Front-End Flexibility with SharePoint's Robust Document Storage Capabilities
Hey there, tech enthusiasts and SharePoint aficionados! Let's talk about SharePoint Embedded, Microsoft's latest brainchild in the realm of cloud-based document management. It introduces a headless, API-driven platform for integrating SharePoint's document management capabilities into custom applications. So, let’s dive in and break it down!
The Headless Horseman of SharePoint
It's “headless,” but in a cool way, separating the back end (where the data chills) from the front end (where users mingle). This gives developers the capability to create a completely customized front end to interact with all things Graph in the background. By leveraging this headless approach, SharePoint Embedded allows for seamless integration of SharePoint's robust features into diverse custom applications, ensuring that the user experience is both unique and tailored to specific business needs.
A Layered Approach
Think about how you use channels in your Teams and the Files tab to interact with the documents within that team. These files are stored in SharePoint, but a lot of the time, users in an organization will never actually go into SharePoint and interact with the SP interface to visit those documents. Teams essentially is a layer on top of SharePoint data, and this just takes it one step further. If the out-of-the-box interface options for SharePoint and Teams don't meet your organization's document management needs, developing a custom interface with SharePoint Embedded may just fill those gaps for you! SharePoint Embedded offers front-end flexibility with SharePoint's robust document storage capabilities, enabling a more tailored opportunity.
Rethinking Storage with the Container System
SharePoint Embedded introduces a container system, transforming how document storage is managed. These Containers, unique to SharePoint Embedded, are positioned within a Microsoft 365 Tenant, and are exclusively accessed via API calls. This design ensures that documents and files are effectively segregated within the user's Microsoft 365 environment, enhancing both data security and compliance. It's an innovative approach that provides developers with a scalable and flexible way to integrate SharePoint's document management capabilities into custom applications, streamlining and securing content management at scale.
Credit: Megan Rexazin Conde, https://pixabay.com/users/megan_rexazin_conde-6742250/, via Pixabay
A Pricing Overview
The pricing model for SharePoint Embedded is straightforward and consumption based. It operates on a pay-as-you-go basis, with costs incurred based on the amount of storage used and the number of API calls made. This model allows for scalability and flexibility, aligning costs with usage and ensuring that you only pay for what you use. For a detailed breakdown of the pricing structure and examples of billing scenarios, refer to the official Microsoft documentation.
In Summary
SharePoint Embedded is like the Swiss Army knife for document management, and you as the organization get to customize what the knife looks like, and which tools go into it. It's a game-changer for businesses wanting to streamline their document handling in very specific ways that SharePoint may not have a toolset for. In any case, you will have to bring in an experienced SharePoint developer to build out the functionality, and user interface. By leveraging SharePoint Embedded, businesses can tailor their document management systems to fit their unique operational needs, enhancing both efficiency and user experience. It opens a world of possibilities, allowing organizations to innovate beyond the standard offerings of SharePoint, ensuring that their document management strategy aligns perfectly with their specific business processes and goals.