SharePoint: A Digital Fever Spreads
November 5, 2008
On November 1, 2008, Information Week ran a thoughtful article called ‘Can Microsoft Keep SharePoint Rolling’. You can read the full text article by J. Nicholas Hoover here. The article points out that there are 100 million SharePoint licenses now and the product will generate more than one billion dollars in revenue this year. Organizations large and small have embraced SharePoint as what Mr. Hoover calls a ‘Swiss Army Knife’. SharePoint can do collaboration, portal functions, content management, and more. The article cites a number of big name companies that have pushed SharePoint in new directions; for example, a wiki system.
For me the most important point in the article is that Mr. Hoover describes a bait-and-switch aspect of SharePoint that had not occurred to me. As I understand the argument, it is easy and economical to get started with SharePoint, then the for fee versions kick in. Mr. Hoover points out that there are several premium versions of the product. He also points out the concern for lock in; that is, getting out of the SharePoint handcuffs may be more difficult than slipping them on. The notion that SharePoint requires customization before it becomes essential was interesting as well.
Not surprisingly, enterprise software has an upside and downside. Mr. Hoover does a good job of pointing out these aspects of SharePoint. However, after I read the story, I came away with several different thoughts:
- With customization essential to getting full value from SharePoint, how will these tailored experiences be transferred to the cloud computing version of SharePoint?
- Are information technology professionals sufficiently expert to handle a single product that performs such a wide range of functions?
- Will users be able to access services and features without latency that forces some to create time consuming work arounds so an alternative exists when SharePoint experiences a glitch?
For me, these are important questions, and I am baffled how SharePoint training sessions hop over such key considerations. I poked my head into one tutorial about SharePoint, and I thought I was listening to a sales pitch by a Microsoft employee. The presenter was a respected consultant who has what I call SharePoint fever. Microsoft has patiently created a hunger for information about a server platform that I think is one third content management, one third missing, and one third customization. In order to convert vanilla SharePoint into a robust search and content processing system, third party technology is required. The basics in the system are neither easy to configure nor particularly robust. In order to get SharePoint to perform a bandwidth intensive operation such as permit collaboration on a large PowerPoint file, a significant computing infrastructure is required.
Some of the SharePoint fever infected remind me of those people who suddenly understood information because of the graphical browser. Instantly anyone could navigate and explore information. No training or expertise were required. What some people have learned is that a Web experience today is not much different from creating any other software. SharePoint is similar. Behind the sizzle and the snazzy demos is a great deal of technical work.
Personally I don’t see any slow down in SharePoint’s ability to infect users and procurement teams. If Google wants to make headway in the enterprise, it will have to find an answer to SharePoint. Right now, Microsoft is eating Google’s lunch in conference rooms across the world. Score one for Microsoft.
Stephen Arnold, November 5, 2008
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One Response to “SharePoint: A Digital Fever Spreads”
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I’ve seen this fever too (eg recent announcement by Oxford University to switch to Sharepoint), and wondered about it. But not seen anyone else wondering about it in a coherent way. So.. thanks. The point is – are enterprise users really getting the best possible experience when their IT department gets Sharepoint fever? And are companies getting the best value, since Sharepoint can get very expensive.