20 Common SharePoint Pain Points

Microsoft SharePoint has become a staple in enterprise environments, with 85% of Fortune 500 companies relying on it for centralized collaboration and document storage. 

However, a significant gap exists between what organizations truly need for comprehensive document management and what SharePoint delivers out-of-the-box. Many organizations discover these limitations when implementing strict document control, compliance, record management, and governance frameworks. 

To optimize SharePoint and avoid compliance risks or operational inefficiencies, it's essential to understand some of the most common (as well as lesser known) pain points: 

Document Control Limitations 

SharePoint relies heavily on folder hierarchies, which mimic traditional file systems and lack advanced document control features like metadata-based organization. This often leads to inefficiencies in locating documents as well as hampering scalability. 

2. Lack of version control enforcement 
Although SharePoint offers versioning, users can bypass it, resulting in lost edits and conflicting versions. 48% employees struggle to find versions of documents quickly and efficiently, stemming from versioning challenges.

SharePoint’s native audit trails lack the granularity needed to understand the specific content changes made to documents by users. Without clear visibility into document changes, tracking document edits becomes manual and time-consuming. 

Without strict access controls and alerts, users can unintentionally overwrite or delete critical documents, jeopardizing data integrity. This complicates recovery efforts and may result in non-compliance. 

While SharePoint integrates with Power Automate, it does not offer pre-configured approval processes for document edits. Multiple reviewers and approvers must sign off on changes through manually configured setups, which adds unnecessary complexity. 

SharePoint lacks advanced DRM (Digital Rights Management) features like watermarking, access expiration, or print restrictions, allowing sensitive documents to be easily downloaded or shared externally without safeguards.

Document Control Solution Roadmap: 

→ ASSESSMENT: CTG SharePoint Document Control Assessment identifies critical control gaps  
→ ARCHITECTURE: Implement metadata-driven structure with enforced version protocols 
→ AUTOMATION: Deploy Power Automate workflows for approval and change tracking 
→ ANALYTICS: Measure compliance improvements and efficiency gains 

Organizations implementing this roadmap typically reduce document retrieval time and eliminate a greater number of version control incidents.


  
    
  

Records Management Challenges 

Basic retention labels exist but managing them across complex document types and departments often requires third-party tools or custom scripts.  

Applying a legal hold uniformly across SharePoint libraries is not straightforward when it comes to preserving critical records during an audit. Non-compliance can cost 2.71 times more than the cost of compliance. 

SharePoint doesn't naturally support the full document lifecycle from creation through archival without significant customization. Teams are often left managing lifecycles manually or inconsistently. 

Auto-archiving features are rudimentary in SharePoint, requiring manual administrative intervention. 

A 2024 report by IBM found that 1 in 3 data breaches involved “shadow data”—data stored in locations unknown or unmanaged by IT teams, such as unmanaged SharePoint sites or personal cloud storage. This makes audit trails increasingly difficult to meet various traceability regulations, many based on ISO standards. 

Integration and Departmental Silos 

SharePoint isn’t always compatible with industry-specific tools like engineering document management systems (EDMS) or third-party systems like Salesforce or Dynamics 365. Integration roadblocks often involve technical hurdles such as permission mismatches that create access control conflicts between systems, and search limitations that prevent unified content discovery. These integration challenges typically require costly ongoing maintenance and specialized expertise to address effectively. 

Without centralized governance, departments often create isolated repositories within SharePoint. A 2023 Adobe Acrobat survey found that nearly two-thirds of employees have recreated documents because they couldn't locate the original, highlighting the challenges in document management and its impact on productivity. 

Different teams may use different folder structures, naming conventions, or versioning settings, making enterprise-wide document control impossible. Lists or libraries hold up to 30 million items but views exceeding 5,000 may trigger errors. 

When documents are duplicated across various sites or have multiple repositories, users lose confidence in document integrity. This often results in conflicting document versions and uncertainty about which copy is current. 

Permissions and access controls can be complex, discouraging interdepartmental collaboration. Users often revert to email or external tools to share documents.

Integrations and Best Practices 

SharePoint doesn’t provide the nuanced features needed for enterprise-grade records management, like classification schemes, retention policies, legal holds, or file plan support. 

Bridging the gap between SharePoint and systems like Salesforce, Dynamics 365, or other asset management tools requires custom development and ongoing IT support. Investing in middleware solutions or APIs can simplify integration. 

Without clear policies and technical controls, SharePoint implementations frequently suffer from inconsistent metadata, uncontrolled document proliferation, and poor findability. 

End-users often find SharePoint unintuitive compared to traditional file sharing or more visual platforms. Lack of training and communication makes adoption even more difficult. 

Quick SharePoint Document Control Assessment: 

□ We have enforced version control policies  
□ Our document changes are fully tracked and auditable 
□ We have automated approval workflows 
□ Documents are organized by metadata, not just folders 
□ We can prevent accidental deletions and overwrites 

Score your organization (1 point per checkmark): 

0-1: Critical Optimization Needed 
2-3: Significant Improvement Potential 
4-5: Well Optimized


  
    
  

The Path Forward: SharePoint Reimagined 

While SharePoint offers a powerful platform for collaboration, it was never intended to be a full-fledged document control or records management system. The issues outlined above can lead to regulatory risks, inefficient workflows, and loss of trust in business-critical content. 

Organizations that properly optimize SharePoint see up to 15% less time spent on document management and 85% better engagement. Having guided many enterprises through these challenges, we've developed proven approaches to transform these pain points into optimization opportunities. 

The right vendor can identify your specific pain points and provide a customized roadmap for addressing them. With CTG's expert guidance and the right tools, your SharePoint can evolve from a basic document repository into a reliable, compliant, and user-friendly document management solution.