With employees working from different locations, spread across different time zones, and carrying out tasks using different devices, the enterprise workforce is getting increasingly distributed. In such situations, investing in a modern and robust enterprise collaboration software is a great way to improve communication and collaboration while empowering employees to work together as a team and achieve shared goals with ease. 

Today’s modern office collaboration and communication tools have become instrumental in transforming traditional work practices and boosting employee productivity like never before. A good collaboration software provides much-needed structure, allowing team members to clearly understand their roles and responsibilities as well as those of the team and always focus on what’s important. 

Atlassian Confluence and Microsoft SharePoint are two such tools that are paving the way for a collaborative and efficient work environment. Both these tools offer a range of capabilities that allow employees to connect with peers in real-time and work on projects with higher efficiency and transparency. They are enabling a shift in corporate culture, changing how employees communicate in professional environments through social collaboration. 

Introduction to Confluence 

When it comes to enterprise collaboration software, Atlassian Confluence is a much sought-after tool. With capabilities spanning knowledge management, project collaboration, and employee engagement, Confluence enables the workforce to work in a collaborative and organized manner. 

By creating a single source of truth, the tool allows 

• Members to collaborate on tasks using features such as like and in-line comment, share content, find answers to questions, fuel participation, and move forward – quickly and efficiently. 

• Users can choose from thousands of connectors, extensions, and plugins and leverage features and capabilities that are not native to Confluence. 

• Easy flow of information, breaking down team siloes, and providing end-to-end visibility and transparency into team activities.  

• Employees to work together on tasks, contribute to team goals, and share and receive feedback on a continuous basis.  

If you are looking to organize content, build an intranet, or create personal documentation, Confluence can enable effective collaboration and knowledge sharing. The tool, however, has some restrictions such as excessive access controls and the risk of shared passwords that need to be accounted for – to maximize value from Confluence. 

Introduction to SharePoint 

If there is one software that has been synonymous with enterprise collaboration since the very beginning, it is Microsoft SharePoint. With an easy-to-use UI and capabilities that are modern and innovative, the tool’s dynamic and productive team sites pave the way for seamless sharing of data while streamlining work within and outside the organization. 

SharePoint enables employees to:

• Share and manage content, find information, and drive collaboration across the enterprise. 

• Build and maintain a centralized repository of common resources and drive operational efficiency. 

• Harness shared knowledge, unearth insights, and take informed decisions – with far greater accuracy and velocity.

If you are looking to collaborate on content, communicate with team members in real-time, and efficiently manage documents across their lifecycle, SharePoint makes sharing and collaboration simple and easy. However, the extensive functionality makes it difficult for organizations to customize the tool according to their specific requirements.  

Using Confluence with SharePoint 

Given the fact that both Confluence and SharePoint offer a range of collaboration capabilities, using the tools together can take enterprise collaboration to a whole new level. 

A variety of connectors are available in the market today that allow organizations to make the most of the benefits of both the tools. By integrating the tools, team members can: 

• Share, preview, and publish SharePoint documents within Confluence – without having to switch between the two systems. 

• Embed Confluence pages and blog posts in SharePoint and ensure content is always up to date on both platforms.  

• Leverage document management capabilities of SharePoint in Confluence and instantly share and edit SharePoint documents within Confluence. 

• Easily access document libraries, import existing documents to Confluence wiki pages, and upload files to SharePoint from within Confluence. 

Conclusion

Many organizations that look to implement a collaboration software often hit a roadblock when they equate Confluence and SharePoint. Considering the rich capabilities that both tools offer, choosing one over another is a tough business decision. However, that needn’t be the case. By associating with the right Atlassian Confluence partner, you can leverage a slew of connectors available in the market today and make the best of both worlds. 

Use Confluence when you want to leverage its agile, dynamic capabilities and use SharePoint to build complex workflow and meet your records management needs. The right connectors make it extremely easy for you to search, embed, and link both the tools and leverage their capabilities as though they were a single unified system.