Microsoft 365 Intranet: The Complete Guide for UK Organisations
A Microsoft 365 intranet is not a single product — it is an interconnected set of tools that, when configured and governed correctly, creates a modern digital workplace. SharePoint Online provides the intranet foundation: news hubs, department sites, and document libraries. Microsoft Teams handles real-time collaboration. Viva Connections delivers a personalised employee dashboard within Teams.
What Is a Microsoft 365 Intranet?
For most organisations already on Microsoft 365, there is no additional platform to purchase. SharePoint, Teams, and Viva Connections are included in Business Premium, E3, and E5 plans. The combination replaces legacy intranet platforms — without vendor lock-in, without data leaving your Azure tenant, and without a separate SaaS subscription to manage.
ThinkShare has implemented Microsoft 365 intranets for UK public sector, financial services, and professional services organisations. We design to your brand, govern to your policies, and train your team to maintain the platform independently after go live.
ThinkShare's Intranet Project Process
We follow a four-stage delivery process refined across dozens of UK intranet projects. Discovery begins with a workshop to define your intranet vision, map requirements, and understand how your employees work. Design builds and validates your information architecture, navigation, wireframes, and visual identity before a single SharePoint page is created. Build configures your SharePoint environment, builds all pages to approved designs, and integrates Teams and Viva Connections. Go Live covers final testing, content editor training, an adoption and change management pack, and launch support.
Weekly project management calls and a clear milestone plan keep every project on track. Clients receive two rounds of design revisions as standard, ensuring the finished intranet genuinely reflects their organisation's brand and working culture rather than a generic SharePoint template.
What's Included in Your Microsoft 365 Licence
A well-configured Microsoft 365 intranet draws exclusively on tools already in your subscription. SharePoint Online delivers the core intranet: department pages, news, events, and document management. Viva Connections wraps the intranet experience inside Microsoft Teams, giving employees a single destination for news, tasks, and quick links. SharePoint Syntex and Microsoft Purview add content management and compliance capabilities for organisations with more complex document governance requirements.
For organisations that need a more structured, module-based intranet with governance features built in, ThinkShare also implements out-of-the-box SharePoint intranet solutions that accelerate delivery while remaining entirely within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. These are particularly suitable for mid-sized UK organisations that need a professional-grade intranet without a fully bespoke build.
Governance from Day One
A Microsoft 365 intranet is only as good as its governance. Without clear ownership, content decays quickly and the intranet becomes a repository of outdated information rather than a trusted employee resource. ThinkShare builds governance into every intranet project — defining content owners, publishing workflows, review cycles, and naming conventions before launch.
We deliver an Intranet Guardians framework that assigns responsibility for each section of the intranet to named individuals, with a clear escalation path and a scheduled review calendar. This ensures your intranet remains accurate and actively used long after the launch excitement fades. For organisations that want ongoing operational governance support, Orchestry can automate site provisioning, lifecycle management, and compliance reporting across the tenant.
Client Results
ThinkShare has delivered Microsoft 365 intranets for Scottish Government, British Cycling, OBG Group, Edwin James, Zero Waste Scotland, and many others. Edwin James — an 800-user engineering services company with no existing intranet — received a fully designed SharePoint intranet and Learning Academy, plus Viva Engage for community engagement. OBG Group required five out-of-the-box SharePoint intranets, one per enterprise, connected by a group-wide engagement layer.
Client feedback consistently highlights design quality and post-launch usability. One client told us: "We are extremely pleased with the result — an intranet that supports our colleagues doing their vital work, a site we can easily maintain, and a clear content strategy to last us for years to come." Another noted: "We've received some incredible stats and colleagues have shared their praise for the design, structure, and capability of the intranet. A massive thank you to ThinkShare for everything they've done."