What is Lightspeed365 and what value can it deliver?

Content Formula continues to deliver a range of different services in the intranet, SharePoint, Microsoft 365 and digital workplace space. We deliver consulting, discovery, implementation, development, change management, training and more. But we also manage two highly versatile products; Xoralia is our dedicated policy management solution based on SharePoint, while Lightspeed365 is our package of features that extends the power of SharePoint Online to deliver a world-class intranet, but at less than the price of a leading in-a-box product. We’re excited to announce we now have a new dedicated website for Lightspeed365.

In this post we’re going to explore what Lightspeed365 and Lightspeed365 features are. We cover the value it delivers, what some of the specific capabilities are, and how much it costs. IF you want to explore Lightspeed365 in more depth, you can look at the new website, get in touch for a chat or arrange a demo.

What is Lightpeed365?

Lightspeed365 is both a product and service that helps organisations to quickly implement a world-class SharePoint intranet with additional features and functionality.

The Lightspeed365 features product is a bundle of additional features that adds important functionality and flexibility to native SharePoint features.

The additional Lightspeed365 intranet service is a build and implementation package where we will help you to create, deliver and launch your SharePoint and Lightspeed365 features intranet. It comes in three tiers depending on the complexity of your needs:

  • Intranet starter: an entry-level point where we help start you off
  • Advanced intranet package: covers a broad range of features
  • Enterprise intranet package: our gold service which is more bespoke and consultative for your needs.

What is Lightspeed365 features?

SharePoint Online has a number of “web parts” or components that can be used to build sites and pages for your intranet. These are a little like “Lego” bricks; for example, there are dedicated web parts to display news, documents, list of contacts, a feed from Viva Engage and so on. However, the web parts that come out of the box with SharePoint Online rarely meet all the needs that intranet teams and internal communicators want to deliver in attractive, on-brand and intuitive intranet that improved productivity. There are gaps in functionality and limits to the ability to customise SharePoint to reflect your brand.

This is where Lightspeed365 Features comes in. It provides organisations with a package of additional web parts that fill the major gaps in SharePoint so you have all the major features you need to deliver an excellent intranet, without having to resort to either customisation or buying a more comprehensive (and expensive) in-a-box intranet product. It also extends the design options in SharePoint that many teams find limiting, allowing your intranet to better reflect your brand and improve your user experience. Lightspeed365 features also comes in different packages to suit different needs and budgets.

What value does Lightspeed365 features deliver?

Lightspeed365 features delivers real value across a number of different fronts.

Reduced costs

Lightspeed365fFeatures provides a way to deliver a fully featured SharePoint intranet with a wide range of capabilities, in a significantly cheaper way than having to buy a full in-a-box product or resorting to creating custom web parts. When you use Lightspeed365 features you’re not paying for the same functionality twice, which can be the case with in-a-box products.

Speed-to-market

We called our product Lightspeed365 for a reason – it significantly reduces the time taken to build and launch your intranet as everything you need is already included and super easy to deploy, again with no need for any customisation.

A better user experience

Lightspeed365 reatures contribute to an improved user experience with enhanced personalisation, for example in how essential knowledge-related content is presented to users.

Plugs the gaps in SharePoint

Lightspeed365 Features delivers some essential functionality that is missing from SharePoint Online, such as personalised App Launcher web part that allows users to configure their own links to key tools and apps. We’ve designed Lightspeed365 with close attention to the SharePoint roadmap so there is no duplication of functionality.

Extends design options

Lighstpeed365 Features extend the branding and design options within SharePoint, including the ability to add a custom font, for example.

Seamless integration

Lightspeed365 features integrate seamlessly with your SharePoint intranet and all data is kept within your Microsoft 365 tenant, making it a popular option with IT teams.

Loved by internal comms

SharePoint Online alone doesn’t always tick all the boxes for internal communicators, but Lightspeed365 adds specific features, for example to support better display of news.

Continuous improvement

Content Formula continues to invest in Lightspeed365 features, introducing new web parts and improving existing ones; we also listen to customers who heavily influence our roadmap.

Builds on SharePoint rather than replacing it

Some SharePoint in-a-box intranet products have a different design and UI which means you can’t actually deploy SharePoint and their web parts on the same page: Lightspeed365 just adds to the range of web parts available, meaning you can use the existing SharePoint web parts and Lightspeed365 web parts together for the best possible combination.

Minimises disruption

Lightspeed365 web parts are ready-to-go and easy to implement, minimising disruption for users, but also for content contributors who just add Lightspeed365 web parts to their pages using the same existing SharePoint editing interface, so there is little to no additional training required.

lightspeed modules
Read more about Lightspeed365 Features

What are some of the key Features included?

Lightspeed365 Features includes over twenty additional web parts that extend the power of SharePoint. Some of the most popular include:

  • The Feedback web part allows teams to collect and manage page-level feedback received about the intranet.
  • The Accordion web part facilitates the presentation of large amounts of data such as FAQs in convenient collapsable and expandable sections.
  • The News feed web part presents news in an attractive homepage layout.
  • The People directory web part delivers an eye-catching and convenient people search box that can be embedded within any page, and returns Microsoft 365 profiles without a user having to leave a page.
  • The Page tour web part allows teams to create in-page walk-throughs of different parts of the intranet, great for driving adoption and launching new intranet areas
  • The Branding customiser web part allows teams to change SharePoint themes, from adding new custom fonts to defining how icons look.
  • The Handbook web part provides a great way to present group of pages together in a user-friendly index, and is excellent for presenting employee handbooks or collections of instructional content.
  • The External social feeds web part allows teams to integrate different external social media feeds and display them on the intranet homepage.
  • The Noticeboard web part allows employees to post and search classified adverts which is always a popular feature on the intranet and good for supporting adoption.
  • The App launcher web part allows employees to personalise links to everyday apps and tools that are represented by attractive icons, while intranet teams can target default links to different groups. This is singularly one of the most popular features on any intranet.
  • The Site provisioning feature provides a structured approval workflow and automatic provisioning for employees to request team sites, Viva Engage groups or a Microsoft Team, enforcing governance and limiting site sprawl.
  • The Subscriptions web part allows employees to subscribe to different news topics that then appear on the intranet homepage.
  • And more!

How much does Lightspeed365 features cost?

Lightspeed365 features is available either alongside a three-tier installation package (mentioned above or as a separate features pack. The features pack comes in two versions – Core or Premium – with the latter including a bespoke number of Premium add-on features depending on your needs. Pricing is also determined by the number of users, and payment can be made annually or as a one-off payment for a perpetual license. For transparency and convenience, you can see the actual costs on our pricing page.

Find out more information

We’re proud of our Lightspeed365 features offering. If you want more information you can view the new website, get in touch to arrange a chat, or even organise a free demo.

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