EPC Group - Enterprise Microsoft AI, SharePoint, Power BI, and Azure Consulting
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EPC Group

Enterprise Microsoft consulting with 29 years serving Fortune 500 companies.

(888) 381-9725
contact@epcgroup.net
4900 Woodway Drive, Suite 830
Houston, TX 77056

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About EPC Group

EPC Group is a Microsoft consulting firm founded in 1997 (originally Enterprise Project Consulting, renamed EPC Group in 2005). 29 years of enterprise Microsoft consulting experience. EPC Group historically held the distinction of being the oldest continuous Microsoft Gold Partner in North America from 2016 until the program's retirement. Because Microsoft officially deprecated the Gold/Silver tiering framework, EPC Group transitioned to the modern Microsoft Solutions Partner ecosystem and currently holds the core Microsoft Solutions Partner designations.

Headquartered at 4900 Woodway Drive, Suite 830, Houston, TX 77056. Public clients include NASA, FBI, Federal Reserve, Pentagon, United Airlines, PepsiCo, Nike, and Northrop Grumman. 6,500+ SharePoint implementations, 1,500+ Power BI deployments, 500+ Microsoft Fabric implementations, 70+ Fortune 500 organizations served, 11,000+ enterprise engagements, 200+ Microsoft Power BI and Microsoft 365 consultants on staff.

About Errin O'Connor

Errin O'Connor is the Founder, CEO, and Chief AI Architect of EPC Group. Microsoft MVP multiple years, first awarded 2003. 4× Microsoft Press bestselling author of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Inside Out (MS Press 2007), Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 Inside Out (MS Press 2011), SharePoint 2013 Field Guide (Sams/Pearson 2014), and Microsoft Power BI Dashboards Step by Step (MS Press 2018).

Original SharePoint Beta Team member (Project Tahoe). Original Power BI Beta Team member (Project Crescent). FedRAMP framework contributor. Worked with U.S. CIO Vivek Kundra on the Obama administration's 25-Point Plan to reform federal IT, and with NASA CIO Chris Kemp as Lead Architect on the NASA Nebula Cloud project. Speaker at Microsoft Ignite, SharePoint Conference, KMWorld, and DATAVERSITY.

© 2026 EPC Group. All rights reserved. Microsoft, SharePoint, Power BI, Azure, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft Fabric, and Microsoft Dynamics 365 are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies.

SharePoint Modern Intranet Design - EPC Group enterprise consulting

SharePoint Modern Intranet Design

Best practices for home sites, hub site architecture, mega menu navigation, custom branding, web parts, mobile responsiveness, multilingual sites, and enterprise adoption strategies.

How to Design a Modern SharePoint Intranet

How do you design a modern SharePoint intranet? Start with a Home Site as the organization-wide landing page with global navigation. Build a hub site architecture grouping related sites by department or region. Design mega menu navigation providing access to critical resources within 2 clicks. Apply custom branding with organizational colors, logos, and accessible contrast ratios. Configure dynamic web parts — News, Events, Hero, Quick Links, Viva Engage — with audience targeting for personalized content. Test on mobile devices and deploy Viva Connections for the mobile app experience. Launch in phases with executive sponsorship and adoption tracking.

Your intranet is the digital front door to your organization. It is where employees find news, policies, tools, people, and answers. A well-designed intranet drives engagement, reduces support tickets, accelerates onboarding, and builds culture. A poorly designed intranet becomes a ghost town that employees actively avoid — reverting to email, Teams chats, and shared drives for information they should find in one place.

EPC Group has designed and deployed SharePoint intranets for organizations ranging from 5,000 to 100,000 employees across healthcare, financial services, education, and government. This guide shares the intranet design methodology we apply to every engagement — covering architecture, navigation, branding, content strategy, and launch planning.

Whether you are building a new intranet from scratch, modernizing a classic SharePoint environment, or optimizing an existing modern intranet that is not meeting adoption targets, this guide covers every decision point.

Modern vs Classic SharePoint Architecture

SharePoint modern experience (introduced in 2017, now the default) fundamentally changes how intranets are architected. Classic SharePoint used managed paths, site collections, and master pages. Modern SharePoint uses flat site architecture, hub sites, and component-based web parts.

AspectClassic SharePointModern SharePoint
Site HierarchyManaged paths with parent/child site collectionsFlat site architecture — all sites are equal, organized by hub association
NavigationStructural navigation tied to site hierarchyHub navigation shared across associated sites, mega menu support
BrandingMaster pages, CSS, custom layoutsThemes, header layouts, brand center (SP Premium), no custom CSS
MobileSeparate mobile views, often brokenResponsive by default, Viva Connections mobile app
PermissionsInherited from parent site collectionIndependent per site, hub does not control permissions
SearchScoped to site collection or farmOrganization-wide, hub-scoped, or site-scoped search

Migration Note: If you are migrating from classic to modern, do not attempt an in-place upgrade of your existing site hierarchy. Build the modern intranet as a new Home Site + Hub architecture and migrate content site by site. EPC Group migrates classic intranets in 6-12 week sprints, decommissioning legacy sites as content moves to the new architecture.

Six Pillars of Modern Intranet Design

Every enterprise SharePoint intranet must address these six design pillars. Neglecting any one leads to poor adoption, user frustration, or governance failures.

Home Site Configuration

Designate a communication site as the organization-wide landing page. Powers global navigation, organization search, and Viva Connections entry point.

Hub Site Architecture

Group related sites under departmental or regional hubs. Shared navigation, branding, and search scope across 5-20 associated sites per hub.

Mega Menu Navigation

Full-width dropdown navigation organized in columns with headers. Maximum 7 top-level items with 5-8 sub-links each for optimal usability.

Custom Branding

Organization theme (colors, header, footer), logo placement, custom fonts (SharePoint Premium), and WCAG 2.1 AA accessible contrast ratios.

Mobile-First Design

Test on actual devices. Single-column critical content. Viva Connections for dedicated mobile experience with dashboard, feed, and resources.

Audience Targeting

Personalize News, Quick Links, Navigation, and Hero web parts by security group, M365 group, or Entra ID attribute. Show relevant content to each user.

Home Site Setup and Configuration

The Home Site is the most important site in your SharePoint tenant. It serves as the organizational landing page, the global navigation host, the Viva Connections entry point, and the default search scope. Only one communication site can be designated as the Home Site.

Home Site Configuration Steps

  • Create a communication site with the "Topic" or "Blank" template — not a team site (team sites have a left navigation panel that consumes screen space)
  • Designate the site as the Home Site via SharePoint Admin Center > Settings > Home Site, or via PowerShell: Set-SPOHomeSite -HomeSiteUrl https://tenant.sharepoint.com/sites/intranet
  • Enable the global navigation bar — this appears across all sites in the tenant and is managed from the Home Site navigation settings
  • Configure Viva Connections by setting up the Dashboard (cards for key actions), Feed (news aggregation), and Resources (curated links)
  • Set up the home page layout with Hero web part (featured content), News web part (organizational news), Quick Links (top tools), and Events (company calendar)
  • Apply the organizational theme and logo — the Home Site sets the visual tone for the entire intranet experience
  • Configure search — the Home Site search bar becomes the organization-wide search entry point with custom result sources and verticals

Hub Site Strategy for Enterprise Intranets

Hub sites are the organizational backbone of your intranet. They group related sites under a shared navigation, theme, and search scope — without controlling permissions (a critical distinction from classic site collections). EPC Group designs hub architectures based on how employees think about the organization, not how the org chart looks.

Recommended Hub Structure

Departmental Hubs

Examples: HR Hub, IT Hub, Finance Hub, Marketing Hub, Legal Hub

Scope: 5-20 associated sites per hub (policies, forms, team sites, project sites)

Group all sites related to a business function under one hub with shared navigation.

Regional Hubs

Examples: North America Hub, EMEA Hub, APAC Hub, LATAM Hub

Scope: 10-50 associated sites per hub (regional offices, local news, compliance)

For multinational organizations — regional news, events, and resources with local language support.

Project/Initiative Hubs

Examples: Digital Transformation Hub, M&A Integration Hub, Office Move Hub

Scope: 3-10 associated sites (project sites, workstreams, stakeholder sites)

Time-limited hubs for major organizational initiatives. Decommission when complete.

Leadership Hub

Examples: Executive Communications Hub

Scope: 2-5 associated sites (CEO blog, town halls, strategy updates)

Executive-sponsored hub for leadership visibility. Drives engagement and culture.

Hub Limit: Keep the total number of hubs between 8-15 for the entire organization. More than 15 hubs creates navigation confusion and dilutes the organizational structure. If a department only needs 1-2 sites, associate them with a broader hub rather than creating a dedicated hub.

Navigation Design: Mega Menu, Footer, and Global Nav

Navigation is the make-or-break element of intranet design. If employees cannot find what they need within 2-3 clicks, they abandon the intranet and revert to email, Teams, or asking a colleague. EPC Group designs navigation using card sorting and tree testing with actual employees — never based on assumptions.

Three Navigation Layers

  • Global Navigation (Home Site) — visible across all sites in the tenant. Contains 5-7 top-level links to the most critical organizational resources (HR, IT Support, Company Directory, News, Tools). Managed from the Home Site.
  • Hub Navigation — shared across all sites associated with a hub. Contains department-specific links organized in mega menu format. Each hub manages its own navigation independently.
  • Site Navigation — left navigation or top navigation specific to an individual site. Contains page links, document libraries, and lists relevant to that site only.

Mega Menu Best Practices

  • Maximum 7 top-level items — research shows 7 is the upper limit before cognitive overload degrades usability
  • Use labels (non-clickable headers) to organize sub-links into logical groups within each mega menu column
  • Limit sub-links to 5-8 per top-level item — deep mega menus overwhelm users and perform poorly on mobile
  • Include audience-targeted links — show "Manager Tools" only to people managers, "New Hire Resources" only to employees under 90 days
  • Add a search shortcut within the mega menu for users who prefer searching over browsing
  • Test mobile behavior — mega menu items stack vertically on mobile; ensure the most important items appear first

Footer Configuration

Enable the site footer for the Home Site and all hub sites. Include: company legal links (privacy policy, terms of use), social media links, contact information (IT helpdesk, HR), and quick links to the most-requested resources that did not fit in the mega menu. Footer links are consistent across associated sites when configured at the hub level.

Branding: Themes, Headers, and Visual Identity

Branding makes the intranet feel like your organization — not a generic Microsoft template. Modern SharePoint provides structured branding surfaces that balance visual customization with maintainability. Do not attempt to replicate your marketing website pixel-for-pixel — the intranet is a productivity tool, not a brochure.

Branding Layers

Tenant Theme

Apply via SharePoint Admin Center or PowerShell. Sets primary, secondary, accent, and neutral colors across all sites. Affects buttons, links, headers, and web part accents. JSON-based using the SharePoint theme generator tool.

Header Layout

Choose Extended (large with background image), Standard (logo + title), or Compact (minimal). Set header background color and site logo. Extended headers work well for Home Sites; Compact for team sites.

Site Footer

Enable per-site or per-hub. Contains 8 link slots organized in two rows. Include legal links, social media, contact info, and frequently requested resources.

Brand Center (SP Premium)

Upload custom organizational fonts, create brand-approved color palettes, and manage logo assets centrally. Available with SharePoint Premium licensing.

Accessibility Requirement: All branding must meet WCAG 2.1 AA contrast ratios — minimum 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text. EPC Group tests every theme against accessibility standards before deployment. A branded intranet that fails accessibility excludes users with visual impairments and creates legal liability.

Essential Web Parts for Enterprise Intranets

The right web part configuration transforms a static page into a dynamic, personalized experience that brings employees back daily.

Hero Web Part

Full-width visual banner showcasing 1-5 featured stories. Use for CEO messages, major announcements, and seasonal campaigns. Rotate content weekly.

Highest visual impact — 3x click rate vs text links

News Web Part

Dynamic news feed filtered by site, hub, or organization-wide. Enable audience targeting to show department-relevant news. Boost important stories.

Primary content driver — 60% of intranet engagement

Events Web Part

Company calendar pulling from SharePoint Events lists or Outlook/Exchange calendars. Show upcoming town halls, training, and deadlines.

Drives recurring visits — users check events 2-3x/week

Quick Links

Icon-based grid linking to top 8-12 applications and resources — HRIS, IT ticketing, expense reports, room booking. The most-clicked element on any intranet.

Highest utility — reduces support tickets by 20-30%

Viva Engage (Yammer)

Embedded social feed showing organizational conversations, leadership posts, and community highlights. Creates two-way communication culture.

Builds community — 40% increase in cross-department interaction

People Web Part

Spotlight employees — new hires, work anniversaries, featured team members, executives. Humanizes the intranet and builds connection.

Culture builder — most-shared intranet content type

Multilingual Sites and Personalization

For global organizations, multilingual support is a requirement — not a nice-to-have. SharePoint modern communication sites support multilingual pages where translators create localized versions of each page, and users see content in their preferred language automatically based on their browser or profile settings.

Multilingual Configuration

  • Enable multilingual features at the site level — Site Settings > Language Settings > Add languages (up to 49 languages supported)
  • Create translation pages — SharePoint creates a copy of each page for each enabled language; assign translators to localize content
  • Navigation translation — navigation labels are translated separately via the navigation editing interface
  • Audience targeting by region — combine multilingual pages with audience targeting to show region-specific content alongside language-localized content
  • Machine translation — SharePoint does not auto-translate; use Microsoft Translator or Azure AI Translator for initial drafts, then have human translators review

Personalization with Audience Targeting

Audience targeting shows different content to different users based on Microsoft 365 group membership, security groups, or Entra ID attributes. Apply audience targeting to: News web part (department-relevant stories), Quick Links (role-specific tools), Navigation links (manager vs individual contributor), and Hero web part tiles (region-specific campaigns). The intranet feels personally relevant to each employee rather than a one-size-fits-all broadcast.

Analytics, Adoption Metrics, and Launch Strategy

An intranet is only successful if people use it. EPC Group measures success not by how many pages were built, but by how many employees actively use the intranet weekly. The target: 60%+ monthly active users within 90 days of launch.

Key Metrics to Track

MetricTargetHow to Measure
Monthly Active Users (MAU)60%+ of org within 90 daysSharePoint Site Analytics > Unique viewers
Daily Active Users (DAU)20%+ of orgSharePoint Site Analytics > daily unique viewers
Pages per Session3+ pagesAzure Application Insights (custom telemetry)
Search Success Rate70%+ queries with clicksSearch Analytics in SharePoint Admin Center
News Engagement Rate15%+ of viewers click a news storyNews web part analytics > click-through rate
Mobile Usage25%+ of total trafficViva Connections analytics + site analytics by device

Phased Launch Strategy

1

Soft Launch

Week 1

50-100 champions from each department. Collect feedback on navigation, content, and mobile experience. Fix usability issues before broader rollout.

2

Department Rollout

Weeks 2-4

One department per week starting with the most engaged (HR, Communications). Department champions lead local adoption and content migration.

3

Organization-Wide

Week 5

Full launch with CEO announcement, email campaign, Teams notification, all-hands demo. Decommission old intranet links to force adoption.

4

Optimization

Weeks 6-12

Monitor analytics weekly. Address usability feedback. Add requested features. Optimize search. Decommission legacy intranet completely.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you design a modern SharePoint intranet?

Designing a modern SharePoint intranet requires five foundational decisions: 1) Set up a Home Site as the organization-wide landing page with global navigation, news, and search, 2) Design a hub site architecture that groups related sites by department, region, or function — with shared navigation and branding, 3) Build mega menu navigation that provides access to critical resources within 2 clicks, 4) Apply custom branding with organizational colors, logos, and header layouts, 5) Configure key web parts — News, Events, Hero, Quick Links, Viva Engage, and People — to surface dynamic, personalized content. EPC Group designs SharePoint intranets for organizations with 5,000-100,000 users, focusing on adoption, governance, and measurable engagement metrics.

What is a SharePoint Home Site and why is it important?

A SharePoint Home Site is a communication site designated as the organization-wide landing page. It appears as the default site in the SharePoint app, the SharePoint mobile app, and Viva Connections. Only one site per tenant can be the Home Site. Key features: it hosts the global navigation bar visible across all sites, it powers the organization-wide search scope, and it serves as the entry point for Viva Connections. Without a Home Site, users land on the generic SharePoint start page with no organizational branding or navigation. EPC Group configures the Home Site as the first step in every intranet deployment — it is the front door to your digital workplace.

How should hub sites be structured for an enterprise intranet?

Hub sites provide shared navigation, branding, and search scope across groups of related sites. Enterprise hub site architecture follows a two-level pattern: 1) Organizational hubs at the top level — HR Hub, IT Hub, Finance Hub, Operations Hub — each containing 5-20 associated sites, 2) Regional or divisional hubs for geographically distributed organizations — North America Hub, EMEA Hub, APAC Hub. Best practices: limit to 10-15 hubs total (more creates navigation confusion), never nest hubs more than two levels deep, use consistent naming conventions, and assign hub owners responsible for navigation and branding maintenance. EPC Group hub site architectures typically support 200-2,000 sites organized under 8-12 hubs.

What are the best web parts for a SharePoint intranet home page?

The most effective SharePoint intranet home page web parts are: 1) Hero web part — large visual banner highlighting 1-5 featured stories, events, or campaigns, 2) News web part — organizational news filtered by hub or site, with audience targeting to show relevant content, 3) Events web part — upcoming company-wide events from a centralized calendar, 4) Quick Links web part — icon-based links to top 8-12 most-used applications and resources, 5) Viva Engage (Yammer) web part — live social feed showing organizational conversations and leadership posts, 6) People web part — spotlight team members, executives, or new hires, 7) Countdown Timer — for upcoming launches, deadlines, or events, 8) Weather — simple but high-engagement widget that brings users back daily. EPC Group configures these web parts with audience targeting so different user groups see personalized content.

How do you implement mega menu navigation in SharePoint?

SharePoint mega menu navigation replaces the standard link-based navigation with a full-width dropdown displaying links organized in columns with headers. To enable: 1) Go to Site Settings > Navigation > select Mega Menu, 2) Structure navigation with top-level headers (HR, IT, Finance, Operations) and sub-links organized by category, 3) Add labels (non-clickable headers) to group related links within each column, 4) Keep the mega menu to a maximum of 7 top-level items with 5-8 sub-links each (more causes cognitive overload), 5) Test on mobile — mega menu items stack vertically on mobile devices, so prioritize the most-used links at the top. For the Home Site, the mega menu becomes the global navigation visible across all sites. EPC Group designs mega menus using card sorting exercises with real users to ensure the information architecture matches how employees actually look for resources.

How do you brand a SharePoint modern intranet?

SharePoint modern branding covers four layers: 1) Theme — apply a custom theme with organizational primary, secondary, and accent colors using the SharePoint theme generator (JSON format) or the admin-applied company theme, 2) Header layout — choose Extended, Compact, or Standard header; set the logo, site title, and background color, 3) Footer — enable site footer with company links, legal disclaimers, and social media icons, 4) Custom fonts — use SharePoint brand center (available with SharePoint Premium) to deploy custom organizational fonts. Limitations: SharePoint Online does not support custom CSS or master pages in modern sites — all branding must use the supported customization surfaces. EPC Group creates brand-compliant themes that maintain accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1 AA contrast ratios) while reflecting the organization visual identity.

How do you make a SharePoint intranet mobile-responsive?

SharePoint modern sites are mobile-responsive by default — the page layout, web parts, and navigation automatically adapt to screen size. However, mobile optimization requires specific design decisions: 1) Test every page on actual mobile devices (not just browser resize) — web parts render differently on iOS and Android, 2) Use single-column sections for critical content — multi-column layouts stack vertically on mobile and may push important content below the fold, 3) Keep Quick Links to 8 items or fewer — long lists become unwieldy scroll lists on mobile, 4) Use the Hero web part with 1-2 tiles on mobile-first pages (5-tile layouts compress poorly), 5) Deploy Viva Connections for a dedicated mobile app experience with a curated dashboard, feed, and resources tab. EPC Group validates every intranet deployment on iPhone, Android, iPad, and the Teams mobile app before launch.

How do you measure SharePoint intranet adoption and engagement?

SharePoint provides built-in analytics at three levels: 1) Site analytics — unique viewers, page views, site visits over time (available to site owners via Site Usage), 2) Page analytics — individual page views, unique viewers, average time on page, traffic sources, 3) Hub analytics — aggregated usage across all sites associated with a hub. For deeper insights, integrate with Microsoft Viva Insights (workplace analytics), Microsoft 365 usage reports (admin center), and Azure Application Insights (custom telemetry). Key metrics to track: Daily/Monthly Active Users (DAU/MAU), pages per session, search success rate, news article engagement rate, and mobile vs desktop usage ratio. EPC Group establishes baseline metrics at launch and tracks adoption weekly for the first 90 days, with monthly reporting thereafter. Target: 60%+ monthly active users within 90 days of launch.

What is the best strategy for launching a SharePoint intranet?

A phased launch strategy maximizes adoption and minimizes disruption. EPC Group recommends: Phase 1 (Soft Launch, Week 1) — deploy to a pilot group of 50-100 champions from each department, collect feedback on navigation, content, and usability. Phase 2 (Department Rollout, Weeks 2-4) — launch to one department per week, starting with the most engaged departments (often HR or Communications). Phase 3 (Organization-wide, Week 5) — full launch with CEO announcement, email campaign, Teams notification, and all-hands demo. Phase 4 (Optimization, Weeks 6-12) — monitor analytics, address usability feedback, add requested features, and decommission the old intranet. Critical success factors: executive sponsorship (CEO or CHRO sends the launch announcement), a dedicated intranet content team (minimum 2 FTEs), and training sessions (live and recorded) covering search, news, and mobile access.

Related Resources

SharePoint Consulting Services

Enterprise SharePoint implementation, migration, and managed services from EPC Group.

Read more

SharePoint Intranet Examples

Real-world enterprise intranet designs with screenshots, architecture diagrams, and adoption metrics.

Read more

Viva-Powered Intranet Guide

Integrating Viva Connections, Viva Engage, and Viva Learning into your SharePoint intranet experience.

Read more

Design Your Modern SharePoint Intranet

Schedule a free intranet assessment with EPC Group. We will evaluate your current intranet architecture, identify adoption gaps, and deliver a modern SharePoint intranet design that achieves 60%+ monthly active users within 90 days of launch.

Get Intranet Assessment (888) 381-9725

SharePoint Architecture: 2026 Considerations for SharePoint Modern Intranet Design Best Practices 2026

Microsoft Purview information protection on SharePoint Online has matured significantly through 2026: sensitivity labels can now auto-classify based on Microsoft 365 Copilot grounding hints, container labels enforce sharing controls at the site level, and Purview content explorer surfaces unauthorized PHI/PII exposure in real time. For HIPAA-regulated tenants, the combination of auto-labeling plus sensitivity-aware DLP plus Audit (Premium) 6-year retention is the audit-defensible posture.

SharePoint Premium (formerly Syntex) document processing brings AI-powered metadata extraction, unstructured document classification, and prebuilt Document Understanding models to enterprise content management. Pricing in 2026 runs $5/user/month for the M365 Copilot-bundled tier; at typical Fortune 500 scale that is $360K-$600K annually, justified primarily through reduced manual data-entry labor and tighter retention compliance.

Decision factors EPC Group evaluates

  • Audit (Premium) configuration for 6-year retention
  • Sensitivity label rollout with auto-classification rules
  • Microsoft Purview content explorer for unauthorized PHI/PII discovery
  • Hub-spoke information architecture redesign vs legacy flat-IA
  • Migration tool selection (Microsoft native vs ShareGate vs AvePoint) by complexity tier

See related EPC Group services at /services or schedule a discovery call at /contact.

Enterprise Sharepoint Modern Intranet Design Best Practices from EPC Group

EPC Group delivers Sharepoint Modern Intranet Design Best Practices as a core practice within the Microsoft consulting portfolio. Engagements are led by senior architects with hands-on Fortune 500 delivery experience and a bench of hundreds of Microsoft-certified consultants spanning SharePoint, Microsoft 365, Power BI, Azure, Microsoft Copilot, and Microsoft Purview.

Every Sharepoint Modern Intranet Design Best Practices engagement is engineered for the regulatory and operational environment it serves. Healthcare deployments carry HIPAA controls from day one; financial services deployments meet SOC 2 and FINRA retention requirements; government deployments map to FedRAMP and CMMC controls with audit-ready evidence.

Manufacturing and energy

For multi-plant manufacturers and energy operators, EPC Group integrates Microsoft 365 with operational technology, protects intellectual property through Purview labels and Endpoint DLP, and provisions frontline workers with F1 and F3 licensing patterns. Multi-region rollouts include data residency planning and offline-capable Power Platform apps for shop-floor environments.

How EPC Group engages

Six-phase methodology applied to every engagement, compressed for fixed-fee accelerators and extended for full programs.

  1. Discovery — two-week assessment of the current estate, gap analysis, risk register, target architecture, costed remediation roadmap.
  2. Design — senior architect produces the target topology, identity framework, Conditional Access, Purview, governance model, and security posture, reviewed by client leads.
  3. Pilot — 25 to 100 user pilot in a real business unit. Migrate, apply baselines, test integrations, capture feedback.
  4. Wave rollout — migrate in waves of 500 to 2,500 users with communications, training, hypercare, and a per-wave retrospective.
  5. Adoption — role-based training, Champions network, executive sponsor enablement, metrics tracked against a measured baseline.
  6. Operate — optional managed-services retainer for license optimization, governance reviews, security monitoring, and quarterly business reviews.

Microsoft-only since 1997

29 years of Microsoft-exclusive consulting. Microsoft Solutions Partner with core designations across Modern Work, Security, and Data & AI.

EPC Group was the oldest continuous Microsoft Gold Partner in North America from 2016 until program retirement in 2022. Errin O'Connor authored four Microsoft Press bestsellers covering Power BI, SharePoint, Azure, and large-scale migrations.

Financial services

For banks, asset managers, and broker-dealers, EPC Group engineers SOC 2 audit trails, FINRA Rule 4511 and SEC 17a-4 retention, MNPI containment, and Communication Compliance for trading floors. Microsoft Purview Audit Premium with seven-year tamper-evident retention is the standard baseline; Defender for Cloud Apps detects shadow-AI exfiltration before it reaches a compliance event.

Engagement models

Three engagement models cover most enterprise needs. Most clients start with a fixed-fee accelerator and grow into a full program or a managed-services retainer.

  • Fixed-fee accelerators — Copilot Readiness, Security Hardening, Tenant Health Check, SharePoint Migration, Teams Governance. Defined scope and price. Typical range $25,000 to $150,000 over four to twelve weeks.
  • Project engagements — full migration or governance program with milestone-based billing. Discovery through hypercare. Typical range $150,000 to $750,000-plus over three to nine months.
  • Managed services — tiered retainer for ongoing operations. Named senior architect on the account. From $3,500 per month with a twelve-month minimum.

Senior-architect-led delivery

Every engagement is led and staffed by 15 to 20 year veterans. No rotating juniors learning on your tenant. The bench includes hundreds of Microsoft-certified consultants who have shipped real production environments for Fortune 500 customers across SharePoint, Microsoft 365, Power BI, Azure, and Microsoft Copilot.

Talk to a senior architect

30-minute discovery call. No pitch deck. Call (888) 381-9725 or schedule a discovery call and a senior architect responds within one business day.