SharePoint Embedded guide for software companies: success factors, positioning & key insights

Welcome to the definitive Q&A guide for software development companies exploring SharePoint Embedded for their SaaS applications. This blog series addresses the most frequently asked questions from our thriving software company community, drawing from real-world implementations across partner organizations spanning financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and technology sectors.

Whether you're building a multi-tenant document management platform, modernizing legacy systems, or creating industry-specific collaboration solutions, this guide provides practical insights into SharePoint Embedded's unique advantages for software company scenarios. From multi-tenant architecture patterns and customer data isolation to Office integration strategies and competitive positioning, we've compiled the essential knowledge you need to accelerate your development and go-to-market success.

SharePoint Embedded represents a paradigm shift for software companies who have traditionally faced the choice between building complex storage infrastructure or compromising on enterprise-grade features. With its consumption-based pricing model, API-first design, and native Office integration, SharePoint Embedded enables software companies to deliver enterprise-ready document experiences while focusing on their core business logic and customer value.

Q: What are the key success factors I should focus on as a software company using SharePoint Embedded?

A: Based on our analysis of successful software company implementations, there are three critical success factors:

• Building a scalable document management platform is complicated and detracts from the business logic you want to focus on with your solution.  Users are demanding modern collaboration tools that Microsoft Office provides at scale.  SharePoint Embedded gives you the foundational tools and features that integrate with your solutions, providing you a competitive advantage.
• Software development companies can unlock significant value by building on SharePoint Embedded. Its distributed architecture empowers software companies to deliver scalable, multi-tenant solutions, ensuring each customer’s data is securely isolated within dedicated containers. By leveraging SharePoint Embedded, software companies can guarantee that compliance and data residency requirements are met directly in the customer’s own Microsoft 365 tenant, streamlining regulatory approvals and building customer trust.
• The platform’s flexible, consumption-based billing model aligns costs with actual usage, supporting growth and simplifying budgeting for both software companies and their customers. At the same time, software companies retain full control over their application code base, allowing them to innovate and differentiate their offerings, while Microsoft manages the underlying infrastructure, security, and compliance features.

Q: How do I position SharePoint Embedded against competitors in sales situations?

A: SharePoint Embedded offers unique competitive advantages across different competitor categories:

Against Pure Storage Solutions:

• Native Office Integration: Unmatched co-authoring and collaboration experiences
• Enterprise Security: Built-in compliance and governance vs. costly add-on features
• Microsoft Ecosystem: Leverage customers' existing Microsoft investments
• Software company-Focused APIs: Purpose-built for integration vs. consumer-focused APIs

Against Building Custom Storage:

• Faster Time to Market: Significantly reduce development time
• Enterprise Features: Compliance, security, and scale built-in
• Office Integration: Impossible to replicate the native Office experience independently
• Global Infrastructure: Microsoft's global scale without operational overhead

Against SharePoint Online:

• True Multi-Tenancy: Better customer isolation and independent scaling
• Consumption Pricing: Costs align with customer success vs. per-user licensing
• API-First Design: Developer-friendly vs. SharePoint customization complexity
• No Limitations: Independent scaling without site collection or storage quotas

Q: Is the content stored in SharePoint Embedded AI ready?

A: When you ingest documents into SharePoint Embedded, they are automatically added to the platform’s search and semantic indexes. This seamless integration ensures that your content is immediately available for advanced AI capabilities, such as intelligent search, document automation, and content summary. As a result, users can quickly benefit from AI-driven insights and enhanced discovery, making collaboration and workflow automation more powerful and efficient across their teams.

• AI Ready by Design: SharePoint Embedded provides secure, structured, and highly accessible data storage, ensuring content is ready for AI integration from the start.
• Robust APIs & Easy Integration: The platform’s powerful APIs and seamless Microsoft ecosystem integration make it simple to connect content to AI services like Azure AI Foundry and Microsoft 365 Copilot.
• Advanced Capabilities: Organizations can enable advanced search, automation, and generative AI scenarios, leveraging their information in new, intelligent ways.
• Enterprise-Grade Compliance & Security: Content remains protected with built-in security and compliance, crucial for enterprise adoption of AI-powered workflows.
• Empowering Business Value: This foundation allows businesses to unlock added value from their content and drive smarter, more efficient operations.

Q: What are the key talking points that resonate with enterprise customers?

A: For software development companies, these value propositions drive success with enterprise audiences:

• Onboard your application: Easily deploy your solution through the Microsoft Marketplace to your customer tenant.
• Content lives in your customer's tenant: Software companies can leverage built-in compliance and security features to speed up enterprise sales cycles and meet stringent requirements.
• You control the billing: Software companies can grow alongside their customers, with consumption pricing that supports expansion and rewards success.
• Your customers security posture is honored: When your solution is deployed to customer tenants, it will inherit all the security, compliance and governance they have configured.  Content is always maintained in the geo they specify.
• Risk Reduction for software companies: By utilizing Microsoft’s infrastructure and security, software companies can reassure enterprise customers and minimize operational risk.

Q: How do I get started building a POC for my software development companies' solution?

A: Follow this proven software company-focused POC approach that has delivered success across our partner ecosystem:

Getting started is easy:

1. Install the Visual Studio Code extension and start a 30 day trial of SharePoint Embedded. 
2. For longer development cycles that allow you to simulate a real production environment, configure SharePoint Embedded without any storage or throughput limitations.

Software Development Company Development Lifecycle for Re-Platforming on SharePoint Embedded

1. Phase 1: Technical Foundation – Begin by establishing a secure, multi-tenant architecture using SharePoint Embedded’s container model to ensure robust customer data isolation. Integrate with Microsoft Office experiences to provide seamless co-authoring and collaboration, a key customer demand. Validate authentication flows for enterprise-grade user security and conduct thorough performance testing to guarantee fast, reliable document access at scale.
2. Phase 2: Business Alignment – Move beyond technical validation to align your solution with real-world customer scenarios. Test end-to-end workflows and migrate sample data from legacy systems, ensuring the platform meets customers’ expectations for business continuity. Collect hands-on feedback from customer users to refine user experience and validate your pricing model based on projected usage, addressing concerns around cost predictability and ROI.
3. Phase 3: Production Readiness – Prepare your solution for launch by executing a comprehensive security and compliance review, leveraging Microsoft’s built-in controls to address enterprise requirements. Perform scale testing with production-sized datasets and user groups to ensure reliability under peak loads. Establish monitoring, alerting, and support processes to deliver a consistent operational experience. Finally, enable your sales and onboarding teams with go-to-market resources, ensuring a smooth transition for customers migrating to your new platform.

Key Success Metrics That Address Customer Demands:

• Verified customer data isolation for privacy and compliance
• High user adoption of Office integration, satisfying customers’ desire for familiar productivity tools
• Consistent fast document loading, meeting performance expectations
• Validated cost model based on real usage, delivering value and transparency to customers

By following this development lifecycle, software companies can re-platform on SharePoint Embedded with confidence, addressing top customer demands for security, scalability, seamless Office integration, and predictable costs—all while accelerating time to market and driving adoption.

Q: How can I gain additional customers by having my app in the Microsoft Marketplace?

A: Listing your app in the Microsoft Marketplace opens the door for software companies to reach new customers and increase sales by leveraging Microsoft’s ecosystem and global reach. The Marketplace acts as a powerful channel to showcase your solution to millions of enterprise buyers who trust Microsoft to deliver secure, reliable products.

Technical Resources to Drive Adoption:

• ISV Success Program – Get expert guidance to optimize your app for Marketplace visibility and customer engagement, ensuring your solution stands out and is ready for enterprise adoption.
• Solution Architect Reviews – Receive feedback from Microsoft experts to ensure your product meets the needs of customers and is positioned for growth in the Marketplace.
• Preview Access – Early access to new features helps you differentiate your app, attracting customers looking for cutting-edge solutions.
• Software Development Company Documentation – Access to tailored implementation guides ensures your SaaS offering is Marketplace-ready and easy for customers to deploy.

Go-to-Market Support to Accelerate Sales:

• Marketplace Listing – Promote your app to a global audience, driving qualified leads and expanding your reach beyond your existing customer base.
• Partner Development Managers – Benefit from dedicated business support and introductions to new customers in strategic verticals.
• Co-sell Opportunities – Collaborate with Microsoft’s sales teams for joint selling, increasing your exposure and boosting sales potential.
• Industry Programs – Join vertical-specific programs and events to connect directly with customers seeking solutions in your area of expertise.

In summary, Microsoft Marketplace empowers software companies to accelerate customer acquisition and drive sales growth by providing broad exposure, technical and business support, and opportunities for collaboration with Microsoft’s network.

Have more questions or want to talk to the team, contact us at SharePointEmbedded@microsoft.com