As companies continue to look for ways to increase communication and collaboration, Microsoft SharePoint is software that is helping with these goals.

According to a recent report by Networkworld, Colliers International has 15,000 employees and 500 offices and used SharePoint to connect all employees. Rather than deploying the product immediately, the company hired developers to meet its needs.

A major issue Colliers experienced was sending email blasts to all of its employees, which many deemed as spam. By utilizing a customized version of SharePoint, the firm’s employees can all connect through integrated exchange, SharePoint and Lync. According to company, it also plans to migrate to Microsoft’s cloud platform Office 365.

“We make most of our deals through referrals, so we rely heavily on relationships – with our clients and with each other,” Colliers CIO Veresh Sita told Networkworld. “But we did not have a social collaboration platform.”

For companies considering migrating to SharePoint, a free website recently launched to help with the decision-making process. SharePointMigrator.com offers users the ability to perform File System to SharePoint migration, Lotus Notes to SharePoint migration and SharePoint 2007 to SharePoint 2010 migration.