Knowing the difference between SharePoint Team Site vs Communication Site vs Hub Site is important if you want to organize your business work properly.
Each site has different jobs—some for teamwork, some for sharing news, and some for connecting everything.
In this blog, you will learn how these sites work, when to use each one, and easy tips to choose the right site for your business needs.
Key Differences Between Team, Communication, and Hub Sites
When we talk about SharePoint, we have to deal with three main types of sites: team sites, communication sites, and central sites. Do they all do the same thing? Of course not. Here we will look at the purpose of each one:
Team sites are… well… for teams. They enable collaboration within a limited community for file sharing, tasks, planning, etc., like Microsoft Teams, for example.
Now, communication sites, as their name suggests, are geared toward information exchange… or rather, information delivery, since it is one-way. For example, they are used to make announcements within the company.
And last but not least, we have hub sites, which are designed to connect all related sites, i.e., centralize information in one place.
Which SharePoint Sites Should Be Used for Which Information?
Now that you know the features of the three main types of SharePoint, you can get an idea of how to create a powerful information sharing system that works both internally and externally for your business.
One that’s manageable, quick to update, and adequately protects sensitive data.
First, it is worth briefly reviewing how you can use each one, or rather, what they were designed for:
Overview of SharePoint Sites:
- Team Sites are used for sharing information internally between a group of people, like a department or project team.
- Communication Sites are used to share communications beyond a department or beyond your org.
- Hub Sites organize Team and Communication sites for easy access.
How to Use SharePoint Team Sites
In a company, each department uses team sites to share information and collaborate in real time. These have security protocols to ensure that only group members can access the information.
When you create a new team (for example, “Project X Team”) in Microsoft Teams, a SharePoint team site is automatically provided, which can only be accessed by members assigned to that team. You can duplicate team site names to match those of your departments (e.g., HR, Marketing, or Sales). You can also assign tasks to teams so that members can easily share documents and collaborate.
The best part about a Team site is that it is limited to a group. Very often, departments or other groups share sensitive information that should not be accessible to anyone else in the company.
Take the HR department, for example, with the need to collaborate on confidential employee evaluations or to draft a new employee policy manual that they don’t want to see the light until it’s completed. HR Group members can only access and easily collaborate on those documents using Team sites.
How to Use SharePoint Communication Sites
Communication sites are designed to distribute information. But isn’t that what email is for? Well, in this case, these sites use improved designs, even resembling a website for better assimilation of information, instead of long emails with lots of attachments.
Continuing with the previous example of the HR department, once it has completed the new employee policy manual, it will be published on a SharePoint communication site for distribution throughout the company.
Here are examples of how Communication sites can help share information:
- The marketing team publishes company social media campaigns to inform employees of initiatives they can get involved with.
- The head office builds a site to keep employees informed about company news and information and to download any new policy manuals.
- The sales team can build a Communication site for a large customer. The site can contain specific product information, reordering forms, etc., that help build a “concierge-like” customer experience.
SharePoint Communication sites are a fantastic way to make sure everyone is well.
Employees or customers can access updated information on the site rather than relying on an old document copy on their hard drive.
How to Use SharePoint Hub Sites
You can consider Hub sites as a table of contents for your SharePoint Team and Communication sites. Hub sites are meant to organize everything in one place and make it quick to access.
Examples of how to use Hub sites for organization of communications include:
- A Hub site for employees to access all company-wide Communication sites.
- A Hub site containing all Team sites, providing easy access for supervisory staff.
- A Hub site has a group of external Communication sites grouped by industry you serve so customers can easily find industry-related content.
Hub sites are how you organize all those other sites and make them easy to find in a way that fits your flow of communication.
Essential Features of Each Site Type
They all have different features in each SharePoint site type that serve various business purposes:
Team Sites
Team sites include document libraries, shared calendars, task lists, and integration with third-party applications, which facilitates and supports internal collaboration. But that’s not all—it’s super useful because team members can collaborate on documents, delegate tasks, and even monitor project progress in real time.
Communication Sites
As the name suggests: Communicate, but in an attractive way. It is designed to publish news, share announcements, policy information, or updates across the entire company.
Hub Sites
This is like the headquarters, the main base for everyone. It provides navigation between SharePoint sites, enabling a unified search function, summary function, and content management between departments or projects.
Integration With Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365 Apps
SharePoint allows deep integration with Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365 apps, driving collaboration, security, and efficiency.
With this direct integration, team members can share ideas, files, discuss specific topics, and manage tasks, all in one place. This includes full integration with Microsoft Stream for video content and Power Automate for workflow automation.
Hub Sites works with SharePoint Syntex and Microsoft Search, making it easy to find content across numerous connected sites. Previously, large companies had to rely on separate software for their infrastructure, which hindered their ability to operate smoothly.
Use Cases and Real-World Examples (Team, Communication, and Hub)
Team Sites: Project Collaboration
Imagine a scenario where a marketing department is working on the launch of a new product. Team members could use a team site to share information about campaign materials, content, schedules, etc., while also using Planner to assign tasks and collaborate in real time through Microsoft Teams.
Communication Sites: Company Announcements
In this case, let’s imagine an HR department that needs to communicate constantly with company employees. It would use a communication site to publish corporate policies, onboarding resources, and training materials, providing a single source of centralized information for all employees.
Hub Sites: Departmental Connectivity
Let’s say we have an organization with many offices at the regional level. A hub site can connect the branches to manage their navigation through general company information and provide access to documents, collaborations, etc. It also allows you to control access to ensure confidentiality where required.
Permission and Access Control Best Practices
Simple math. If only those with authorization can enter, then nothing bad will happen. Plus, this helps maintain regulatory compliance for the company.
Role-Based Access Control
This way, you can assign permissions based on each user’s responsibilities and restrict unauthorized access for those who should NOT see that information. This gives you the freedom to collaborate for those who need it and security for those who should not have access.
Least Privilege Principle
Avoid granting excessive permissions! This means that each member of your team does not need to have access to ALL information, not even that of the project they are working on. Limit the permissions granted to the minimum necessary access, thus avoiding unintentional data exposure.
External Sharing Policies
Beware of outside threats! While there may already be security issues within your company, imagine what could happen if information leaks out. To prevent this, use Microsoft 365 security features such as expiration dates and read-only access to protect confidential documents you share with customers or partners.
Governance and Planning Tips
Effective SharePoint governance ensures that sites remain organized, secure, and scalable.
Establish Naming Conventions
Define a sustainable naming strategy for sites, libraries and lists to enhance findability and prevent duplication of content.
Monitor Site Usage and Storage
Continuous monitoring is the only way to improve over time. Track site activity, identify inactive sites, optimize storage management, and get SharePoint analytics and Microsoft 365 reports.
Define Lifecycle Policies
Automate your retention and archival policies to keep your SharePoint environment free of stale content and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.
Conclusion
The choice of the best site will depend on you and your business needs, but the choice will probably be: All 3! After all, you need collaboration between your team, to communicate things, and, of course, to centralize everything so that it is more organized.
Considering these distinctions, Maximizing Microsoft 365 integrations and Following governance best practices will lead to an effective SharePoint environment.