Overview
Build smarter, more effective digital workplaces
We create bespoke SharePoint solutions that go beyond standard functionality.
From custom web parts and advanced navigation to fully integrated business tools, our development work transforms SharePoint into a platform that fits your processes, improves collaboration, and drives productivity across your organisation.
- Custom Web Parts
- Integrated Business Tools & Custom Apps
- Smarter Search, Navigation & User Experience
We build web parts that do more than just look good—they’re designed to make SharePoint work harder for your business.
These components help teams interact with data, complete tasks, and navigate complex processes with ease.
Examples include:
- Dashboards that pull live metrics from internal systems
- Smart forms with dynamic fields and built-in logic
- Interactive maps with location-based filtering
- Calendars that combine multiple data sources and tagging
If you’ve ever hit a wall with what SharePoint offers out of the box, we can help you break through it. Our custom web parts are built to fit your needs—not the other way around.
SharePoint can do more than store documents—it can run your business tools. We’ve built apps that handle provisioning, event management, resource booking, and more, all within the SharePoint environment.
Some of the most requested tools include:
- Mandatory read tracking for compliance-critical content
- People-finders that surface expertise, location, and availability
- Translation tools for multilingual teams, with support for auto-translation and manual overrides
- Provisioning systems with built-in governance and approval flows
- Event platforms with registration, scheduling, and reporting
- Request portals that connect to finance, HR, or IT systems
These tools often replace legacy systems or manual processes, bringing everything into one secure, scalable platform. If you’ve ever thought “we couldn’t do that in SharePoint,” we’d love to show you otherwise.
We help teams find what they need—without the frustration. Our custom navigation and search solutions are built around how people actually work, not just how SharePoint is structured.
We’ve delivered:
- Global navigation menus that reflect your organisation’s hierarchy
- Search pages with filters, tags, and preview functionality
- Personalised content surfaces based on role or location
- Layouts that work seamlessly across devices and accessibility needs
These solutions make SharePoint feel intuitive and efficient, helping users get more done with less effort.
Business Challenges Solved by SharePoint Development Solutions
Rigid Workflows
Problem: Standard SharePoint workflows often force teams to adapt their processes around the tool, creating inefficiencies.
Solution: Custom SharePoint development solutions allow workflows to be built around your business, not the other way around—streamlining processes and boosting productivity.
Data Silos
Problem: Out-of-the-box SharePoint doesn’t always integrate with legacy systems or third-party tools, leaving teams duplicating.
Solution: Custom connectors and integrations break down silos, ensuring data flows securely across platforms and providing a single source of truth.
Scalability Gaps
Problem: As organisations grow, the limitations of SharePoint’s standard functionality become more obvious.
Solution: Custom SharePoint development solutions evolve with your business—supporting new teams, geographies, and complex structures as you scale.
Limited User Experience
Problem: Default navigation and search can make it difficult for employees to find the right information quickly.
Solution: Tailored search, navigation, and interfaces make SharePoint intuitive—helping employees get what they need without frustration.
Compliance Risks
Problem: Industries with strict governance and compliance needs often find SharePoint’s default settings don’t go far enough.
Solution: Custom development adds mandatory read tracking, approval workflows, and audit trails to ensure compliance is never compromised.
Manual Processes
Problem: Without the right tools, employees often rely on spreadsheets, emails, or manual steps to complete everyday tasks.
Solution: Bespoke apps and automation replace manual processes, reducing errors and freeing teams to focus on higher-value work.
Client Stories
7 Day Intranet Transformation
A brand-aligned design refresh for financial services firm TP ICAP.
Empowering Higher Education Comms
A new branded intranet with custom page templates for the University of Leeds.
Award Winning Intranet
Storming success as the Met Office sets the standard for accessible collaboration for 2,000+ employees.
Bauer Media Group set out to create a personalised intranet experience that truly works for every employee.
In this 60 second overview, see how we brought that vision to life using SharePoint and Beacon.
Video created by our friends at The Surgery
Let’s Talk Design
Whether you’re refreshing your homepage or building a new intranet, we’re here to help. Book a free consultation and explore what’s possible.
FAQs
Find answers to common questions about planning, migration, accessibility, and ongoing support.
What are the limits of SharePoint “out of the box”?
Out of the box, SharePoint gives you powerful document management and collaboration tools. But many organisations find that its standard features don’t always reflect how their people really work. Workflows can be rigid, search sometimes feels clunky, and it doesn’t always integrate well with other systems. That’s where custom SharePoint development solutions come in. They allow you to adapt SharePoint to your processes rather than reshaping your processes to fit SharePoint.
At Silicon Reef, we’ve seen this make the difference between a platform people tolerate and one they actively embrace.
How do I know when it’s time to customise SharePoint?
If your teams are relying on spreadsheets or email to get work done, or if employees complain about struggling to find information, it may be a sign that SharePoint needs to be customised. Other indicators include governance requirements that can’t be met out of the box, or multiple “shadow IT” tools springing up because SharePoint isn’t doing what people need. In these cases, custom SharePoint solutions can fill the gaps.
Our experience at Silicon Reef is that investing in customisation early prevents inefficiencies from becoming embedded, and creates a platform that grows with your business rather than against it.
Can SharePoint really replace our existing business tools?
For many organisations, the answer is yes—with the right custom development. Out-of-the-box SharePoint is often underestimated; it can be the backbone for apps that manage everything from event bookings to HR requests.
With custom SharePoint development solutions, Silicon Reef has replaced outdated systems with secure, scalable tools that sit natively within Microsoft 365. This not only simplifies the digital workplace but also reduces costs and compliance risks tied to running multiple disconnected systems. In our view, SharePoint is at its best when it becomes the central hub for business operations—not just a place to store documents.
How does customising SharePoint help employees day-to-day?
For most employees, frustrations come down to wasted time—searching for documents, working around rigid processes, or switching between too many apps. Custom development directly tackles these issues. Personalised dashboards bring key content together in one view, smart search makes information easier to find, and integrated apps cut down on tool-switching.
At Silicon Reef, we’ve seen these improvements transform adoption: once people see SharePoint working the way they do, they stop seeing it as an obstacle and start viewing it as a valuable daily tool. That’s the real power of custom SharePoint solutions—they make the technology invisible, so people can focus on their work.
Will custom SharePoint solutions still work as our business grows?
Growth often exposes the limits of out-of-the-box SharePoint. What worked for one department can fall short across multiple regions or business units. The good news is that custom SharePoint development solutions are built with scalability in mind. Navigation can be designed to support global structures, apps can be built to handle increasing demand, and governance models can be embedded to keep control as complexity grows.
At Silicon Reef, we approach every project with the future in mind. That way, the platform isn’t just solving today’s challenges—it’s ready to evolve with your organisation as it scales.
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Whether you’ve got a Microsoft 365 project in mind or just want to learn more, we’d love to hear from you.