Microsoft’s AI-Infused SharePoint Premium Solution Redefines Content Management
Key Takeaways:
- SharePoint Premium introduces new content experiences, such as an integrated file viewer supporting 400+ file types, and a Business Documents app in Teams.
- The Data Access Governance features filter overshared files, Site Access Reviews identify at-risk content, and a Restricted Access Control policy prevents unauthorized access.
- Microsoft to add new Pay-as-You-Go features such as automatic translation in 2024.
Microsoft has announced SharePoint Premium, a new AI-powered solution designed to transform content management for Microsoft 365 customers. SharePoint Premium is currently in public preview and will become generally available for commercial customers in early 2024.
“SharePoint Premium brings AI, automation, and added security to your content experiences, processing, and governance. With SharePoint Premium we’ll be transitioning the services already released as part of Syntex, including SharePoint Advanced Management, to join the growing family of SharePoint services along with brand new content experiences.” Microsoft explained.
Content experiences
Microsoft has introduced new content experiences to make it easier for employees to discover, interact, and collaborate on hundreds of file types. SharePoint Premium has an integrated file viewer that supports over 400 file types with inking capabilities. There is also a new Business Documents app in Microsoft Teams that alerts customers about contracts that are expiring soon or require attention.
The new SharePoint Premium service comes with a document portal that allows organizations to share content with external parties. Other capabilities include a new AI-driven rules deviation engine to track contract changes and an AI-driven clause analyzer to detect high-risk contracts automatically.
Microsoft plans to introduce a new SharePoint eSignature capability to help customers digitize the document approval workflows. The feature will become generally available for US-based customers in Q1 2024. The SharePoint eSignature capability will also add third-party integrations with Adobe and DocuSign.
Data Access Governance
Microsoft is introducing new Data Access Governance features to its SharePoint Premium service. These updates allow organizations to filter potentially overshared files based on various factors, such as sharing policy, sensitivity labels, Teams-connected sites, and privacy. The Site Access Reviews capability enables IT admins to check with content owners for potentially at-risk content, while the Restricted Access Control policy prevents unauthorized access.
Additionally, AI-driven policy recommendations make it easier for organizations to compare policies used across sites. The Content Event Insights make it easier to track details about the content lifecycle.
Microsoft also plans to add new Copilot integration to the SharePoint Admin Center. The new capability will allow customers to monitor sites for various issues, including missing classification, oversharing, and inactivity.
Pay-as-You-Go features
Later this year, SharePoint Premium is getting new pay-as-you-go services, including automatic translation of files from Stream videos. Microsoft says that autofill columns, PII detection, Multilabel classifier, Redaction, and other capabilities will be available in the first half of 2024.
SharePoint Premium Licensing
Microsoft notes that SharePoint Premium features, such as content assembly, document processing, eSignature, and document processing, are already available under the Syntex brand for organizations. Moreover, the governance capabilities are available under the SharePoint Advanced Management (SAM) brand.
Microsoft will offer two licensing models for SharePoint Premium. The content processing services will be available on a pay-as-you-go basis for most Microsoft 365 subscribers. Moreover, new capabilities like Documents Hub, Business Documents Hub, SAM, and the enhanced file viewer will become generally available as an add-on in 2024.