Differences Between SharePoint and M-Files

In today’s digital world, every enterprise deals with incredible volumes of data. There are files to be shared, reports to be accessed and processed, as well as contracts to be stored for safekeeping. In order to manage and control all of these files, it is important that the user has an adequate content management tool.

There are a plethora of choices for those looking to pick the right content management platform. Still, the two most sensible options would definitely be Microsoft SharePoint and its counterpart M-Files.

The main reason for this comparison is the fact that these two platforms rate similarly in all the categories in the majority of reviews. They are both easy to use, give great value for their money, have decent customer support, and provide incredible functionality for the user.

The simplest answer when it comes to what is the difference between the two would be to say that M-File focuses on workflow and automation. At the same time, SharePoint puts more emphasis on sharing and accessing documents. When talking about the learning curve, the majority of users deem M-Files as a simpler-to-master of the pair.

While this simple solution may be good enough for some, let’s delve a bit deeper into this comparison in order to help those who are yet to make up their minds.

Advantages of Microsoft SharePoint

This platform is made for flexibility, which allows it to be multi-purpose by its very nature. It is a collaborative digital environment that you can freely use as your company’s alternative to an intranet. Through it, you have a secure way of handling task scheduling, information sharing, contract management, and more. With more and more countries establishing international offices (foreign investments, branches, and subsidiaries), this file-sharing feature becomes even more important.

The main reason why it is so popular in the business world is because of its centralized administration. There’s nothing easier than for an administrator to access operation features like security settings and edit them from a single dashboard. The customizability is also quite high, seeing as how you can use these settings to organize the platform to your own liking. Once you decide to do so, site consolidation of the internet and intranet sites becomes a walk in the park.

Now, the main reason why people use this, to begin with – document management and collaboration. Sun Tzu once said that if the instructions are not clear, it is the fault of the commander, not their subordinates, that they are not followed. With that in mind, you need to establish an official and efficient channel through which these instructions will be delivered. Once you have this out of the way, everything else should fall into place.

Benefits of Using M-Files

Microsoft SharePoint might be seen as a more common platform, but once things actually get started, it will be a lot easier to run M-Files with a smaller IT infrastructure. Implementation, installation, and configuration are fairly simple, as well—the benefits of this implementation range from simple file sharing all the way to file scanning and capture.

For those who are serious about the ramifications of this in the business world, you also need to think about the possibilities involving e-signing and compliances. For businesses and industries which heavily revolve around permission configuration, M-Files really makes things easy for you. Things like mobile and offline access should also be listed as some of the best traits of this platform.

Overall, this intelligent information management system provides you with an unprecedented level of content management. It is excellent for small, medium, and large businesses regardless of their industry. Moreover, the fact that it is on-premise and cloud-based gives you a much higher versatility in resolving these issues.

Also, it’s worth pointing out that just because SharePoint is actually made by Microsoft, this doesn’t actually mean that it is easier to integrate with Microsoft applications than M-Files. This type of flexibility is exactly what might make it perfect for the needs of your business.

Support and Training

When comparing these two platforms, the majority of people are interested in the type of support and training that they can expect from the platform itself. First of all, both of these platforms have a great FAQ, which allows the users to help themselves. The knowledge base offered amongst free resources is quite formidable. Other than this, both platforms offer chat and phone support, as well as email support. One difference is that SharePoint also offers access to live rep (24/7).

While their customer support may be comparable, when it comes to training, M-Files is miles ahead of its counterpart. First of all, M-Files offer in-person and live online training. This already gives great versatility and a more hands-on approach to the people behind the platform. They also host webinars on a regular basis and provide all the necessary training-related documentation to the user. When it comes to instructional videos, they are available for users of both of these platforms.

Customizability and Reliability

As long as you stick to Office 365, your SharePoint should work flawlessly. However, for enterprises that need their CMS (content management system) to be anything out of the ordinary, M-Files is probably a better choice. You see, the M-Files system of each enterprise is worked on with the help of developers in order to include extra features and remove those features that the organization won’t really use.

In terms of reliability, both of these systems show incredible performance. It is unlikely that they will go down, and even if they do, the downtime is minimal. This reliability is essential for an enterprise to keep up with its work and availability to its own clients.

What Are Some of the Cons?

Now, let’s briefly address some of the downsides of these two CMS tools.

M-Files

When it comes to M-Files, its strongest selling point can sometimes also become its weakness. Just think about it. You can set it up in so many different ways, which also means that there are a lot of ways for you to set it up wrong. Instead, you need to have some professional help while setting it up.

The tricky part about the price is that some options are paid add-ons. Once again, this can be looked at from a different perspective and listed as one of the M-File’s greatest strengths. After all, you’re not paying for what you’re not using.

Lastly, M-Files will require that you have a technician on your staff. However, this is only necessary if you intend to upgrade and alter the platform on a regular basis. Moreover, training someone for this task is worth it.

SharePoint

The platform is overall less customizable than its above-discussed alternative.

Those working on different projects will have everything in one place, which sounds great (on paper) but in reality, becomes a huge confusion.

The problem we discussed in the previous sentence also transfers to calendars and scheduling, further adding to the above-mentioned confusion.

In Conclusion

In the end, both SharePoint and M-files are valid options as an intelligent information management system. It all comes down to the specific needs of your enterprise and your willingness to commit to the integration of the system. In other words, it’s hard to talk about which one is superior. This is up to each organization to decide for itself. Nonetheless, in terms of flexibility and customizability, it’s nearly impossible to find an option superior to M-Files.