There is a growing trend of organizations embracing new capabilities in “the cloud” to meet their digital workplace and Intranet needs. While some organizations are running their Intranets “on premise,” most are transitioning or have migrated to cloud-based solutions or run them on platforms like Microsoft 365. The question for many companies is not “should our intranet be built with Microsoft 365?” but “how should we integrate or build our Intranets with Microsoft 365”. This is even more true today with the emergence of new modern Intranet capabilities and continued innovation from Microsoft that must be reconciled with enterprise Intranet/Digital Workplace needs. In this session Richard Harbridge will explore: • The benefits new Office 365 features bring to an intranet • Where the issues and challenges will lie • Practical guidance on when and how you may integrate Office 365 with your existing intranet today

1. FALL: Las Vegas, NV Dec 7–9, 2021 SPRING: Las Vegas, NV April 5–7, 2022
M365Conf.com
MICROSOFT 365 COLLABORATION CONFERENCE
INTRANETS & DIGITAL HUBS WITH MICROSOFT 365: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
RICHARD HARBRIDGE
CTO At 2toLead
@RHarbridge & Richard@2toLead.com

2. WE WANT TO BE
BETTER THAN
AVERAGE…
Many orgs are successful, but what about those really successful cases?

3. @RHarbridge #SPSNH
RICHARD
HARBRIDGE
My twitter is @RHarbridge, I’m super friendly & I am proud to work at 2toLead.
CTO & MVP | SPEAKER & AUTHOR | SUPER FRIENDLY

4. What are we hearing
Navigation

5. Human Resources
We have been focusing more and
more on employee engagement.
We need more than policies; we
need to help people adhere.
We need to make it easier for
employees to get support.
Hybrid work and new recruiting
demands require change.

6. Human Resources
Hiring &
Expectations
Employee
Engagement
Employee
Experience

7. Communications
Enabling more effective
communication matters.
We need to improve engagement
in organizational communications.
Need to enable consistency, brand
alignment and better experiences.
We need to highlight, amplify and
personalize communications.

8. Edit & Publish
Enable & Connect
Amplify & Engage
Communications

9. Administrator
It’s difficult or time consuming
to update and maintain.
I can’t safely delegate any
management to end users.
I can’t enforce any guidelines
for how it should be used.
I don’t have a good way to
surface coaching or guidance.

10. Administrator
Enablement
Projects
Automate &
Manage
Pro-active
Optimization Services

11. Intranets & Digital Hubs With Microsoft 365
Maximize Out Of The Box
Leverage Less Landing Pages
Manage Sprawl With Directories
Advance Audience Targeting
Prioritize Personalization
Design For Dynamic (Not Static)
Improve Integration

12. Providing a consistent navigation experience
Suite bar
– Shared across O365 suite
– Logo graphic (organizational)
– Link to SharePoint Home
– Access to Microsoft Start
– Access to App Launcher
– Link to organizational ‘Home’
– Header background color
– Set in O365 Admin Centre
Hub navigation
a.k.a. “Portal Navigation”
– Shared across hub
– Logo graphic (hub)
– Link to hub home
– Background color
– Set in Change the Look
App bar
– Shared across O365 suite
– Global navigation links
– My sites (graph driven)
– My news (graph driven)
– My files (graph driven)
– Can be disabled temporarily
a.k.a. “Global Navigation”
Site navigation
a.k.a. “Current Navigation”
– Shared across site
– Logo graphic (site)
– Link to site home
– Background color/picture
– Minimal, compact, standard,
extended
– Set in Change the Look

13. Providing a consistent navigation experience across site collections
Suite bar
App Launcher Link to Org URL
– Set your org colour
– Set your org logo
– Set your org URL
Link to SharePoint Home
– Set your own
custom tiles

14. Providing a consistent navigation experience across site collections
App bar
Global Navigation Frequent and followed sites Recommended news Recent files

15. Providing a consistent navigation experience across site collections
Global Navigation
My Lists
My Sites My News My Files My Lists

16. Providing a consistent navigation experience across site collections
My Sites
Configuration
– Not configurable, driven by Microsoft Graph and is personalized to user activity
– Cannot be individually disabled
– Contains Frequent and Followed (See More links to dedicated pages)
Purpose
– Goal is to proactively surface sites that may be of interest to the current user.
– Control is limited to the Followed section of sites.

17. Providing a consistent navigation experience across site collections
My Sites
Configuration
– Not configurable, driven by Microsoft Graph and is personalized to user activity
– Cannot be individually disabled
– Contains Frequent and Followed (See More links to dedicated pages)
Purpose
– Goal is to proactively surface sites that may be of interest to the current user.
– Control is limited to the Followed section of sites.

18. Providing a consistent navigation experience across site collections
Configuration
– Not configurable, driven by Microsoft Graph and is personalized to user activity
– Cannot be individually disabled
– Contains Recommended (‘See More’ links to a dedicated page)
Purpose
– Goal is to proactively surface news that may be of interest to the current user.
– Control is limited to the Followed section of sites.
My News

19. Providing a consistent navigation experience across site collections
Configuration
– Not configurable, driven by Microsoft Graph and is personalized to user activity
– Cannot be individually disabled
– Contains Recent
Purpose
– Goal is to proactively surface files that may be of interest to the current user.
My Files

20. Providing a consistent navigation experience across site collections
Coming Soon (October)
– An entry point to Microsoft 365 Lists will appear in the SharePoint app bar after the files
icon. Content in the Microsoft 365 lists panel is driven by Microsoft Graph and is
personalized to user activity.
My Lists
Roadmap ID 85641
My Lists

21. Extensively outlined in our 170+ page Intranet whitepaper at www.M365Intranets.com.

22. Extensively outlined in our 170+ page Intranet whitepaper at www.M365Intranets.com.

23. From Viva Connections dashboards to Viva Topics navigation can be targeted, dynamic and
integrated where users already work (Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Teams Mobile App & More)

24. Communicate and engage

25.  Designing custom cards for your dashboard | Microsoft
 Samples and Templates | Adaptive Cards
 Designer | Adaptive Cards

26. Communicate and engage

27. Communicate and engage

28. Leverage 1st party supported integrations with popular industry leaders.

29. Communicate and engage

30. Public Preview of new components is rolling out
Amplify the reach of your announcements by leveraging the news boost feature which ensures
featured news gets the attention it deserves

31. Public Preview of new components is rolling out
Boosting
Duration &
Indicator

32. From Viva Connections dashboards to Viva Topics navigation can be targeted, dynamic and
integrated where users already work (Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Teams Mobile App & More)

33. From Viva Connections dashboards to Viva Topics navigation can be targeted, dynamic and
integrated where users already work (Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Teams Mobile App & More)

34. From Viva Connections dashboards to Viva Topics navigation can be targeted, dynamic and
integrated where users already work (Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Teams Mobile App & More)

35. From Viva Connections dashboards to Viva Topics navigation can be targeted, dynamic and
integrated where users already work (Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Teams Mobile App & More)

36. From Viva Connections dashboards to Viva Topics navigation can be targeted, dynamic and
integrated where users already work (Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Teams Mobile App & More)

37. From Viva Connections dashboards to Viva Topics navigation can be targeted, dynamic and
integrated where users already work (Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Teams Mobile App & More)

38. From Viva Connections dashboards to Viva Topics navigation can be targeted, dynamic and
integrated where users already work (Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Teams Mobile App & More)

39. From Viva Connections dashboards to Viva Topics navigation can be targeted, dynamic and
integrated where users already work (Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Teams Mobile App & More)

40. From Viva Connections dashboards to Viva Topics navigation can be targeted, dynamic and
integrated where users already work (Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Teams Mobile App & More)

41. From Viva Connections dashboards to Viva Topics navigation can be targeted, dynamic and
integrated where users already work (Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Teams Mobile App & More)

42. From Viva Connections dashboards to Viva Topics navigation can be targeted, dynamic and
integrated where users already work (Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Teams Mobile App & More)

43. From Viva Connections dashboards to Viva Topics navigation can be targeted, dynamic and
integrated where users already work (Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Teams Mobile App & More)

44. From Viva Connections dashboards to Viva Topics navigation can be targeted, dynamic and
integrated where users already work (Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Teams Mobile App & More)

45. From Viva Connections dashboards to Viva Topics navigation can be targeted, dynamic and
integrated where users already work (Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Teams Mobile App & More)

46. From improvements to the editor with context IQ for collaboration to improvements to
how creation journeys happen there is a lot that Microsoft is working on here.

47. From improvements to the editor with context IQ to improvements to how creation
journeys happen there is a lot that Microsoft is working on here.

48. Yammer is evolving and for corporate communications there are new ways to engage,
design and integrate Yammer capabilities into your digital hub experiences.

49. Yammer is evolving and for corporate communications there are new ways to engage,
design and integrate Yammer capabilities into your digital hub experiences.

50. Yammer is evolving and for corporate communications there are new ways to engage,
design and integrate Yammer capabilities into your digital hub experiences.

51. There are many ways Microsoft 365 enriches content from documents and files to list items. A good
example of this is how instead of just a redirect a video link can do much more.

52. There are many ways Microsoft 365 enriches content from documents and files to list items. A good
example of this is how instead of just a redirect a video link can do much more.

53. There are many ways Microsoft 365 enriches content from documents and files to list items. A good
example of this is how instead of just a redirect a video link can do much more.

54. There are many ways Microsoft 365 enriches content from documents and files to list items. A good
example of this is how instead of just a redirect a video link can do much more.

55. There are many ways Microsoft 365 enriches content from documents and files to list items. A good
example of this is how instead of just a redirect a video link can do much more.

56. Imagine a future state where content creation can start from a place with integrated
templates that contextualize to the individual. Some of that is already available today.

57. Imagine a future state where content creation can start from a place with integrated
templates that contextualize to the individual. Some of that is already available today.

58. Imagine a future state where content creation can start from a place with integrated
templates that contextualize to the individual. Some of that is already available today.

59. Imagine a future state where content creation can start from a place with integrated
templates that contextualize to the individual. Some of that is already available today.

60. Imagine a future state where content creation can start from a place with integrated
templates that contextualize to the individual. Some of that is already available today.

61. Imagine a future state where content creation can start from a place with integrated
templates that contextualize to the individual. Some of that is already available today.

62. Imagine a future state where content creation can start from a place with integrated
templates that contextualize to the individual. Some of that is already available today.

63. Intranets & Digital Hubs With Microsoft 365
Maximize Out Of The Box
Leverage Less Landing Pages
Manage Sprawl With Directories
Advance Audience Targeting
Prioritize Personalization
Design For Dynamic (Not Static)
Improve Integration

64. PROBLEM: CONTENT GROWS OVER TIME…
The modern digital workplace and Intranet has a continually increasing number
of digital spaces or ‘sites’ where content is stored and shared.
How can we help our users navigate this?
With so many spaces (sites,
teams, yammer communities and
more) how can an Intranet (a
Digital Hub for your Digital
Workplace) improve navigation
of these spaces?

65. SOLUTION: LEVERAGE OOTB NAVIGATION?
Mega menu layout enables you to better organize and showcase the related content and sites
based on topic categories and headings. All with audience targeting and more…
Out Of The Box
●

66. SOLUTION: DESIGN BETTER NAVIGATION!
Navigation doesn’t need to be limited to top level links, or simple UI layouts. Here we have two
examples of content in the nav, and richer/deeper nav.
Requires Customization
◔

67. Menu design can be more tailored to your needs and support everything from an integrated local
navigation model blended with global navigation to iconography to support rapid identification.
Organizational links are
displayed in the user’s
preferred language and
can be targeted to certain
groups.
Links are organized
under headings to
allow categorization
of links.
Links specific to the current
site are always displayed here.

68. Site Links are accessible directly from
the header via selecting the Site Title
Introducing a new variant which places organizational headings front and center. What if local
navigation could be integrated into your global navigation experience?

69. Ensuring external and support resources are always available
Footer Links provide easy access to important
external resources, help, or contact information
Social Links provide the ability to
link users to your core social
networks ensuring they get the
visibility they deserve
Footer is persistent and consistent across sites,
reinforcing brand identity and providing easy
access to your external website

70. Footer Links are displayed in the
user’s preferred language and can be
targeted to certain groups.
Ensuring external and support resources are always available

71. Another great way to reduce fragmentation is to better use the page itself with effectively designed
sections and even automated table of contents like controls. Section templates will take this further.

72. Another great way to reduce fragmentation is to better use the page itself with effectively
designed sections and even automated table of contents like controls.
While not officially announced,
one eagle-eyed observer
(@jamesmallalieu) noticed a
Table of Contents web part in one
session. This was discussed some
time ago but seemed to have
disappeared from the roadmap.
Here’s hoping we’ll see it soon!

73. Intranets & Digital Hubs With Microsoft 365
Maximize Out Of The Box
Leverage Less Landing Pages
Manage Sprawl With Directories
Advance Audience Targeting
Prioritize Personalization
Design For Dynamic (Not Static)
Improve Integration

74. PROBLEM: CONTENT GROWS OVER TIME…
The modern digital workplace and Intranet has a continually increasing number
of digital spaces or ‘sites’ where content is stored and shared.

75. PROBLEM: CONTENT GROWS OVER TIME…
Most organizations don’t know who created a digital space (SP Site, Team, Yammer
Community, etc). What was its purpose? It’s department? It’s product, client, project, etc?
As an end user this
makes navigating these
spaces extremely
challenging.
Think it’s better as an
administrator or digital
workplace/intranet leader?
It’s not.

76. PROBLEM: CONTENT GROWS OVER TIME…
Most organizations don’t know who created a digital space (SP Site, Team, Yammer
Community, etc). What was its purpose? It’s department? It’s product, client, project, etc?
As an end user this
makes navigating these
spaces extremely
challenging.
Think it’s better as an
administrator or digital
workplace/intranet leader?
It’s not.

77. SOLUTION: LEVERAGE OOTB NAVIGATION?
With improvements coming to global menu design can we leverage that to fill the hub mega menu
gaps? ADD your own app to this bar for a DIRECTORY as these default ones are not sufficient.
Out Of The Box
●

78. SOLUTION: LEVERAGE OOTB NAVIGATION?
With improvements coming to global menu design can we leverage that to fill the hub mega menu
gaps? ADD your own app to this bar for a DIRECTORY as these default ones are not sufficient.
Out Of The Box
●

79. SOLUTION: DIRECTORY EXPERIENCES!
What is shown below is a really simple mockup of a filtered OOTB site directory experience.
You can create many pages with different views/visuals and relevant links to resources (Team, Site, Yammer, etc.)
Our communities can be filtered or explored by hierarchies (site explorer), by focus area (topic map), by the ones you recently visited or have favorited (your sites, your
teams, your communities) or by filtering the columns below (just click the column header).
Link ID Community Manager(s) Practice Groups Date Created Category Private Owner
International Bank Of Banking EB001 Strange, Stephen; Connor, Sarah; Ripley, Ellen Corporate Securities 11/16/2018 RFP Y Snow, John
Travis County, Washington TCT001 Opel, Glenn; Knight, Misty; Allen, Tim; Banner,
Bruce; Marco, Polo, Rambo, John
Litigation; Environmental 11/15/2018 RFP Y Jones, Jessica
Gotham Housing Authority SAH012 Balboa, Rocky Government; Real Estate 11/03/2018 Pitch Y Jones, Jessica
Harbridge Corp HIL003 Parker, Peter; Spector, Marc; Segal, Steven; Bond,
James
Trademark & Copyright 10/30/2018 Proposal N Danvers, Carol
Metropolis Independent School
District
DIS020 Brooks, Mel; Knight, Misty; Grey, Jean; Banner,
Bruce
Public/Education Law 10/27/2018 RFP N Jones, Jessica
International Bank Of Banking EB001 Strange, Stephen; Connor, Sarah; Ripley, Ellen Corporate Securities 11/16/2018 RFP Y Snow, John
Travis County, Washington TCT001 Opel, Glenn; Knight, Misty; Allen, Tim; Banner,
Bruce; Marco, Polo, Rambo, John
Litigation; Environmental 11/15/2018 RFP Y Jones, Jessica
Gotham Housing Authority SAH012 Balboa, Rocky Government; Real Estate 11/03/2018 Pitch Y Jones, Jessica
Harbridge Corp HIL003 Parker, Peter; Spector, Marc; Segal, Steven; Bond,
James
Trademark & Copyright 10/30/2018 Proposal N Danvers, Carol
SITES, TEAMS & COMMUNITIES IN OUR ORG Not Following
BROWSE SECTIONS DEPARTMENTS SITES, TEAMS & COMMUNITIES MY LINKS
Org
Logo
Search
Out Of The Box
●
OOTB Lists and web parts
can give you directory
experiences if you simply
store the data from the
request process
(approved or already
created spaces).
* Public by default scales and
works better in the long run

80. Design and implement a simplified experience that gives you quick access to teams, sites, communities,
and more. Complimenting your Intranet and Digital Workplace Strategy. www.M365Sprawl.com

81. M365Sprawl.com

82. Intranets & Digital Hubs With Microsoft 365
Maximize Out Of The Box
Leverage Less Landing Pages
Manage Sprawl With Directories
Advance Audience Targeting
Prioritize Personalization
Design For Dynamic (Not Static)
Improve Integration

83. SOLUTION: AUDIENCE TARGETING?
Targeting audiences for pages allows for roll up and display control while not restricting based
on permissions. This applies to all news and pages and can enable some great new scenarios.
Out Of The Box
●
This targeting can
be great to improve
focus and priority
on what to display.
Useful, but it’s not
personalization is it?
Necessary but not
sufficient.

84. A way to easily move between your Intranet environments for larger or more diversified customers.
Easily move between overarching portals within a single environment,
each with their own independent navigation experience

85. Portal toggle redirects you to the landing page of that portal and launches its own navigation
Each portal can have their own visual
identity and independent set of links

86. Keep in mind that while we should absolutely leverage audiences in the navigation, that when we do
it is a great opportunity to get feedback on how well designed our audiences are.
View All Links (Without Audiences) - Great To Track If People Click Through Here To Navigate
(Indicates Audience Filter Might Be Over Filtering Or Incorrect)
How Has This Been Filtered? (These Are Your Applied Audiences
& Option To Share Feedback To Improve Audience Alignment Or
Optimally Provide Self-Service)

87. Intranets & Digital Hubs With Microsoft 365
Maximize Out Of The Box
Leverage Less Landing Pages
Manage Sprawl With Directories
Advance Audience Targeting
Prioritize Personalization
Design For Dynamic (Not Static)
Improve Integration

88. PROBLEM: ITS OVERWHELMING…
Think about your typical Intranet. How many different things are organizations trying to
squeeze into that homepage when you open your browser?
Out Of The Box
●
These are all news
web parts.
There are also
multiple event web
parts and many other
roll ups on a typical
Intranet. Too much?

89. SOLUTION: DESIGN BETTER FEEDS!
Often customers might create their own visualization for news, events or activities rolling up
within their Intranet which drives greater usability, engagement, integration and more.
Clearer categories
and sources, greater
at a lance insights
such as comment
count can increase
engagement and
you can even color
code and style it the
way that best helps
the user.
This can bring together events,
different types of news,
spotlights, 3rd party activity
highlights, existing capabilities
like saved for later, and much
more into a single design.
Requires Customization
◔

90. SOLUTION: PERSONALIZED!
Sometimes the capabilities built in aren’t quite enough (or may be years away from meeting your
needs) so it might make sense to add your own web part and targeting/personalization capabilities.
Requires Customization
◔

91. SOLUTION: DESIGN BETTER NAVIGATION!
Navigation can also display more ways for users to personalize and manage their apps,
resources, tools, places they work and more.
Requires Customization
◔
Requires Customization
◔
Personalization options that
allow users to define their links,
apps, tools and resources can
make a global navigation that
much more helpful.
This doesn’t have to be in
the core menu design and
could always be a header or
footer control.

92. Effectively combining a user’s personal links with links that have been promoted by the organization.
The user can pin Promoted Links suggested by the
organization as useful.
The user can add Personal Links of their choosing.
Sorting based on user’s preferences

93. Intranets & Digital Hubs With Microsoft 365
Maximize Out Of The Box
Leverage Less Landing Pages
Manage Sprawl With Directories
Advance Audience Targeting
Prioritize Personalization
Design For Dynamic (Not Static)
Improve Integration

94. SOLUTION: HOW ABOUT SHAREPOINT HOME?
Office 365’s SharePoint home is now a more modern site directory experience that is more
personalized and dynamic. From recent sites you visited to recent activity relevant to you.
Out Of The Box
●

95. SOLUTION: HOW ABOUT SHAREPOINT HOME?
It’s a little hidden and most users don’t know it exists. Even when trained users often forget to
use it, because you have to navigate away from the places you work to visit it.
Out Of The Box
●
How do users get to it?
So… it’s another place to go?

96. SOLUTION: BRING IT INTO GLOBAL NAV!
While structured and managed navigation is still valid in today’s world it is also important to
improve navigation with powerful capabilities like search and dynamic navigation.
SharePoint Home In The Global Navigation
Bring the power of that dynamic
personalized navigation into the
global/top nav experience.
Requires Customization
◔
You can improve what MSFT
provides with icons, more filters,
more personalization, and your
own styling.

97. SOLUTION: DESIGN BETTER NAVIGATION!
Navigation can be targeted and dynamic. Consider even having individual results show in the
global navigation around key and frequently accessed resources for that user.
Consider bringing targeted,
personalized documents, forms,
policies and content to the user
inside the navigation experience.
Requires Customization
◔

98. Coaching users to ensure they are getting the most of the solution
Introduce users to getting around
with the help of handy coachmarks
or learning bubbles.

99. Intranets & Digital Hubs With Microsoft 365
Maximize Out Of The Box
Leverage Less Landing Pages
Manage Sprawl With Directories
Advance Audience Targeting
Prioritize Personalization
Design For Dynamic (Not Static)
Improve Integration

100. SOLUTION: MORE INTEGRATION!
You can always build your own webparts, solutions and controls to make things easier and improve
the end user experience. As an example you could bring information into the nav menu.
Requires Customization
◔

101. SOLUTION: MORE INTEGRATION!
As another example you could bring key information into the Intranet via a custom SharePoint
Framework webpart on a key page, or across pages via the header or a panel design.

102. SOLUTION: MORE INTEGRATION!
As another example you could bring key information into the Intranet via a custom SharePoint
Framework webpart on a key page, or across pages via the header or a panel design.

103. Giving critical announcements high visibility
Integrate high visibility alerts into the persistent
header to flag critical announcements and
ensure they are seen and read

104. Exposing one or more corporate stocks
Add the ability for users to monitor
company performance across one or
more stocks

105. Plan for extensibility to introduce modular functionality that can be integrated into the navigation.
Objectives
 Extensions are created and deployed
using a consistent model for integration
into the existing Waypoint solution. This
enables flexibility in how they are used
across the environment, better and
easier maintainability.
 Extensions are designed to account for
new Microsoft365 patterns as well as
known roadmap (e.g., Viva Connections)
implications and opportunities that
would promote better longevity of the
individual solutions.
 Prioritize and move your extensions
within the solution to meet your needs.
Extensions
My Links
Alerts
Stock
World Clock
Teaching Bubbles
User Preferences
Your custom needs

106. EXPLORE 700+ PAGES OF
FREE EXPERT GUIDANCE…
M365Intranets.com
M365Sprawl.com
M365Campaigns.com
M365Metrics.com
M365Resources.com
SharePointMigrations.com
& Many More At 2toLead.com

107. Thank You!
M365Conf,Sponsors&Y
ouForMakingThisPossible…
200+AwesomePresentationsAt.. Slideshare.Net/RHarbridge
300+PagesOfWhitepapersAt.. 2toLead.com/Whitepapers
M365Intranets.com M365Resources.com
M365Metrics.com Office365Campaigns.com
SharePointMigrations.com M365Sprawl.com
Message Me On LinkedIn or Email Richard@2toLead.com
CTO & MVP | SPEAKER & AUTHOR | SUPER FRIENDLY
Let’s connect and find ways to do more and work together.

109. Thank you!