The state of SharePoint in 2025

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SharePoint Online for UK small business: features, plans and getting started

SharePoint online plan 1: core features and benefits

SharePoint Online is a cloud based platform in Microsoft 365 that helps organisations store, share and manage content on any device. Plan 1 is the standard SharePoint Online offering included in most Microsoft 365 business subscriptions. Its key features and benefits include:

• Secure File Storage and Sharing: Every user gets secure cloud storage (typically 1 TB per user in OneDrive/SharePoint) for files. You can access and protect files from anywhere, with the ability to set permissions so only the right people see sensitive documents. This means no more juggling USB drives or email attachments. All your files are centrally stored and backed up in the cloud.
• Team sites and intranet: You can create team sites to share information, content and files throughout your intranet. These sites act as hubs for departments or projects. A place where your team can find the latest documents, announcements and links. It’s an easy way to build an internal website (intranet) for your company without any coding. For example, you might have a Sales team site for sharing client proposals, and an HR site for company policies.
• Document Collaboration: SharePoint makes working together on documents simple. Teams can collaborate on the same file with real time co-authoring and editing using Office online or desktop apps. Everyone always sees the latest version of a document, and version history is automatically kept you can restore earlier drafts if needed. No more email chains of “Final_document_v3_FINAL_final.docx” – everyone works on a single source of truth.
• Lists and Libraries: Beyond documents, SharePoint allows you to create lists (think of them as simple databases or spreadsheets in the cloud) to track information. Microsoft Lists, included with SharePoint, provides an easy interface for things like tracking tasks, assets or contacts. Libraries and lists in SharePoint come with strong versioning and access control features out of the box, so you can manage who can read and edit each item, and keep an audit trail of changes.
• Basic security and compliance: Plan 1 offers enterprise-grade security for your data. All content is encrypted and stored in Microsoft’s UK or EU data centres (depending on your requirements), meeting compliance standards for most SMEs. You can set up basic policie like requiring sign-in verification (multi-factor authentication via your Microsoft 365 settings) to ensure only authorised users access your SharePoint. For most small businesses, these default security features, like data encryption and data backups, are more than sufficient and are handled Microsoft automatically.

Benefits for your business: In summary, SharePoint Online Plan 1 provides a central hub for collaboration. It reduces time wasted searching for files or chasing latest versions. Staff can securely access what they need from office, at home, or on the go. It is also integrated with other Microsoft 365 apps. You can open a document from SharePoint directly in Word or Excel, edit with colleagues simultaneously, and Teams can easily link to these files. All of this is included in the base Microsoft 365 business packages, meaning you likely already have these capabilities at your fingertips.

SharePoint Online Plan 2 – Advanced Capabilities

SharePoint Online Plan 2 includes everything in Plan 1, plus additional capabilities designed for larger organisations or those with advanced requirements. You can think of Plan 2 as the “enterprise” edition of SharePoint Online. It’s not usually part of the standard small business plans unless you have a higher-tier license (such as Microsoft 365 E3/E5). Key Plan 2 enhancements include:

• Advanced Compliance and eDiscovery: Plan 2 provides advanced tools to help with legal compliance and data governance. For example, it enables eDiscovery (electronic discovery), allowing you to search across all SharePoint content and place legal holds on sites or documents. This is crucial for larger companies in legal disputes or audits, as it ensures relevant information can be found and preserved. Plan 2 also supports features like retention policies (to automatically keep or delete content based on rules) which are part of Microsoft Purview compliance solutions. These features go beyond the basics; they’re about meeting strict regulatory requirements (e.g. in finance or law).
• Data Loss Prevention (DLP): Another Plan 2 capability is the ability to set up DLP policies for SharePoint and OneDrive. DLP automatically detects sensitive information (like credit card numbers or National Insurance numbers) stored in sites and can prevent it from being shared inappropriately. For instance, if someone accidentally tries to share a file externally that contains clients’ personal data, a DLP policy could block that sharing and alert an admin.
• Enhanced Search and Insights: While Plan 1 already has a robust search within SharePoint, Plan 2 can integrate with organisation-wide search and compliance centers for deeper content discovery. For example, compliance officers or HR might use the Content Search or eDiscovery center (enabled by Plan 2) to run searches across all users’ SharePoint and OneDrive content in one go, with full indexing of documents for keywords. Plan 2’s features ensure that even as your content grows into millions of files, you can efficiently find information and enforce policies on it. This goes hand-in-hand with the security and compliance tools mentioned above to give a truly enterprise-grade content management experience.
• Storage and Scale: SharePoint Plan 2 supports a higher content volume and larger file sizes. In practice, Microsoft provides extremely generous storage to all SharePoint tenants (whether Plan 1 or 2, you get at least 1 TB plus 10 GB per user of pooled SharePoint storage in your organisation, which is a lot). However, enterprise customers with Plan 2 can request additional storage if needed and often have access to “Unlimited” OneDrive personal storage (Microsoft will increase OneDrive capacity beyond 1 TB for E3/E5 users who reach certain limits). This means Plan 2 can scale to organisations that have tens of thousands of users or very large files/databases stored in SharePoint. Most SMEs will never hit these limits, but it’s good to know that the platform can grow with you.

In short, Plan 2’s additional capabilities are about compliance, security, and scale. They are most relevant if your business has specific regulatory obligations or needs the assurance of advanced data controls. Many UK SMEs find that Plan 1 (the default in business plans) is sufficient for day-to-day collaboration, and you’d only look at Plan 2 features by moving to an enterprise license if required. The good news is that you can start on Plan 1 and always upgrade later if your needs grow.

(For reference, SharePoint Online Plan 2 is included with enterprise Microsoft 365 plans like E3/E5. So if you ever compare licenses, “E3 includes SharePoint Plan 2” whereas Business Premium (for SMB) includes Plan 1. We’ll detail licensing in a later section.)

Optional AI Enhancements: Copilot and SharePoint Premium (Syntex)

Modern Microsoft 365 offers some exciting AI-powered features that can supercharge your SharePoint experience. These come as optional add-ons at extra cost. Two relevant to SharePoint are Microsoft 365 Copilot and SharePoint Premium (formerly Microsoft Syntex).

Microsoft 365 Copilot

This is an AI assistant (think of it like a “chatbot + content generator” integrated into your everyday apps). Copilot can help write, summarise, and extract information across the Microsoft 365 suite. For example, in Word it can draft a document for you based on a prompt, in Teams it can recap a meeting, and in SharePoint/OneDrive it can answer questions about your files. It works within apps such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams to help users be more productive.

How it helps: Imagine you have dozens of project documents stored in SharePoint – you could ask Copilot to generate a summary or create a draft proposal by pulling key points from those files. Or use Business Chat across Outlook/Teams to query your data (“Copilot, find the latest sales deck and highlight our Q1 numbers”). It’s like having an intelligent assistant that knows your business content.

Licensing: Copilot is not included in standard plans; it requires a separate add-on license. At the time of writing, for businesses in the UK, Microsoft 365 Copilot is priced starts at roughly £24 per user, per month (annual commitment, excl. VAT). This is on top of your existing Microsoft 365 subscription. It’s a premium investment. Essentially you’d be paying roughly double your typical Microsoft 365 cost just for the AI features. The idea is that Copilot can save time and provide insights, but you’ll want to trial it and ensure the value justifies the cost.

SharePoint Premium (Microsoft Syntex)

Formerly known simply as Microsoft Syntex, this is a set of AI and automation capabilities specifically for content in SharePoint. While Copilot is about generating content and answers, Syntex is about understanding and organizing your content. With Syntex, you can let AI “read” your documents and automatically classify or tag them. For example, Syntex can look at thousands of scanned invoices in a library and extract key information (like invoice numbers, dates, amounts) into columns, without you having to open each file. It can also apply sensitivity labels or retention labels based on content, generate summaries, and even build Q&A from your documents.

How it helps: If your business deals with lots of forms, contracts, or paperwork, Syntex can drastically cut down manual data entry. Suppose you run a property management firm. You could have Syntex automatically sort and tag incoming tenant forms or maintenance requests, making them easily searchable and kicking off workflows (like alerting the repair team for certain keywords). It’s like giving SharePoint a brain to recognise content types and pull out what’s important.

Licensing: Syntex/SharePoint Premium is optional and billed separately from your regular Microsoft 365 plan. Microsoft offers it on a per-user add-on basis and with a consumption model. In practice, you would purchase Syntex licenses for the users who need to use these AI features. The service can also incur costs based on volume of content processed (pay-as-you-go) in some scenarios​. This means you have flexibility: a small firm might just license a couple of power users to build Syntex models, whereas a larger firm might enable it broadly. The pricing is modular and you can select the services you want to enable, such as autofill columns, content assembly, eSignature, etc. As an SME owner, the main point is that SharePoint Premium is not included by default. You have to consciously opt-in and budget for it if you have a clear use-case that justifies AI-driven content management.

AI Summary

In summary, Copilot and SharePoint Premium are powerful but purely optional. Many small businesses will find enough value and productivity in SharePoint without these. However, it’s good to know they exist. Copilot is like an AI assistant across your work, and SharePoint Premium is like an AI content manager within SharePoint. If you’re striving for cutting-edge efficiency and don’t mind the extra cost, these can be explored. Otherwise, you can confidently use SharePoint’s standard features. (I avoid “hype” here on purpose: these AI tools are exciting, but they require additional investment and maturity. It’s wise to assess carefully whether they solve a real pain-point in your business.)

SharePoint as the Foundation for Loop, Teams, and More

Technically, SharePoint Online underpins many other Microsoft 365 apps. Even if you’re “not using SharePoint,” if you use Microsoft 365, you probably are using SharePoint in the background! Here are a few examples of how SharePoint serves as the foundation:

• Microsoft Teams: When you use Microsoft Teams to collaborate, every team you create is backed by a SharePoint site. The files you share in a Teams channel are stored in your team’s SharePoint document library​ (accessible via the “Files” tab in Teams). For instance, if your marketing team has a channel in Teams called “Campaigns”, any files dropped there go into the “Campaigns” folder on a SharePoint site (which was automatically set up when you made the Team). This means all the SharePoint benefits, version history, co-authoring, sharing permissions, apply to files in Teams. You can even open the SharePoint site behind a Team (Teams has an “Open in SharePoint” option) to see additional features like site pages or lists that the team can use. In short, SharePoint is the content server for Teams, providing a robust back-end for file sharing and wiki pages in Teams.
• Microsoft Loop: Loop is a new app in Microsoft 365 that enables fluid collaboration with portable components and shared workspaces. You might have heard of Loop components, bits of content like lists or paragraphs that you can embed in Teams chats or emails, which stay in sync wherever they are. It’s cutting-edge, and guess what; Loop content is stored in SharePoint and OneDrive behind the scenes. When you create a Loop workspace or page, Microsoft actually creates a special SharePoint storage location for that content (sometimes called “SharePoint Embedded” storage). This means your Loop pages are managed just like other files. They live in your Microsoft 365 tenant, not on some consumer cloud.
• OneDrive for Business: OneDrive is often seen as a personal file storage (each user’s “My Documents” in the cloud). Technically, OneDrive for Business is built on SharePoint’s file platform. Each user’s OneDrive is essentially a SharePoint site (a special kind called “My Site”) that hosts their files. This is why OneDrive and SharePoint have very similar capabilities: sync to your PC, online access, sharing links, etc. The distinction is mainly on purpose (OneDrive is for an individual’s work files; SharePoint is for team/shared files), but under the hood they are the same system. For you, this means a consistent experience. Whether a file is in someone’s OneDrive or in a team SharePoint site, you can apply the same security policies, and users don’t have to learn two completely different tools. It also means any improvements Microsoft makes to the file experience (like new sharing features or sync app improvements) benefit both OneDrive and SharePoint simultaneously.
• Microsoft Lists and other apps: Microsoft Lists is actually an evolution of SharePoint lists. When you use the Lists app (available as part of Microsoft 365), the data is stored in SharePoint. It’s just a prettier interface for the same thing​. So if you build, say, a list of customer leads in the Lists app, you’re effectively using SharePoint (and you could go to the SharePoint site and see that list there too). Similarly, Power Platform tools like Power Automate and Power Apps often use SharePoint as a reliable data source. Many organisations build custom apps on top of SharePoint lists because it’s easy and included with their subscription. Even the new Viva Connections app in Teams (which brings your intranet into Teams) is essentially showing SharePoint pages but surfaced in Teams.
• Integration with Office: All the Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) integrate seamlessly with SharePoint. For example, when you click File → Save As in Word and choose your SharePoint or Teams site, Word knows how to directly save and update the document on SharePoint. Colleagues can click the same document from SharePoint and it opens in their Word (or in the browser), enabling that real-time co-authoring. Outlook can directly share links to SharePoint files rather than attachments, reducing duplicate copies. This tight integration means your employees don’t necessarily need to go to a SharePoint web page every day, they just use Teams, Office, OneDrive, etc., and SharePoint works behind the scenes to make sure the content is managed and accessible.

Overall, SharePoint acts as a foundation for content across Microsoft 365. Microsoft’s strategy has been to use SharePoint Online as the underlying content service for new apps. So by using SharePoint in your business, you’re not only getting intranet sites and document libraries, you’re also set up for success when adopting tools like Teams, Loop, or any future app that needs to store or share content in the Microsoft cloud. It’s all connected, which is a huge practical benefit: no need to duplicate files or worry that a new app’s data is outside your control. It’s likely in SharePoint.

How to Get SharePoint Online – Licensing for UK Businesses

By now, you might be thinking: “This sounds great, but do I have SharePoint? How do I get it if not?” The answer is usually straightforward for businesses: SharePoint Online is included in most Microsoft 365 plans that businesses subscribe to. If you already have Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) for your company email or Office apps, there’s a very high chance you already have SharePoint and can start using it without extra cost.

Let’s break down the common UK business licensing options and what SharePoint capabilities they include:

• Microsoft 365 Business Basic: This is the entry-level cloud suite for businesses (up to 300 users). It includes SharePoint Online (Plan 1) for your intranet and file sharing needs, along with Exchange Online for email (50 GB mailbox per user), Microsoft Teams for meetings/chats, and OneDrive for Business for personal storage. Business Basic gives you the core cloud services but Office applications are web-only, i.e. you use the online versions of Word, Excel, Outlook, etc. (or separately purchased Office apps). It’s a popular choice for small businesses on a budget or those that only need email and cloud storage. From a SharePoint perspective, Business Basic gives you full Plan 1 functionality including team sites, 1TB storage per user, co-authoring, etc. Everything described in the first section is available here.
• Microsoft 365 Business Standard: This plan includes everything in Business Basic plus the full desktop Office applications. In other words, with Business Standard you get SharePoint Plan 1, Exchange email, Teams, OneDrive, and you can install Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc. on your PC or Mac. Most UK SMEs choose Business Standard if they want the familiar Office apps installed on their devices, which many do. For SharePoint, there’s no difference between Basic and Standard. Both include the same SharePoint Online features (Plan 1). The choice is really about the Office apps and other services. (Business Standard is often around £9-£10 user/month in the UK, for reference, whereas Basic is around £4-£5, illustrating the added value of desktop apps and extra features in Standard.)
• Microsoft 365 Business Premium: Don’t let the name confuse you. Business Premium is not about a more powerful SharePoint, but rather about extra security and device management. Business Premium includes everything in Business Standard (so yes, SharePoint Plan 1 is included here as well), and on top of that adds advanced security features like Microsoft Defender for Business (for endpoint protection against malware), Intune for device management (letting you enforce policies on company laptops/mobiles), Azure AD Premium P1 (for improved identity/security management like Conditional Access). In terms of productivity apps, you still get the same email, Teams, OneDrive, Office apps, and SharePoint as Business Standard. The difference is the additional security suite which is valuable if you want to bolster your cybersecurity (for example, remote wiping of lost devices, or enforcing MFA and single sign-on more granularly). Importantly, Business Premium still uses SharePoint Plan. It does not by itself unlock the SharePoint Plan 2 features (like advanced compliance). For advanced SharePoint features, you’d need to look at enterprise licenses. Business Premium is priced higher (~£16 user/month in the UK) because of those security extras, but it’s often worth it for companies that need both productivity and peace of mind on security. For a typical SME (say 50 employees), Business Premium can be a sweet spot: everyone gets the full Office suite and SharePoint, and the company gets enterprise-grade device security. All under one subscription.
• Microsoft 365 E3 (Enterprise plans): For organisations larger than 300 users or with more complex needs, the Enterprise (E) plans come into play. Microsoft 365 E3 is roughly the equivalent of Business Standard plus SharePoint Plan 2 and some additional benefits. It includes everything; email (100 GB mailbox plus unlimited archive), Teams, Office apps, and importantly the full SharePoint Online Plan 2 features. That means E3 users get those eDiscovery, DLP, and enhanced compliance capabilities discussed above. Microsoft 365 also bundles Windows 11 Enterprise and additional security (kind of like Business Premium on steroids, with Plan 2 included). These enterprise plans have no user cap and are priced higher per user (often double or more the Business Standard cost). As an SME owner, you’d typically only consider E3 if you need those compliance features or if you’re approaching the 300-user limit of the Business plans. Otherwise, the Business plans give better value for the typical small/medium business scenario.

To make it easier, here’s a quick comparison table focusing on the business plans and what you get:

Note: Microsoft E3 is really only mentioned for reference. Most small businesses use of the Business plans, as E3 is designed to be an enterprise level plan. There is also Microsoft E5, which adds even more security and analytics but that is beyond the scope of this article.

Charity/Nonprofit and Education Licensing: If your organisation is a UK registered charity or a school/university, Microsoft offers specialised licensing schemes. The good news is that SharePoint Online features are available in those sectors’ plans too, just under different names. For example, charities can get Office 365 E1 (Nonprofit) for free or Business Premium at a discount, which include SharePoint Plan 1 capabilities. Education institutions have Office 365 A1 (Education) for free to students and staff, which is similar to Business Basic (including SharePoint), or A3/A5 which mirror the E3/E5 feature sets (including Plan 2 features for compliance). The details differ (and exploring edu/nonprofit licensing could be an entire post itself), but the key point is the functionality of SharePoint doesn’t change – a SharePoint site in a charity tenant works the same way as in a business tenant. The differences are mainly pricing and eligibility. So if you’re a nonprofit, be sure to look at Microsoft’s charity offers – you might be entitled to the full power of SharePoint at very low or no cost, thanks to donated licenses.

Conclusion – Making the Most of SharePoint Online

SharePoint Online is a powerful foundation for your business’s productivity. Whether you knew it or not, it’s already part of your Microsoft 365 subscription, ready to use for improving collaboration and information sharing in your team. I’ve seen that the basic Plan 1 features can transform how your organisation manages files and knowledge, providing a one-stop platform accessible from anywhere, with robust security and integration into tools you use every day. The more advanced Plan 2 and AI features are there for when you need them, but you don’t have to jump into the deep end straight away.

If you feel like your company has Microsoft 365 but isn’t really using SharePoint properly (a common scenario – you have the license, but everything is still being done via email and local file shares), it’s not too late to start. The best way is to begin with a small project: for example, set up a SharePoint team site for a department and move some shared documents there, or use it to publish your weekly team updates. Encourage your staff to access files through Teams or SharePoint instead of emailing attachments. Little by little, people will get more comfortable and you’ll start seeing the productivity benefits.

Remember, SharePoint is a very broad platform – I’ve touched on intranets, document management, and even custom apps. It can be tailored to your needs. As a busy business owner or manager, you don’t need to know every technical detail; you just need to know what it’s capable of and what’s included in your plan. Hopefully this guide has given you exactly that clarity.

Next steps: Feel free to assess your current SharePoint setup. Do you even have one? Is it structured (with sites for each team or project)? Are you taking advantage of features like version control or Lists? If not, this is a great time to explore them. Microsoft provides plenty of out-of-the-box templates and guidance. Don’t hesitate to reach out for tailored advice or training if you need it. A few hours spent optimising SharePoint for your business can save countless hours in the long run.

SharePoint Online is often called the backbone of Microsoft 365 for a reason. Hopefully, this post will inspire you to take a look at SharePoint with confidence that you can confidently leverage that backbone to strengthen your organisation’s collaboration and knowledge sharing. Your journey with SharePoint is maybe just beginning, but with the right advice and support and setup, it could prove transformative for your small business.