The Hard Truths of Building a SharePoint Agent

01/12/2025 11 min
The Hard Truths of Building a SharePoint Agent

Listen "The Hard Truths of Building a SharePoint Agent"

Episode Synopsis

Send us a textBuilding a SharePoint agent looks simple in the marketing demos — just click Create, add your site, and you’re done. But anyone who has tried to build a truly accurate, enterprise-ready agent knows the reality is far more complex.In this episode, I share what I’ve learned after spending the past several weeks deep in the trenches building a real SharePoint agent. This is not the polished, theoretical version of AI adoption. This is the messy, difficult, strategic reality that most organisations discover far too late.I break down the three hard truths every organisation must understand before they even think about deploying an agent:The Metadata Mountain — Why AI collapses without a solid information architecture, and how metadata determines every answer your agent gives.The Unicorn Skills Gap — The rare combination of SharePoint architecture, IA, prompting, business analysis, and governance expertise required to build an agent that actually works.The Long Road of Governance and Trust — Why the real work begins after the agent is built, and how to create a sustainable model for accuracy, oversight, and responsible use.This episode goes beyond the hype to explore the realities of content readiness, skills gaps, organisational maturity, and the long road of governance that follows launch. If you're responsible for Microsoft 365 strategy, AI adoption, information architecture, or governance — this conversation will give you the clarity you need to plan effectively.Before you click “Create agent,” listen to this. This is the view from the trenches, and it might change the way you approach AI entirely.

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