Arash Aghajani

At Microsoft Ignite 2023, Microsoft unveiled SharePoint Premium, an innovative solution that uses the power of AI to transform content management and improve the content experience in Microsoft 365. SharePoint Premium is currently in preview and is expected to be globally available early next year.

SharePoint Premium, the next wave of SharePoint, seeks to help organizations effectively secure and use valuable information to improve knowledge management. SharePoint Premium offers new ways to interact with, manage and protect your most important content throughout its lifecycle. It also helps you maximize the value of your content with security and structure and prepare it for Copilot for Microsoft 365, the next-generation AI assistant that’s transforming productivity.

As it is known, SharePoint Premium will be the new name of Microsoft Syntax. Microsoft Syntax was first introduced in 2020 as SharePoint Syntax. In 2022, its name was changed to Microsoft Syntax, and now, as Jeff Tepper, president of Microsoft 365 collaborative apps and platforms explained in this session at the Ignite conference, the name of Microsoft Syntax is going to be changed to SharePoint Premium :

People loved the concept [of Microsoft Syntex but] they weren’t sure about the connections between Syntex and SharePoint, so we decided to simplify all that and rename Syntex to “SharePoint Premium.” SharePoint is the base content management collaboration platform for Microsoft 365; SharePoint Premium [is] value-added services on top. 

As the amount of information generated in companies grows exponentially, incorporating an advanced and integrated content management system is critical. This is a topic addressed in SharePoint Premium, which includes new tools for engaging with important documents.

SharePoint Premium brings three key benefits to content management: content experiences and solutions, content optimization, and compliance with content management guidelines.

1. Content Experiences and Solutions: Organizations can increase worker productivity through better use of business processes, current content, making it easy for employees to find relevant information and allowing collaboration in many different forms. Its use of AI, security, and workflow enhances important document processes within business contracts, invoices, and SOWs.

2. Content Processing: It is made possible with AI driven automation in organizing and adding value to content through building and classifying documents, preparing them for Copilot. The AI driven automation speeds up processes of creating content and leads to better results.

3. Content Governance: In this aspect, SharePoint Premium uses effective tools for lifecycle management of content as well as preventing an overshare while addressing content sprawl. This way, content is kept safe and complies with all the necessary rules hence reducing risk of any security breaches or non-compliance.

In addition to these benefits, SharePoint serves as the foundation for collaboration, information delivery, and file sharing. It enables teams to collaborate effectively through dynamic sites in Microsoft Teams, securely sync and share files, and publish information and resources on personalized intranet sites. SharePoint’s flexible platform also allows organizations to build custom solutions using a range of developer capabilities, including Power Platform, Microsoft Graph APIs, and SharePoint Framework.

SharePoint Premium enhances SharePoint’s capabilities by introducing new types of SharePoint sites and pages, simplifying authoring through Copilot, providing a visually stunning aesthetic update, and offering deeper engagement through integrations with email, Teams, and Microsoft Viva.

Availability

Microsoft has announced in their TechCommunity blog that you can begin utilizing SharePoint Premium starting today.

• Content processing services like document processing, content assembly, OCR, eSignature and more are already generally available under the Syntex brand on a pay-as-you-go basis to most Microsoft 365 plans.
• You can also purchase our content governance today under the SharePoint Advanced Management (“SAM”) brand.

Services available now under the Syntex brand will be moving to the SharePoint Premium brand in 2024. SharePoint Premium will include two licensing models:

• Content processing services, such as document processing, eSignature, PII detection, autofill columns, content assembly, translation and image processing will be available on a pay-as-you-go basis to most Microsoft 365 plans.
• New capabilities such as Business Documents app, Documents Hub, and the enhanced file viewer, as well as “SAM” will be available as seat licensed services you can add to Microsoft 365 plans, with pricing to be announced at GA in 2024.

Microsoft 365 Archive is available today in paid public preview, and Microsoft 365 Backup will also be available in paid public preview by the end of 2023.

To learn more about SharePoint Premium and its features, read the full article here.

Enjoy SharePointing!