Shaping the Future of Internal Communications with Microsoft 365

We help internal communications teams modernise their channels, connect employees across locations, and demonstrate strategic value with tailored SharePoint & Microsoft 365 solutions.

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SharePoint & Microsoft 365 Services for Internal Communicators

Rethinking Internal Communications in the Digital Workplace

Internal communicators face growing complexity – from fragmented channels and low engagement to leadership visibility and analytics gaps.

We help build modern comms ecosystems using Microsoft 365 tools like SharePoint, Viva Engage, Viva Connections, and Viva Amplify – enabling strategic, measurable, and inclusive communication.

Our Services

We design modern SharePoint intranets that act as your single source of truth for internal communications — replacing outdated platforms and fragmented messaging.

Built for Strategic Communication

Our intranets reflect your organisation’s structure and culture, supporting leadership visibility, targeted messaging, and campaign delivery.

Personalised & Role-Relevant

We enable audience targeting by role, location, or department – helping IC teams deliver relevant content that cuts through noise.

Integrated for Frontline Engagement

SharePoint intranets integrate seamlessly with Teams and Viva Connections, making news and resources accessible to hybrid and frontline employees.

Inclusive & Accessible by Design

We prioritise accessibility from the outset, ensuring intranets meet design and accessibility standards. From readable layouts and clear navigation to compatibility with assistive technologies, our intranets enable every employee to access, understand, and engage with content confidently.

We help internal communicators go beyond SharePoint and add the next layer to their internal comms toolkit with Microsoft Viva — bringing together the tools that connect people, amplify messages, and measure impact.

An All-in-One Toolkit

By layering Viva Engage, Viva Connections, and Viva Amplify on top of SharePoint, we help create a cohesive, Microsoft-based communications hub. This reduces reliance on third-party tools while giving internal comms teams everything they need in one place.

Community & Knowledge Sharing

We help organisations build vibrant communities and share knowledge effectively across the business. From leadership engagement and AMAs in Viva Engage to collaborative spaces for peer support and information exchange, internal comms teams can build stronger connections, culture, and collaboration.

Insight & Improvement

With built-in analytics and reporting, internal comms teams can track reach and engagement across channels — turning insights into action and continually refining their approach.

We help internal comms teams make sense of Microsoft 365 — translating technical capability into practical, everyday communication solutions that align with business goals.

Bridging Teams & Technology

We bridge the gap between Internal Communications, IT, and Microsoft — turning complex features into tools and workflows that make sense to your people.

Assessing Where You Are Today

We start by mapping your current landscape, from platforms to behaviours, identifying strengths, challenges, and opportunities for improvement.

Building a Realistic Roadmap

Together, we define a clear, achievable plan for improving communication and engagement using M365 tools — balancing vision with practical steps and measurable outcomes.

Our new intranet has already improved internal communication significantly and we now have a great platform on which to build. We would never have been able to deliver it in such a short timeframe without the team at Silicon Reef. Thank you to everyone involved.

Karen Howell

Head of Brand & Communications, Hyphen

A Viva Engage storylines dashboard, with a row of colleagues' stories along the top, and a news feed of storyline posts

Our Work with Internal Communications Teams

Bauer Media Group: A Modern, Personalised Intranet

Bauer Media’s internal comms team wanted to move beyond one-way updates and create a more connected culture. We delivered a personalised SharePoint intranet and introduced Viva Engage to enable two-way dialogue, helping Bauer build a trusted, interactive space for open communication across their diverse workforce.

University of Leeds: Transforming Internal Communication for 9,000+ Staff

We partnered with the University of Leeds to replace a fragmented internal comms landscape with a unified SharePoint intranet. Designed around staff needs, the new platform centralises news, tools, and policies – improving access and engagement. Our support didn’t stop at launch: we continue to run on-site design workshops and provide strategic guidance to help the IC team evolve their approach and embed best practices.

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Sport England: Replacing a Legacy Intranet with a Modern M365 Hub

Sport England needed to move away from a costly third-party intranet that no longer met their needs. We delivered a modern SharePoint Online intranet integrated with Viva Connections – creating a branded, accessible platform that supports targeted communication and improved engagement. The new solution streamlines internal messaging, reduces reliance on email, and provides a scalable foundation for future enhancements using Microsoft 365.

Partnering with Internal Comms Experts

We know that great internal communication is about more than just technology – it’s about people, culture, and storytelling. That’s why we actively collaborate with leading internal communications agencies like The Surgery, AB and People Lab, working together to offer their clients the best of both worlds: our technical expertise in Microsoft 365, combined with their deep understanding of people and communication.

By partnering closely with internal comms specialists, we help clients build digital workplaces that are not only functional, but meaningful – where every message lands, every voice is heard, and every employee feels connected.

We’re also proud sponsors of the Institute of Internal Communications (IoIC), where we share our people-first Microsoft 365 expertise with their members – supporting the internal comms community with practical insights, tools, and innovation.

Solving Internal Comms Challenges with Microsoft 365

Internal communications teams are navigating more complexity than ever – from fragmented platforms and disengaged employees to limited analytics and strained relationships with IT. But with the right tools and strategy, these challenges become opportunities to transform how organisations connect, communicate, and collaborate.

Fragmented Channels & Low Engagement

Current Challenges:

Internal comms teams often juggle multiple disconnected platforms, leading to inconsistent messaging and low employee engagement. Without a central hub, important updates are missed and trust in internal channels erodes.

What’s Possible:

Consolidate news, tools, and resources into a single SharePoint intranet.
Use Viva Connections to surface content directly in Teams and on mobile.
Target content by role or location to increase relevance and engagement.

Lack of Leadership Visibility

Current Challenges:

Employees want to hear directly from leaders, but traditional top-down channels often feel impersonal or infrequent. This disconnect can impact trust, morale, and alignment with organisational goals.

What’s Possible:

Use Viva Engage Storylines and AMAs to create authentic, two-way dialogue.
Highlight leadership updates with Leadership Corner.
Support leaders with posting strategies and engagement training.

Limited Analytics & Strategic Recognition

Current Challenges:

Internal comms teams are under pressure to prove impact but often lack the data to do so. Without insights, it’s hard to refine strategy or gain recognition as a strategic function.

What’s Possible:

Use Viva Amplify to track engagement across SharePoint, Teams, and email.
See reach, reactions, and campaign performance in the Communications Dashboard.
Use data to inform content strategy and demonstrate ROI to leadership.

Disengaged Deskless Workforce

Current Challenges:

Frontline and non-desk employees are often left out of internal comms due to inaccessible tools or irrelevant content. This leads to disengagement and a sense of exclusion.

What’s Possible:

Bring intranet content into Teams via Viva Connections for mobile access.
Use targeted dashboards and alerts to reach specific roles or locations.
Build community and recognition through Viva Engage peer groups.

Misaligned with IT & Technical Teams

Current Challenges:

Internal comms teams often struggle to get the support they need from IT – whether it’s understanding what’s possible or getting tools configured correctly. This misalignment can delay progress and limit impact.

What’s Possible:

We act as translators between IC, IT, and Microsoft – aligning goals and language.
Co-create realistic roadmaps that reflect both technical constraints and comms priorities.
Provide ongoing support to ensure tools are configured and governed for success.

Pressure to Delivery More with Limited Time & Resources

Current Challenges:

Internal comms teams are often stretched thin – expected to deliver high-impact campaigns, manage multiple channels, and report on performance, all while juggling limited time and capacity. Manual processes and repetitive tasks can slow things down and limit strategic focus.

What’s Possible:

Use Microsoft Copilot to automate routine tasks like drafting content, summarising updates, or generating campaign reports.
Streamline intranet governance with AI-powered content suggestions, tagging, and lifecycle management.
Surface insights from engagement data quickly, helping teams make informed decisions without manual analysis.

Microsoft 365 Resources for Internal Communicators

Need a hand? We’ve got you covered. Our blogs, guides and how-tos help you maximise all that M365 has to offer.

Microsoft Viva for Internal Comms: The Communications & Communities Plan

Our guide to the Viva apps that should be part of every internal communications toolkit; Viva Engage, Viva Connections & Viva Amplify.

SharePoint Design Guide for IC Teams

SharePoint doesn’t have to be dull. Our design guide walks you through what’s possible, and how to get there.

SharePoint Lookbook

Get inspired for your next intranet site with our design lookbook.

How to Build a Business Case for a Modern Intranet

A practical guide to help internal communicators secure budget and buy-in for a scalable, flexible, collaborative SharePoint intranet.

Building a 10/10 Employee Experience with M365

The 2025 IC Index points to three key elements that every 10/10 employee experience needs – we walk through how to achieve them with Microsoft tools.

Why the Microsoft Viva Communications Dashboard Should be in Every IC Toolkit

Microsoft Viva’s Communications Dashboard provides the ‘single-pane-of-glass’ experience many internal comms teams have been asking for.

FAQs

Got questions? We’ve answered some of the common ones here. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, drop us a note.

What’s the best way to improve internal communication using Microsoft 365?

Improving internal communication with Microsoft 365 starts by understanding your people’s needs and aligning the right tools to meet them. SharePoint can act as your central hub for news, resources, and updates, while Viva Engage enables two-way conversations and community building. Viva Connections brings it all into Teams, making it accessible wherever your employees are.

At Silicon Reef, we help organisations make sense of these tools and tailor them to their culture and structure. That might mean designing a new intranet, launching a leadership comms space, or setting up targeted dashboards for different teams. The key is to focus on relevance, accessibility, and engagement – and to use the tools you already have in a smarter, more connected way.

How can internal comms teams use Microsoft 365 Copilot effectively?

Microsoft 365 Copilot can be a powerful support tool for internal comms teams, especially when time and resources are tight. It can help draft intranet content, summarise long documents, and even generate campaign ideas based on previous posts or engagement data. Copilot also supports governance by suggesting metadata, flagging outdated content, and helping with content lifecycle management.

At Silicon Reef, we work with internal comms teams to identify where Copilot can make the biggest impact – whether that’s streamlining content creation, automating reporting, or building custom agents. The goal isn’t to replace human creativity, but to free up time for more strategic work by reducing the admin load. With the right setup and training, Copilot becomes a valuable extra pair of hands in your comms toolkit.

We already have Microsoft 365 – why aren’t our internal comms working better?

Owning Microsoft 365 is a great start, but many organisations underuse its potential for internal communications. Often, tools like SharePoint, Viva Engage, or Viva Connections are available but not fully configured or aligned to your comms strategy. That’s where the gap lies.

At Silicon Reef, we often find that internal comms teams need support translating what the tech can do into what they actually need. We help bridge that gap – working with both IC and IT to design solutions that are easy to manage, engaging for employees, and aligned with your goals. Whether it’s improving intranet usability, enabling two-way dialogue, or measuring campaign impact, we help you unlock the value of the tools you already have.

How do we introduce new Microsoft 365 tools without overwhelming our internal comms team?

Rolling out new tools like Viva Engage, Viva Amplify, or even a refreshed SharePoint intranet can feel daunting – especially when internal comms teams are already stretched. The key is to start small, with clear goals and a phased approach.

At Silicon Reef, we help teams identify where new tools can make the biggest difference, then support them through planning, piloting, and adoption. That might mean launching a single Viva Engage community to test two-way dialogue, or using Viva Amplify to coordinate one campaign before scaling up. We also work closely with IT to ensure everything is set up securely and sustainably. By focusing on real use cases and providing the right training and governance, we help internal comms teams build confidence and momentum – without adding unnecessary complexity.

What makes Silicon Reef different when it comes to internal communications?

Silicon Reef brings together deep Microsoft 365 expertise with a people-first approach to internal communications. We don’t just build intranets or roll out tools – we work closely with internal comms teams to understand their goals, challenges, and audiences. That means translating technical possibilities into practical solutions that actually work for your people. Whether we’re partnering with your IT team, collaborating with comms agencies like The Surgery or AB, or running on-site workshops, we’re focused on making your digital workplace more connected, inclusive, and effective. Our clients tell us they value how we listen, simplify the complex, and stay alongside them long after launch.

Send us a message

Whether you’ve got a Microsoft 365 project in mind or just want to learn more, we’d love to hear from you.