Back to Resource Centers
Microsoft SharePoint has taken the market by storm, but the embrace of the technology has run ahead of the business and human factors thinking required to make it work. For many organizations, SharePoint has become a chaotic nightmare.
What's needed to get the business and human factors right with SharePoint?
Explore my work on SharePoint for Collaboration.
The Business of SharePoint
- Organizations need a "roadmap" when embracing SharePoint. Learn more about SharePoint Roadmap for Collaboration, a strategy book by Michael.
- How should a company like BT approach SharePoint 2010? Read my answer to Mark Morrell, BT's Intranet Manager about best practice and governance.
- How does an organization think about using SharePoint for business? There's an abundance of technical material available about SharePoint, but what's the strategic view?
- SharePoint may not be the right answer for your organization. How do you fend off a SharePoint invasion?
- What are valid business-driven reasons for migrating from Notes/Domino to SharePoint? See my list of 5, along with a healthy discussion thread involving employees from Microsoft and IBM.
- "Supporting team collaboration" and "Publishing intranet content" are the two most common uses for SharePoint. See the key growth areas for the next 12 months, based on my August 2010 survey.
- What are organizations doing with SharePoint today? Based on a survey I did in August 2010, team collaboration is usually the number one area. See:
Overall Analysis (239 respondents)
Professional Services (45 respondents)
High-Tech (25 respondents)
Government (24 respondents)
Financial Services (24 respondents)
Legal Services (21 respondents)
Manufacturing (19 respondents)
Healthcare (19 respondents)
- What are organizations doing with SharePoint today? According to a recent survey from Colligo Networks, collaboration is #1, document management #2, and corporate intranet/portal is #3.
Governing SharePoint for Collaboration
- Governing SharePoint appropriately is critical to the success of your work with the technology. What are the key governance themes, and how do you get started with governance. In this book (due 2011), Michael answers the governance question.
- Site Creation Rights is a key governance theme with SharePoint. How are organizations approaching site creation rights today, and is a sea change expected in 12 months?
- SharePoint 2010 can be used to power Intranets too, of which collaboration is a piece. Here's a post-IBF webinar discussion on SharePoint 2010 for Intranets, along with the governance implications.
The Human Factors of SharePoint
- Introducing SharePoint brings changes in work practice and process. How are firms approaching user adoption, and which adoption strategies work best?
- User adoption isn't just a challenge for SharePoint though. It's a general problem with all collaboration tools. See Michael's book on user adoption for greater insight.
- How can teams make use of the collaboration capabilities of SharePoint? Learn more about Seamless Teamwork, a book by Michael that helps business teams understand the possibilities of SharePoint within their work. If you would prefer a multimedia introduction to Seamless Teamwork, see the Seamless Teamwork Online Study Group.
- SharePoint My Site is critical to using SharePoint when recruiting a project team. How can users establish their My Site Profile for maximum effect?
The Technology of SharePoint
- A review of SharePoint 2010 for collaboration: Something Old, Something New, Something Blue, published by Messaging News.
- SharePoint 2010 introduces a plethora of new enhancements, including List Views, simultaneous co-editing using Word 2010 and SharePoint 2010, and simultaneous co-editing using Excel Web App in SharePoint 2010.
- SharePoint 2010 offers better cross-browser support, including Apple Safari. Apple iPad users can also buy the SouthLabs SharePlus client for SharePoint.
- SharePoint 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services v3 were a great improvement over previous versions of SharePoint. How well does SharePoint 2007 support the collaborative requirements of teams?
- There is a vibrant ecosystem of third-party developers and ISVs around SharePoint. What are the key opportunities for extending SharePoint 2007 for collaboration?
- Mindjet offers an edition of its mind mapping software that tightly links with SharePoint. Is it any good?
- Microsoft Surface could be used collaboratively with other people. With or without SharePoint. Learn about the possibilities of Surface for team collaboration.
