SharePoint vs Confluence: Which One Should You Choose?

For any organization, there is a world of decisions it has to make; some are about business strategies, some are about people and others about the software that will be used by every stakeholder across the board to achieve the business’ goals and keep the wheels turning towards the attainment of growth and success. Unfortunately, some people underestimate the potential of integrating good software into the market — for it can impact performance and myriad other aspects crucial to a transaction. Take document management and collaboration platforms, for example.

The mere category is sufficient to allude to their importance to a business, and this, in turn, makes it critical to pick a solution that is aligned to the company’s requirements and goals, i.e., it can enable all that effortlessly. A choice in this regard often comes down to two names — SharePoint and Confluence — owning to the fact that they are the leading names in the market for document management and collaboration solutions. However, this is where it gets tricky because it can get quite challenging to decide which one of the two solutions mentioned above would better serve the business’ needs. So, we put together a quick guide to help make the decision slightly accessible for you.

1. SharePoint:
A web-based offering, Microsoft SharePoint, is bundled with some Office 365 offerings. However, it remains best suited for document management, i.e., storing, organizing, accessing, and sharing documents. Listed below are the most vital things to note about this product:

• It's UI/UX is highly familiar since it is a Microsoft offering; given how ubiquitous the company’s Office offerings have been, you will feel at home with SharePoint.
• It scores high for interoperability and integration since Microsoft integrates all of its tools, including for CRM, ERP, MS Office, and so much more.
• It is clear to see that SharePoint offers a world of features and functionalities to tend to users’ and companies’ every document management and collaboration-related need. However, this also means it requires extensive training beforehand to understand how to use its many features and adequately utilize its benefits.

2. Confluence:
An Atlassian offering, Confluence has quickly climbed the popularity charts owing to its potent functionalities, ease of use, and more.

• It offers a plethora of document templates, provides ease of uploading, and more.
• It lacks when it comes to interoperability since it can be integrated only with JIRA and HipChat.
• Unlike Microsoft SharePoint, Confluence doesn’t get an integrated chat feature, thus leaving the latter at somewhat of a disadvantage.
• Confluence is significantly easier to find one’s way around since it doesn’t offer as many features as SharePoint.

It is clear to see that even though both of them offer their set of robust features and advantages, the Microsoft platform has a distinct edge over Confluence. It is why more and more businesses opt for SharePoint app development in their pursuit of A-grade management of their business documents and more.