Things We Learnt – People are still the killer app.
Even though our focus is typically on the productivity side of our industry, we can’t outrun the obvious truth: humans are still the center of the workplace. Cutting-edge tech might be all the rage, but if your people aren’t using it, it’s not a business tool—it’s just a monthly subscription cost!
For businesses with a workforce that isn’t naturally tech-savvy, implementing tools like Teams is hard going. You can’t just throw software into an environment and expect the team to start humming!
That is why I applaud the numerous businesses—and their staff—who are bravely embracing adoption. For some people we’ve worked with this year, adoption has looked more like resilience. Helping any end user push through the learning curve to reach that “lightbulb moment” – is always rewarding and something that I got to experience in droves this year!
Changes We Loved – Intranet done right: SharePoint fosters and humanises communication.
For everything that changes, some things stay the same. SharePoint continues to be the workhorse for the modern digital professional. While its reputation as a “file concierge” is well-earned, I had the pleasure of seeing SharePoint pages used in so many creative ways this year.
In the aged care sector, one of our clients produced a network of beautiful SharePoint sites that looked more like a bespoke web experience than your run-of-the-mill intranet. It was pretty, but it was also pretty functional.
Our client showed what happens when you use SharePoint as a canvas, rather than its “traditional” use as a container. The final version of their SharePoint solution was rolled out across multiple levels of the business, providing a coherent, effective tool for their entire staff.
Things We Are Looking Forward To – Moving away from the blunt instrument of AI.
It’s tough to look back at 2025 without acknowledging how rapidly our relationship with AI has matured. We started the year treating Generative AI like a novelty act—a blunt instrument for drafting emails or conjuring up images that, let’s be honest, often came with hallucinations and six-fingered hands. But just as the novelty was starting to wear off (at least for me), Microsoft Ignite was all about a realignment in the use of Generative AI – the widespread implementation of Microsoft 365 Agents marks a massive shift from using AI to create content, to using it to complete actual work.
I never liked the idea of Copilot acting as an artist (or writer or songwriter!), but the shift toward utilising it as a capable digital coworker—one that can execute tasks—has piqued my interest again. The promise of Agents bridging the gap between having an idea and seeing a result is a use of Generative AI I can get behind!
Closing Thought
For everything that changes, some things stay the same: SharePoint remains a cornerstone, people remain the priority, and resilience remains essential. Here’s to embracing smarter tools and stronger teams in 2026!
