-
Start with a deep functional
analysis of SharePoint: Content
management, collaboration, search, business intelligence and portals can all
represent mission-critical areas of functionality. Assess each area for
functional fit within your organization.
-
Look for overlap with existing
investments, and be prepared to rationalize your portfolio: This could require a replacement
or co-existence strategy with existing systems or a decision not to use
SharePoint for given workloads.
-
Prepare
to let a little chaos reign: User-generated
content and user-developed applications will each provide challenges but will
ultimately lead to organizations receiving greater value from SharePoint.
-
Aim for early wins with portal and
collaboration: Implement
these high-value workloads and establish operational stability before moving on
to more risky kinds of applications.
-
Hold off on custom development at first: Ensure that custom code is introduced into the
environment in a diligent and controlled manner that does not compromise
existing, possibly critical, workloads.
-
When ready, partner with application
development & delivery pros (AD&D): The
success of your IW depends on meaningful integration with external line-of-business
applications, data and processes.
-
Only deploy workloads when you have the skills to support
them: If you don't have the resources to handle a
particular workload, delay it until you can do it right.
-
Be prepared to support SharePoint with
third-party add-ons: In typical Microsoft fashion, SharePoint has some areas of
very strong functionality and some areas where Microsoft's partner ecosystem
must fill gaps.
-
Budgets must match strategies: Funding for
resources, staff, training and change management must match the ambitions the
organization has for its SharePoint environment.
-
Get in front of Office 365: Office 365 will
make SharePoint far more affordable and easy to implement and will have the
greatest impact among smaller organizations.
ROB
KOPLOWITZ is a vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research,
serving Content & Collaboration Professionals. For more information, visit www.forrester.com.
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