Survey Reveals SharePoint Users Breach Security
April 21, 2014
Security is central to any SharePoint installation, but a new study shows that security breaches may be more widespread and more severe than previously thought. At the SharePoint Conference in Las Vegas, CryptZone conducted an anonymous survey of SharePoint users. Read the full report in DarkReading.com’s article, “Cryptzone Survey Reveals SharePoint Users are Breaching Security Policies.”
The article begins:
“A study, conducted amongst attendees at last month’s Microsoft’s SharePoint Conference in Las Vegas (USA), has found that at least 36% of SharePoint users are breaching security policies, and gaining access to sensitive and confidential information to which they are not entitled. It also found that . . . nearly a quarter of them later confessed they knew of individuals who had accessed content that they were not entitled to, demonstrating that users were ignoring this directive. Most alarmingly of all, the majority of administrators perceive their ‘permission’ to be unrestricted.”
Stephen E. Arnold is a longtime leader in search and a follower of all things SharePoint. He reports his finding on his Web site ArnoldIT.com. He has found that security is among the top concerns of all SharePoint managers. Although users don’t typically want to share about their security weaknesses, greater transparency about security concerns can lead to more secure practices and implementations.
Emily Rae Aldridge, April 21, 2014
Box Claims to be a Better SharePoint
April 18, 2014
SharePoint has an increasing amount of competition in both the mobile and collaboration market spaces. And while most services cannot complete with SharePoint as a complete solution, they do pinpoint select functions in which they believe they can out-perform SharePoint. Read more about Box and how they view their role in the competition in the article, “Box CEO: ‘We’re Sort of Like Microsoft SharePoint Done Right.’”
“Box co-founder and CEO Aaron Levie on Tuesday took a swipe at Microsoft (MSFT), one of his company’s main competitors in the cloud-based collaboration software market space. During a cloud leadership panel at the Ingram Micro (IM) 2014 Cloud Summit in Hollywood, Fla., Levie promoted the Box platform to more than 1,000 channel partners in attendance by comparing it to Microsoft SharePoint.”
Stephen E. Arnold has made a career out of tracking and reporting on all things search on ArnoldIT.com. SharePoint has become a particular point of interest and is often covered. His findings do prove that users want an improved experience that many smaller solutions can offer, but the drawback to smaller solutions is having to patch together a lot of pieces to even come close to the comprehensiveness of SharePoint.
Emily Rae Aldridge, April 18, 2014
Microsoft Recalls SharePoint 2013 SP1
April 17, 2014
There may be trouble in paradise for Microsoft. After release SharePoint 2013 to a good deal of positive press, there has been some frustration over the wait for the release of Service Pack 1. Now it seems that Microsoft has had to recall the long-awaited update. Read the details in the Redmond article, “Microsoft Recalls SharePoint 2013 SP1.”
The article begins:
“Microsoft on Thursday said it is blocking downloads of the recently released Service Pack 1 (SP1) for SharePoint Server 2013. Microsoft released SharePoint Server 2013 SP1 in late February or early March through the Microsoft Download Center. However, access to the bits has now been ‘deactivated.’ No information was provided about when an updated service pack would be available. At press time, attempting to download SP1 for SharePoint Server 2013 returns a page not found message.”
Stephen E. Arnold is a longtime search expert, and spends quite a bit of attention on SharePoint for his Web service, ArnoldIT.com. He finds that enterprise managers and end users are seeking greater ease of use and customization. Setbacks like a service pack recall must be devastating to enterprise teams that finally started to feel like they were gaining ground with SharePoint.
Emily Rae Aldridge, April 17, 2014
SharePoint Opens Itself Up to Mobile Challenges Debate
April 16, 2014
Microsoft’s feelings have not been spared in the discussion of how late SharePoint was in coming to the mobile game. It seems as if they are digging themselves an ever-deepening hole. CMS Wire covers the latest news in their article, “Huddle Cofounder on SharePoint’s Mobile Challenges.”
The article begins:
“If Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella thought he was doing iPad users a favor by offering them Office support, all he accomplished was opening up a great big can of worms called collaboration, prompting some to argue that SharePoint has had its day. And while changes to Office don’t equate changes to SharePoint, the iPad launch spurred on a broader discussion amongst critics of the faults with SharePoint’s mobile collaboration capabilities.”
Stephen E. Arnold is a longtime leader in search and covers the latest search and enterprise news on his Web site, ArnoldIT.com. A lot of his recent SharePoint coverage has focused on mobile, but most of what SharePoint offers is mere catch-up compared to what users are expecting from consumer level technologies.
Emily Rae Aldridge, April 16, 2014
Top Reasons for SharePoint Failure
April 14, 2014
While SharePoint is one of the most widely adopted platforms in history, it is also one of the biggest risks. SharePoint implementations can fail, most often from lack of use. CMS Wire tackles the topic in their article, “4 Common Reasons SharePoint Projects Fail.”
The article begins:
“One of the first things I do is ask why employees aren’t using their current SharePoint implementation. You need to understand all the reasons why to take steps to mitigate that from happening again. I usually get a range of responses. This definitely isn’t an exhaustive list, but rather some of the most common explanations that I hear.”
The author then goes on to list the top four reasons: 1) lack of vision, 2) lack of time and resources, 3) lack of user buy-in, and 4) inadequate user training. And while there are many factors contributing to failure, the good news is that these are recoverable errors. Stephen E. Arnold gives a lot of attention to SharePoint on his Web service, ArnoldIT.com. He uses his longstanding expertise to share the latest SharePoint tips and tricks, including add-ons and third party solutions that can help organizations recover from some of the failures mentioned above.
Emily Rae Aldridge, April 14, 2014
AIIM Conference 2014 Highlights SharePoint
April 11, 2014
At AIIM Conference 2014 Roberto Yglesias led a session about empowering users through ECM. CMS Wire gives a rundown of the session in their article, “How to Win with SharePoint #AIIM14.”
The article relays Yglesias’ thoughts on SharePoint:
“’When SharePoint is deployed well, in my opinion it is the most complete collaboration tool out there,’ said Yglesias. ‘Great examples are when it’s used for project collaboration like the one we’ll be speaking about or when it’s used for team and department sites within an Intranet. Its features of offline synchronization using OneDrive for Business and the integration into Office makes it the perfect tool for productive collaboration, not to mention everything else users don’t care about but IT does such as retention policies, etc.’”
Stephen E. Arnold often has the same opinion about SharePoint. While competitors are growing in number and strength, a well-design and customized SharePoint implementation is still a great solution. On his Web site, ArnoldIT.com, Arnold puts his expertise to use by providing the best SharePoint tips, tricks, and news coverage available.
Emily Rae Aldridge, April 11, 2014
SharePoint Life Cycle Training Webinar
April 10, 2014
Webinars almost seem to be the life-blood of the SharePoint training world. PRWeb covers one of the most recent in their article, “No-Cost Webinar: Make User Adoption a Reality with SharePoint Life-Cycle Training.” And while this article focuses on life cycle training, the importance of SharePoint training is also addressed:
“This combination of instructor-led training and follow-up support helps SharePoint users retain knowledge thus empowering them to be more successful working in SharePoint in their current work environment. In addition, the value of empowering SharePoint users with the know-how can lead to more satisfied, confident workers, reduced work load on support team, and greater return on investment for the organization.”
Stephen E. Arnold also believes training is essential to SharePoint success. He covers all things search, including SharePoint, on his Web site, ArnoldIT.com. Broad SharePoint coverage is offered, and a major theme is the importance of training and customization to any organization’s SharePoint implementation.
Emily Rae Aldridge, April 10, 2014
Avoiding SharePoint Governance Mistakes
April 9, 2014
SharePoint governance is a big topic for most organizations. A panel of experts from Avanade, HiSoftware, Portal Solutions and Metalogix tackled the issue in a recent webinar. CMS Wire gives all the details in their article, “How to Avoid SharePoint Governance Mistakes.”
The author writes:
“If you’re wondering what your SharePoint governance plan should look like, look around you. It should probably look a lot like your organization.
There’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach, even if you’re in an highly regulated industry like healthcare of financial services that imposes strict regulations on information sharing.”
Stephen E. Arnold knows all to well the difficulty surrounding SharePoint governance. He is a longtime search expert, and often covers SharePoint issues on his Web site ArnoldIT.com. Webinars, training, and services like ArnoldIT.com are important resources for enterprise managers as they seek to balance the needs of their organization.
Emily Rae Aldridge, April 9, 2014
SharePoint May Prove Its Worth
April 8, 2014
SharePoint has long been on the defense about proving its worth, even though it is unrivaled when it comes to controlling the lion’s share of the enterprise market. A new report might make Microsoft feel a little more comfortable about its position, and CMS Wire covers the details in the article, “SharePoint: A ‘Formidable Enterprise Collaboration Platform.’”
The article begins:
“Everyone knows SharePoint has had problems. However, the Radicati Group just released a report that contains words new Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella must be more than happy to hear. According to the Microsoft SharePoint Market Analysis, 2014-2018, edited by Sara Radicati, Microsoft ironed out the wrinkles in the 2013 edition and now offers a powerful enterprise collaboration platform for business users.”
The article goes on to describe a few of the shortcomings that SharePoint has yet to overcome. Stephen E. Arnold is a longtime leader in search and often turns his expertise to the subject of SharePoint. He delivers content through his Web service, ArnoldIT.com. He has found that there is still progress to be made, but SharePoint 2013 went a long way toward improving the user experience.
Emily Rae Aldridge, April 8, 2014
SharePoint Adds PDF Converter
April 7, 2014
One of the major complaints about SharePoint is that users often have to leave the platform in order to accomplish basic tasks. SharePoint is getting closer to complete, and Microsoft is making some needed improvements. However, add-ons are also filling an important role in improving the user experience. Virtual Strategy covers one addition in their article, “SharePoint Now More Killer With PDF Document Converter; It’s No Fool’s Joke.”
The article begins:
“Today, PortalFront Tru Apps announces a new ‘Convert to PDF’ feature in SharePoint, bringing SharePoint a step closer to maturity . . . Converting documents from Word (doc, docx), Excel (xslx), PowerPoint and other formats to PDF directly in SharePoint libraries was not possible. The app also allows batch conversion and supports many other file types to PDF.”
Add-ons have been the key to SharePoint satisfaction according to many experts. Stephen E. Arnold is one of those experts, and he puts his thoughts down on the Web site, ArnoldIT.com. He covers a lot of SharePoint news and has found that user experience is highest when customization is at its best. But since many organizations cannot fully support internal customization, add-ons are key.
Emily Rae Aldridge, April 7, 2014
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