratively.

What should effective SharePoint training look like?

SharePoint training isn’t just a quick run-through of how to upload a file, build a folder or share a link. Effective SharePoint training goes far deeper and focuses on real business outcomes.

Here’s what high-impact training should include:

Practical business use of metadata

Instead of relying on complex folder structures, employees learn how to use tags, columns and filters to find documents instantly. This transforms document management from chaotic to intuitive.

Co-authoring and real-time collaboration

Teams learn how to work on the same document simultaneously by using track changes and proper version history to safely revert to previous versions. This is essential for improving speed and accuracy in content creation.

Permissions and governance

SharePoint’s permissions model is incredibly powerful, but also underused in many businesses. Training ensures teams can control access to information effectively – not only to maintain security but to prevent accidental sharing and maintain compliance. This is particularly valuable for IT and operations leads who manage sensitive information.

Workflow and process automation

SharePoint for business helps teams to set up relevant approval flows, automate document routing, trigger notifications and standardise key processes from HR to finance. This alone can reduce admin time significantly.

Training helps teams structure pages, lists and libraries in ways that support real business needs – project hubs, HR portals, team dashboards and shared knowledge bases. 

What are the business benefits of well-trained SharePoint users?

Once your team understands its capabilities, the impact on team productivity with SharePoint is immediate and measurable.

Improved collaboration and communication

SharePoint becomes the trusted single source of truth for projects, documents and internal communication. Teams know where to find information, how to collaborate on it and how to track progress.

Streamlined document management

A well designed SharePoint library can cut search times dramatically. With metadata, clear ownership and proper version control, documents aren’t just uploaded and stored – they’re managed. 

Reduced errors and duplicated effort

With centralised data and automated workflows, users make fewer manual mistakes, teams stop recreating work that already exists, and version confusion is a thing of the past. This directly improves operational accuracy and compliance.

Faster onboarding and knowledge transfer

With SharePoint acting as the core knowledge base, new hires can access important business information and policies, templates, training materials and processes. This significantly reduces dependency on other colleagues to gain basic information. 

With the right guidance on how to use the platform as a company-wide intranet, managers start to see how training directly boosts team productivity with SharePoint.

Why SharePoint training is a strategic investment for your business

Targeted training helps teams align SharePoint with their day-to-day workflows. It equips them with the tools to create structured content libraries and spaces for collaboration while maintaining consistent processes. Not only will it drastically reduce time spent on manual workflows and correcting errors, it will improve communication between and across teams. 

Most importantly, effective training turns SharePoint from a passive file repository into an active driver of business performance. For organisations already using Microsoft 365, SharePoint represents significant untapped value. The platform is powerful, flexible and built to deliver the kind of efficiency gains demanded by most operational environments – but without training, these benefits remain out of reach.

Investing in SharePoint training isn’t simply a technical skills upgrade – it’s a strategic business enabler that:

• Improves workflows
• Enhances communication
• Boosts productivity

If your teams are using SharePoint, but not getting the most out of it, the ROI of targeted training can be substantial.

Ready to unlock the full potential of SharePoint for your organisation? 

Explore Go Tech’s SharePoint training offering and empower your teams to work smarter, faster and more collaboratively.