Last Updated on February 12, 2025 Sarah Gayda
How Colligo’s offline SharePoint solution enables secure, compliant and offline-ready storage for your business
Choosing the right platform for storing business documents is critical. While companies often use OneDrive for file storage, it lacks the security, compliance, and collaboration features businesses need.
SharePoint, combined with Colligo Briefcase, provides a better solution. Together, the solution offers governance, metadata management, and offline access for mobile and frontline workers. In this post, we’ll explore why SharePoint is the smarter choice and how Colligo Briefcase ensures seamless access to critical business documents, even without internet connectivity.
Difference between SharePoint and OneDrive Storage
When it comes to storing documents, SharePoint vs OneDrive serve different purposes.
OneDrive for Business is designed for personal file storage. Think of it as your digital file cabinet where you keep work-related files that you don’t necessarily need to share with a team.
While you can share files from OneDrive, it’s primarily for individual online or offline use. This makes it best for drafts, personal work documents, and anything you’re not yet ready to collaborate on or that you don’t need to be save for compliance reasons.
SharePoint Online, on the other hand, is built for collaboration and compliance. It’s the go-to solution for storing, managing, and sharing documents across teams, departments, and entire organizations. With advanced versioning, metadata tagging, and integration with Microsoft Teams, SharePoint is ideal for company-wide resources, policies, and any content that requires structured collaboration or compliant storage.
Why OneDrive Storage is Risky for Business
Relying on OneDrive for your business-wide document management comes with significant risks:
- Lack of Visibility & Control – Files stored in an individual’s OneDrive are tied to their account. This means your IT and management may have limited visibility into critical business documents. If an employee leaves, your company may lose important files or have difficulty retrieving them.
- Security & Compliance Gaps – Unlike SharePoint Online, which offers centralized security controls, OneDrive files are often managed at the user level. This increases the risk of accidental sharing, data leaks, and compliance violations.
- Collaboration Challenges – OneDrive is meant for personal file storage, not team collaboration. While files can be shared, there’s no structured organization, versioning or metadata management like in SharePoint. This can lead to content sprawl and version confusion in your organization.
Choose SharePoint for Compliant Storage of Business Records
When it comes to storing business records, SharePoint cloud storage is the smarter, safer choice. Here’s why SharePoint is the gold standard for compliant business storage:
- Centralized Governance & Security – SharePoint allows IT teams to enforce access controls, retention policies, and security settings across the organization, ensuring sensitive data stays protected.
- Advanced Compliance Features – With built-in tools like eDiscovery, audit logs, and legal holds, SharePoint makes it easier to meet regulatory requirements and manage records properly.
- Structured Organization & Collaboration – Unlike the siloed nature of OneDrive, SharePoint enables teams to organize files with metadata, version control, and workflows, reducing duplication and keeping records structured.
- Seamless Integration with Microsoft 365 – SharePoint works hand-in-hand with Microsoft Teams, Power Automate, and other tools to streamline document management and collaboration without sacrificing security.
Challenges for Offline or Offsite Workers
For many professionals—like traveling salespeople, engineers, maintenance workers, airline personnel, and construction crews—reliable internet access isn’t always guaranteed. Yet, these frontline and mobile workers often need access to critical business documents stored in SharePoint to do their jobs effectively.
The problem? SharePoint is built for online collaboration. Without an internet connection, accessing files, filling out forms, or referencing key business documents becomes difficult, if not impossible. This can lead to:
- Lack access to mission critical documents – Many field workers require access to critical documentation in the field (safety documentation, manuals, etc.). Companies often store this documentation in SharePoint, and workers need to access while on the job.
- Inability to sync – Employees may have to wait until they’re back online to access or update important files, slowing down productivity.
- Risky workarounds – Workers might download files to personal devices or email documents to themselves, increasing security and compliance risks.
- Outdated information – Without real-time access to the latest versions of documents, employees could be working with outdated or incorrect data.
For organizations with remote, mobile, or frontline employees, offline access to SharePoint isn’t just a convenience—it’s a necessity. That’s where Colligo Briefcase comes in.
The SharePoint + Briefcase Solution: The Ultimate Offline Solution
Colligo Briefcase makes offline SharePoint access seamless, secure, and efficient, especially for field workers who rely on business-critical documents. Unlike simple file-syncing tools, Briefcase is purpose-built for taking SharePoint libraries offline, ensuring the right content is always available, even without internet access.
Here’s why Colligo Briefcase is the ideal solution for mobile and frontline workers:
- Offline Access to Critical Content – Essential field documentation, such as maintenance manuals, safety procedures, and standard operating procedures (SOPs), can be fully synced and accessed anywhere, ensuring compliance and efficiency in the field.
- Business-Driven, Centrally Managed Syncing – IT can centrally manage which SharePoint libraries workers have offline access to, ensuring they always have the most relevant, up-to-date information.
- Flexible Syncing Options – Not all content needs to be fully downloaded. For larger libraries or less essential information, users can sync only metadata (like file names and properties) and download files on demand when connectivity is available, optimizing storage and efficiency.
- Seamless Online-Offline Transition – Any changes made offline automatically sync back to SharePoint once reconnected, ensuring teams always work with the latest version of documents.
- Enterprise-Grade Security & Compliance – Unlike risky workarounds like personal downloads or email attachments, Briefcase ensures secure, controlled access to SharePoint content, keeping IT in control.
For organizations with maintenance teams, field engineers, construction crews, airline personnel, and other remote field workers, Colligo Briefcase + SharePoint is the perfect combination. You get reliable, managed and secure access to critical business documents, no matter where your work happens. View our free webinar for more details.
Real-World Success: How Organizations Use SharePoint & Colligo Briefcase
Organizations worldwide rely on Colligo Briefcase and SharePoint to keep teams productive—online or offline.
Global airlines use it to give flight crews instant access to safety manuals. Energy companies equip field technicians with critical maintenance documents. Businesses across industries trust this solution to improve efficiency, compliance, and secure document access in the field.
Read our customer case studies
- Transportation Authority enabled offline closeout process for construction mega-project
- Allens Arthur Robinson created a secure document distribution process for mobile
- Air Transat extended SharePoint’s content management functionality for mobile devices
- Northpower provided remote workers with access to corporate documents in real time, even when offline
Transform your offline document management with Briefcase
Relying on OneDrive for business storage comes with risks—from compliance challenges to limited collaboration.
SharePoint offers a more secure, structured, and compliant solution, and with Colligo Briefcase, offline workers can stay productive.
Want to see how this combination can transform your document management? Contact us today to learn more or request a demo!
