Monday, April 30, 2012

Collaboration Market Trends and Key Challenges Faced by CIOs

SharePoint has been projected as the best collaboration platform in the market by many research reports. But is it easy to achieve success in the current market trends and is this a perfect solution for meeting key challenges faced by CIOs?

Social networking has continued to remain the top spending category for all enterprises. Some have ventured to create enterprise social networks for internal collaboration while some companies have used social networking platforms for attending to niche interests. External-use spending is expected to grow faster over the years compared to internal-use spending. Some of the existing trends include:

Knowledge Management is treated with importance as an integral part of customer relationship management.
According to Gartner predictions, the enterprise social software market is expected to spike up its revenue drastically every year.
Content, Communications and Collaboration are the highest selling SaaS solutions while corporates are heavily interested in using Gmail for its email services.

SharePoint 2010 Enterprise Social Network

Here are the 3 Key Challenges faced by CIOs which requires the expertise of SharePoint development providers:

Need of Experts for Implementing Collaboration Solutions: Enterprise collaboration solutions involve external stakeholders with lot of document sharing involved. Hence, there is an intermittent need to plan things out for aligning conversations and document sharing with business goals. Knowledgeable experts are required who are experienced enough to help the CIOs for defining and creating the building blocks.
Relevant Tools and Processes for Quick Implementation: SharePoint has undergone drastic changes with each of its versions and to meet specific business requirements. An out of the box approach is preferred here or one can make use of third-party tools and processes. The right choice of tools and strategy is crucial to the resultant implementation.
High Support and Maintenance costs: Successful SharePoint implementations do not necessarily guarantee high end-user adoption and usage. The percentage of usage ranges from 10% to 300% within 9-12 months. Hence the support and maintenance part is integral to the overall implementation strategy of the collaboration solution. Without a perfect support package, the solution will certainly lose on adoption and result in a total disaster. The support model is required to have a bound maintenance regime for making the Enterprise Collaboration initiative a real success.

SharePoint 2010 has fast emerged as the prime ‘Enterprise Collaboration platform.’ Most CIOs are interested in implementing SharePoint for reduced TCO and faster ROI. The Microsoft solution features rich functionalities but as mentioned above, the successful rollout poses problems, especially to map different business processes with relevant collaboration needs. Offshore SharePoint development vendors have varied strategies in place for helping out companies for implementation planning, diligent choice of right tools and processes along with an intricate roadmap suitable to the needs of every organization. Alternatively, defining of SLAs and planning of rollouts are crucial for the success of the solution.

Labels: enterprise collaboration platform, enterprise social network, internal collaboration platform, SharePoint 2010, social networking platform

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

SharePoint 2010 Myths Related to its Enterprise Social Platform Capabilities

SharePoint 2010 does have the basic building blocks required for social computing. As many organizations are venturing to make social collaboration one of their top priorities, it’s important to dispel myths and know the truths associated with SharePoint 2010 before planning out a comprehensive enterprise social platform.

Myth #1: It enables you to build social communities

Reality: Community was a new concept when introduced in the latest version of SharePoint. SharePoint helps in the formation and cultivation of communities along with user-generated content in the form of blogs or wikis. It even helps in generating social feedback for your content. You can add and follow colleagues and even update one’s own status. But for people who liken community to be more about the ability to engage in different conversations and build relationships will not agree to the view that SharePoint will help in making social communities. Communities showcase expertise and engage people with the inclusion of rich digital media.

Myth #2: People Search Helps Find Experts

Reality: The means for finding experts in SharePoint implies that one can search different user profiles and scour through multiple attributes as defined by an HR system or self-described by the user. The reality is that there are better ways to find out experts because not all users tag themselves accurately. The profiles need to be identified and filtered within a social space.

Myth #3: SharePoint is expensive to deploy.

Reality: “Expensive” and “complex” are relative terms and depends on user to user. The reality is that a technical installation of SharePoint would take time. A comparison needs to be there to prove what SharePoint is best set for social media. The ROI can be assessed about SharePoint as a platform that can fulfill multiple business needs.

Myth #4: Social Capabilities are not built within SharePoint

Reality: If one needs social capabilities in SharePoint after one has made the investment, one needs an adroit vendor who can actually implement social media features for your site. The building blocks of SharePoint are good enough. One’s organization must be open to change. By adding technological solutions will do you no good. One should rather opt for enhanced social capabilities inside SharePoint with the help of vendors who can allow you to take a customized approach.

Myth #5: Technology makes one social and lively

Reality: To create a social platform, it requires much more than technology by itself. One needs to determine what the objectives of the clients are before venturing into the technical perspective. You need commitment and sponsorship from them. It is important to know that one needs to be focused on change management, TCO and employee engagement. The cultural differences and the overall impact of the social technology need to be taken into consideration. SharePoint is the platform which has the capabilities and a huge partner ecosystem which can help in building tailored solutions to suit the clients’ needs. SharePoint can enter into your core infrastructure and blend with the Microsoft family of products which makes it easier for enterprises.

Labels: Enterprise Social Platform, Microsoft SharePOint 2010, SharePoint Consulting Services, Social Computing

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