Embraced by many Fortune 500 companies, Microsoft SharePoint is one of the popular and powerful platforms for enterprise-wide collaboration due to its high scalability, flexibility and customizability. For reaping the maximum benefits of any technology, one should be aware of the reality checks in terms of its strengths and weaknesses. While some think that the SharePoint, backed by its strong user-base is often considered as the solution for everything, while others think that it primarily offers just an efficient document storage. In this blog, we’ll bust some of the popular SharePoint myths and discuss its capabilities for you to gain the optimum benefits from this platform.
Myth 1 – SharePoint Is Just a Document Storage
Many organizations think that SharePoint can be used only to store documents. Well, we say that SharePoint can also be used for storing information. However, if you are using it just for this purpose, you are highly underutilizing this platform.
Besides storing the documents, it not only serves as an efficient content management system but also manages the associated business processes effectively. It can take care of collaboration, drafting, reviews, approvals and content distribution to the employees. It enables businesses to build intranet with the capabilities of discussion boards, dashboards, sharing of calendar and phone directory and many more. SharePoint helps businesses automate their processes through powerful workflows. Thus, it facilitates social networking coupled with business intelligence – a capability, mostly overlooked by many organizations.
Myth 2 – SharePoint is Super Easy and Anyone Can Do It Instantly
Most users think that they can start using SharePoint immediately by applying security, creating sites, adding users. It’s so simple to search, create folders and nested folders, create sub-sites and upload documents without giving a second thought. After all, if the interface is user-friendly, why should we restrict ourselves? Hold on! Have you ever imagined the chaos and confusion it will cause if all users start creating folders and uploading documents without proper planning? There will be a mess with data redundancy and lack of standardization and the platform which was supposedly enhance your company’s productivity with efficient collaboration, will soon become counter-productive.
To enjoy the benefits, SharePoint adoption needs proper planning with due diligence to avoid data redundancy and efficient data organization for quick search and retrieval. It includes the optimum limit of levels for nested folders, appropriate user right allocation, proper categorizing and labeling items by tagging each document with metadata. Thus, user training and adoption are vital for any successful SharePoint Implementation.
Myth 3 – SharePoint is User Configurable
Many users think that they can configure SharePoint, which is not true. The users don’t decide on the rights they should have and can’t grant themselves any rights.
For gaining most out of your SharePoint investment, it should be customized and supported by either professional SharePoint consultants or in-house administrators who assign the users appropriate access rights based on their roles in the collaboration process or workflows. It can be changed only with the system administrator’s permission for robust system security and performance.
Myth 4 – SharePoint is a Database
Some people think that SharePoint is a database. SharePoint has user lists with data types and columns to store data and prima facie, it looks very much similar to a relational database. However, never take it as a substitute to a powerful RDBMS like SQL Server as when it comes to managing large transaction volumes with complex data relations, SharePoint will take you nowhere.
The SharePoint is designed for efficient enterprise-level collaboration and document and process management and not for managing huge data volumes. You can use SharePoint to create task lists or store contacts but not for high-volume transaction processing.
Myth 5 – Out-of-the-box SharePoint is Enough
With its strong out-of-the-box (OOTB) features, some users think that it suffices the purpose to reap all the benefits associated with the SharePoint. It’s fine to start with SharePoint OOTB. However, when it comes to a perfectly designed personalized SharePoint Portal, you can’t achieve it with the OOTB alone.
A professional SharePoint customization can help you to brand your SharePoint portal with dynamic websites with rich visuals and your look and feel that offers positive user experience, appreciation and success. You can also use many tools and themes to start with your SharePoint personalization journey.
Myth 6 – High Cost of SharePoint Solution
Many users think and raise a concern that SharePoint adoption costs a fortune. However, it’s not entirely true.
The total cost of SharePoint implementation varies widely based on the additional expenses including integrations, migrations, workflows, customizations and more. However, the SharePoint subscription plans start at as little as $5 and with additional expenses, the cost can go as high as $200,000. At the same time, you can lower the SharePoint Implementation cost significantly with an allocated budget and IT consulting based on your business needs by conducting the value/cost analysis, advising to utilize SharePoint OOTB functionality wherever possible and opting for an iterative development methodology.
According to an independent study conducted by AIIM (Association of Information and Image Management), 4 out of the top 5 SharePoint failure reasons among 400 SharePoint users are the organization’s internal problems including lack of strategic plans for SharePoint, absence of SharePoint expertise, lack of user training and more. Therefore, it’s imperative e to have an experienced and expert SharePoint consulting partner for a successful SharePoint adoption. With around a decade of experience, our comprehensive SharePoint Services and a team of certified SharePoint consultants, WaferWire Cloud Technologies can enable you to maximize your SharePoint investment. To know how you can reap SharePoint technology benefits with minimum cost for your business case, contact us today.
