Increase SharePoint User Adoption with Mindbreeze
March 5, 2012
SharePoint 2010 is no doubt a ubiquitous content management platform, but not all employees jump on the bandwagon so quickly. Communication experts Sam Marshall and Camilla Herrmann weigh-in on the SharePoint user adoption debate in, “Are Employees Rejecting SharePoint?”
Marshall and Herrmann both point out that SharePoint is a powerful application, but Marshall brings the focus to a uSamp survey released last year that revealed 80 percent of organizations using SharePoint said employees continue to share documents as email attachments.
Harrmann offers this rebuttal:
Perhaps the most collaborative tool in the Swiss Army penknife that makes up SharePoint is the people search. Properly configured, updated and linked to My Site profiles, it’s the way to find the person that you need in a large organization. Once you have tracked them down, however you collaborate after that, SharePoint has done its job.
SharePoint success among your employees may be determined by how you define collaboration and your expectations for the software. Perhaps rating documents for usefulness, people search, and forum comments are all features that can serve as a gateway introduction to the social enterprise arena. But with the core list and library features, SharePoint can, and should, be doing much more for your employees. Marshall argues the user interface is particularly unpleasant and does not charm the lay-user employee that is inclined to modern Web sites that are increasingly informative, aesthetically pleasing, and functioning with real-time data.
To fill in the user-interface gaps in your SharePoint system, consider a third party application. We like the good reviews for the Fabasoft Mindbreeze suite of solutions. With clear navigation and a self-explanatory interface, Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise facilitates findability.
Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise finds every scrap of information within a very short time, whether document, contract, note, e-mail or calendar entry, in intranet or internet, person- or text-related. The software solution finds all required information, regardless of source, for its users. Get a comprehensive overview of corporate knowledge in seconds without redundancy or loss of data.
While debates abound about SharePoint user-adoption, Mindbreeze can save employees time by connecting them to the right information via a user-friendly interface. Navigate to www.mindbreeze.com to read more.
Philip West, March 5, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Protected: When Good SharePoint Governance Goes Bad or Lack There Of
March 3, 2012
Protected: SharePoint Microblogging Shares Content Quickly and Easily
March 2, 2012
SharePoint for your Public Facing Site: Key Points
March 2, 2012
Rapid changes in technology have also brought along changes in web expectations. Users more and more want informative, aesthetically pleasing sites that are consistently functioning with real-time data, which can be challenging to achieve. Eric Riz outlines four considerations to keep in mind before you begin building your external site in, “SharePoint: Should You Use it for Your Public Website?”
Some may be unaware that SharePoint can support a public facing site. Some SharePoint sites also integrate content with collaboration. All these features sound good, but Riz discusses four key points to keep in mind before jumping in headfirst. As with most complex information undertakings, a good plan cannot be underestimated.
Riz explains:
It’s important that you plan sufficiently for your site; don’t underestimate the amount of planning required getting your SharePoint website together. We recommend that companies realize the importance of putting their content online and plan accordingly. Begin by defining your branding strategy and the basic layout of your page template; this is where you’ll need to decide whether you want an “off-the-rack” look and feel, or something customized. The latter will require additional time and budget consideration.
Riz also covers considerations in licensing, ensuring the development team is well-versed in extending SharePoint capabilities to the Internet, and staging the deployment.
To give your Web site a powerful search feature with a user-friendly experience, consider a third party solution like Fabasoft Mindbreeze InSite. MindBreeze InSite understands that an attractive web site is a company’s digital business card – your shop window.
InSite turns your website into a user-friendly knowledge portal for your customers. Fabasoft Mindbreeze InSite recognizes correlations and links through semantic and dynamic search processes. This delivers pinpoint accurate and precise ‘finding experiences’.
With no installation or configuration required, InSite can save you valuable resources that would otherwise be spent on development and training. Navigate to www.mindbreeze.com to read more about web site architect solutions from Mindbreeze.
Philip West, March 2, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
The Old New Fast
March 2, 2012
The Fast Search & Transfer story continues to unfold. I think the approach is closer to one of those 1950 motion picture serials or chapter plays. Just when I thought Don of Don Daredevil Rides Again as a goner, he would survive. Wow, I need some popcorn.
With the sale of Fast Search & transfer to Microsoft in 2008, the subsequent hassle over Fast Search revenues and the activities of its Board of Directors, the search system morphed into FS4SP (great name!). The former Fast Search wizards and mavens scattered to the four winds.
Some remain at Microsoft. Others set up new companies which have moved beyond the Fast Search technology like Attivio. Consulting and service firms have flowered. A great example is Comperio which describes itself with this tagline: Search Matters.
Comperio is venturing outside of the Home of the Vikings with a new seminar series in conjunction with Microsoft (the world’s leader in search because there are more than 100 million SharePoint installations and an equal number of findability challenges) and BA Insight. You can read about the seminars here, but the details are sketchy. My hunch is that the content will praise SharePoint and then explain why one should license tools from the hosts, but that’s the way Microsoft’s ecosystem works.
The Comperio Web site ran an interesting interview with a former Fast Search wizard, Bjørn Olstad in “Hard Job Keeping Search Technology in Norway.” The interview summary contained some “search gems,” which I wanted to capture. So, check out the original and here are the points which I noted. My observations to myself appear in italics and in blood red, almost the color of financial red ink, but a tad darker:
- The demand for enterprise search has been increasing. The cause is the increase in unstructured data. Okay, great insight. I was only partially aware of the growth in digital information.
- Comperio has 50 employees and is a system integrator, Microsoft Partner of the Year, and specializes in the use of search technology to integrate disparate sources of information. Comperio is thriving like other SharePoint solution providers. I think this is because SharePoint and FS4SP needs quite a lot of love and care, diaper changing, baby oil, and spoon feeding. If the system worked, not so much effort would be needed, but that’s just my opinion.
- Comperio is hiring for its Oslo and London offices. The more SharePoint, the greater the need for mechanics to fix the system. Another opinion, maybe a hypothesis.
We cover a number of articles about SharePoint. It is clear that SharePoint business is booming, and I think a company which understands the old Fast can make a lot of new money because the issues which contributed to the Fast revenue shortfall may lurk in the dark corners of a SharePoint implementation.
So the old new Fast is back and generating significant revenue for the former Fast specialists who are now focused on SharePoint and the new Fast. Makes sense, right?
Stephen E Arnold, March 2, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Protected: SharePoint Content Can Be Saved as a Wiki
March 1, 2012
Plan for Scalability with SharePoint
March 1, 2012
Brett Kovatch, “The SharePoint Dude,” takes an non-traditional approach to the common issue of SharePoint and its long list of things to do and things not to do. Kovatch gives his offerings in the article, “Five SharePoint Don’t-Dos.”
In addition to topics like planning and governance, the author also addresses the importance of scalability:
Don’t forget to plan for growth! This is extremely critical. All too often, I’ve seen companies build a solution that works . . . Right now. In order to build a successful solution, it must be one that works now and in the future. So many companies start out small and then, because they have done some key things right, suddenly grow to an unexpected scale. This is great news (unless you failed to plan for it). If you’re not prepared for growth, you will be scrambling at a time when your business critically needs a stable solution.
Many third-party solutions can make the issue of scalability a much simpler one. Fabasoft Mindbreeze offers an entire suite of enterprise search solutions. In addition to the software itself, the Fabasoft Mindbreeze Appliance meets an organization’s needs by providing swifter implementation and seamless upgrades.
The Fabasoft Mindbreeze Appliance is the optimal basis for highly efficient enterprise-wide search and easy configuration. To utilize the full potential of a software solution it is essential that hardware and software are fully aligned. Even more, the required time for deployment to the user is critical for gaining the highest ROI. The Fabasoft Mindbreeze Appliance components have been optimally synchronized in numerous tests.
The device can be simply scaled out at any time, eliminating the need for on-site scalability preparations or plans. While any enterprise solution should be implemented with care and planning, the addition of a third party solution can greatly reduce the effort that goes into preparation and customization and greatly improve the overall user experience.
Emily Rae Aldridge, March 1, 2012
Sponsored by: Pandia.com
Protected: Unhappy SharePoint Users? Keep Throwing Software At Them
February 29, 2012
Taking Care with SharePoint 2010
February 29, 2012
Enough is written on SharePoint 2010 that we all know by now that SharePoint is not an intuitive creature. James Mullan eases the strain by offering, “SharePoint 2010 Do’s and Don’ts.”
Mullan sets the context for his suggestions:
SharePoint use will vary dependent on who you talk to, but for the most part organisations are using it as a Web Content Management (WCM) or an Enterprise Content Management System (ECM). A recent survey found that, since its release more then 10 years ago, SharePoint has moved from ‘being an intranet and basic collaboration application to something that is now used for portals, collaboration, forms processing, business intelligence, business process management and content management.’
The author then goes on to provide the promised list of do’s and don’ts, trying to save SharePoint developers investment in terms of time and money. While it is true that much can be streamlined through SharePoint customization, third party solutions are available that provide a more intuitive interface without a major investment in time or training.
Fabasoft Mindbreeze is one offering that provides a suite of solutions, performing as a standalone CMS or complimenting an existing SharePoint installation.
The essence of Fabasoft Mindbreeze can be summed up in terms of speed and efficiency:
Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise searches all structured and unstructured data (e-mails, documents, contracts, contacts, notes etc.) within seconds and provides all relevant information structured, prioritized and ready for further use. Staff resources are released to concentrate on their actual task.
If your organization could benefit from a more customized or intuitive enterprise search interface, but cannot spare the investment, investigate what Fabasoft Mindbreeze might be able to do to improve your existing CMS.
Emily Rae Aldridge, February 29, 2012
Sponsored by: Pandia.com
Protected: Get Connected: Link Your File Server to SharePoint
February 28, 2012
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