In my last post I mentioned an interesting white paper by Michael Sampson of Collaboration Success Advisors entitled “SharePoint for Business: A Six Step Strategy for Achieving Collaboration Success and Improving Business with SharePoint”. This report looks at SharePoint implementation through a different lens than many other analyses. It examines not only the technical aspects, but the business and behavioral considerations a company should examine.

The Executive Summary states: “There is a plethora of written material on the technology, features and technical installation and maintenance of SharePoint, but surprisingly little on the strategic side…SharePoint for Business proposes a six step strategic framework for thinking about, installing, and driving business-oriented adoption of SharePoint within organizations.”

Michael’s SharePoint strategic planning process starts with developing a vision on the business reasons for deploying SharePoint. For example, an accounting firm might set a goal of reducing its time to complete audits through the increased efficiency that SharePoint can bring. They would then clearly articulate the role that SharePoint could play in achieving that goal and would set out the business metrics for determining the success of the implementation. Good business practice for sure, but apparently rarely done.

The white paper then sets out a series of steps to achieve the vision and goals starting with the technical implementation and then delving into the softer, and less well understood, sides of implementing SharePoint. In these steps, Michael makes some very powerful arguments.

Firstly he points out that while older collaborative technologies such as email, file servers and local file folders are generally regarded as less effective, users have an “emotional connection” with them because they are familiar and reliable. So training and acceptance of a new way of doing things are critical to a successful implementation. The importance of this observation cannot be overlooked.

[In fact, we see this in our business every day. Companies are utilizing SharePoint clients like the Colligo Contributor Outlook add-in to bridge the gap between the everyday desktop and the SharePoint environment. They often find that users can make the jump to SharePoint more quickly if they can stay in the Outlook interface rather than needing to access it through a separate application (e.g. a browser).]

Later in the White Paper Michael compares individual software tools - like a word processor or spreadsheet – with group tools, like SharePoint. He makes a strong case that group tools are very different and therefore require upfront agreement between users on how the tools are used because, unlike stand alone applications, “…the way that each person uses the various tools in a SharePoint environment impacts on everyone who accesses that environment for their work.”

Each of the steps describes the background and methodology for dealing with these unique challenges then concludes with “Your Next Action”, a summary of how to put the steps into practice immediately. In my opinion, this white paper is a “must read” for any company that is implementing SharePoint for the first time or looking to better utilize their existing installation. Following the six steps will really help to get the most from this game-changing technology.

You can purchase your own copy of the white paper here.

Barry.