A Love Letter to SharePoint
May 3, 2012
SharePoint is indeed everywhere. A reader cannot avoid the topic in the blogosphere. And while SharePoint adoption at times seems obligatory, loving SharePoint does not have to be. Andy Moore tackles the topic of SharePoint devotion in, “SharePoint, I Love You.”
Moore begins:
That conquering sound you hear is SharePoint, and it is nothing short of apocalyptic. You’ll see it mentioned elsewhere a couple times in this White Paper: The fastest growing business application in Microsoft history (making it pretty much everyone’s history), 20,000 SharePoint users have been added every day for the last five years. That’s kind of astonishing.
The white paper he mentions is a KMWorld offering available for download at the above link. Among the reasons listed for SharePoint dominance are: integration between the front office solutions and back-office repository, ubiquitous nature of other Microsoft solutions, and an affordable price point. One contributor talks of a “synergistic combination of tools that you can’t find on any other platform.”
We agree but disagree. Fabasoft Mindbreeze, a leading third-party enterprise solution, boasts an integrated suite of solutions to meet all of your companies information storage and retrieval needs. Products include web site search, mobile appliances, enterprise search, and connectors to address interoperability with other software.
The center of excellence for your company’s digital knowledge, information pairing brings enterprise and Cloud together.
Understanding content, semantic search
Mobility – Access on smartphones and tablets
In real-time – Search as Cloud service
Access to all data sources
Extensible with connectors
Fulfills compliance requirements
While SharePoint may hold the lion’s share of the market, we expect smart third party solutions like Fabasoft Mindbreeze to make bigger and bigger market gains.
Emily Rae Aldridge, May 3, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Breaking Down SharePoint
April 26, 2012
Tim Anderson breaks down the nuts and bolts of SharePoint, what it is and what it is not, in “Making Sense of SharePoint 2010.” Anderson gives an overview:
Microsoft calls SharePoint a ‘business collaboration platform,’ a suitably vague description for a multi-faceted product. SharePoint can be a content management system for an internal or external website, a document management system, a business search portal, and more. So what is SharePoint really? Technically, it is an ASP.NET application which runs on Internet Information Services (IIS), Microsoft’s web server, and which stores most of its data in a SQL Server database. Conceptually, it is the outcome of Microsoft’s efforts over many years to create a web storage system, a document repository accessible via a web browser.
SharePoint has become ubiquitous, and almost obligatory, yet little writing is dedicated to what SharePoint is at its heart. Instead, much talk is devoted to customization options. But if we see it for what it is, perhaps we can also recognize that there are other options. There are alternatives to installing an overwhelming SharePoint infrastructure and then spending countless resources on customization processes.
Check out Fabasoft Mindbreeze for instance. The Mindbreeze solutions are more than search, extending into mobile, web site, and enterprise realms.
Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise understands you, or to be more precise, understands what the most important information is for you at any precise moment in time. It is the center of excellence for your knowledge and simultaneously your personal assistant for all questions. The information pairing technology brings enterprise and Cloud data together.
Perhaps most valuable, Fabasoft Mindbreeze ensures that all of their solutions work alone, or as a compliment to an existing SharePoint infrastructure. Mix and match Mindbreeze offerings to get the customization your organization wants without all the headaches and extra work.
Emily Rae Aldridge, April 26, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
A Discussion on Private versus Public Cloud in SharePoint
April 20, 2012
In “Private SharePoint Cloud Beats Other Cloud Hosting Options for Enterprises on Price, Practicability,” Jay Atkinson, CEO of AIS Network, discusses public versus private in the Cloud hosting environment. Atkinson suggests that Private SharePoint Cloud “is in.”
He explains,
A private SharePoint cloud is simply more economical and easier to manage for a large organization with security and compliance concerns, Atkinson said. An enterprise SharePoint Server 2010 platform implemented wholly in a private cloud, including the online storage components, exceeds core compliance requirements and surpasses the benefits of a public cloud or hybrid cloud.
With SharePoint 2010 deployed entirely in a private cloud, Atkinson said the customer gets:
- a hosted environment that is exclusively internal to the organization,
- complete control of its servers, security, permissions, policies and customization,
- seamless federation between line-of-business systems and various data sources,
- quick scalability for system resources, and
- the ability to move other core applications and platforms to the same private cloud.
Atkinson is quick to point out, though, that public cloud services are okay and often economical for small to mid-size businesses. Atkinson’s comments may be worth a look to keep in the loop on Cloud trends. But the article is just an introduction and you may want to do a little more research before choosing a Cloud service.
While SharePoint is a powerful and complex system, we know there are limitations when the Cloud is introduced, especially when it comes to search and security. For a Cloud solution in your SharePoint environment, check out Fabasoft Mindbreeze.
Here you can read about the power of information pairing:
Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise and the Cloud fit perfectly together. The Cloud makes you and your business mobile – Mindbreeze makes itself at home in the Cloud. The intelligent search is available as a Cloud service. This means that you, if you so desire, Mindbreeze can run without any installation whatsoever – we operate the search machine for you. All the data that you manage in the Cloud are made searchable by Fabasoft Mindbreeze. Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise is therefore also your center of excellence for your knowledge in the Cloud.
Add in certified security with regular audits for security standards compliance, and Mindbreeze connects users to their needed information without compromising information security. Check out the full suite of solutions at Mindbreeze to see what works for you.
More on AIS Network: AIS Network takes businesses to the cloud. Hosting pioneer AISN is a leader in cloud-based hosting for Microsoft SharePoint, SharePoint FIS, SaaS and other mission-critical applications for organizations with demanding security and compliance requirements.
Philip West, April 20, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
New Book Helps Organizations Increase the Value of SharePoint
April 11, 2012
Frequent SharePoint blogger and author Christian Buckley has co-authored a book devoted to SharePoint 2010. Market Watch provides full details in, “Axceler Product Evangelist Christian Buckley Co-Authors New Book on Microsoft SharePoint 2010.”
“Christian Buckley, Director of Product Evangelism and a Microsoft SharePoint Server MVP, has co-authored a new book titled, ‘Microsoft SharePoint 2010: Creating and Implementing Real-World Projects.’ Buckley and co-authors Jennifer Mason, Brian T. Jackett, and Wes Preston help readers build effective business solutions with Microsoft SharePoint 2010 by following repeatable business analysis and design principles from real-world projects. This hands-on book, published by Microsoft Press, focuses on a different business scenario in each chapter, using a standard template to guide the reader through the solution-building process from start to finish. Readers can also learn how to utilize SharePoint out of the box to develop a corporate intranet, a media hub, a system to support distributed teams, and solutions to many other scenarios.”
Buckley often focuses his efforts on getting the most out of a SharePoint deployment, knowing that most organizations will not be satisfied with its out-of-the-box functionality. This book will no doubt improve the quality of life for many a SharePoint developer.
However, we wonder if there is not a simpler solution. Third-party solutions like those offered by Fabasoft Mindbreeze provide a seamless and intuitive add-on to an existing SharePoint installation. Bringing together semantic pairing, mobile capabilities, and a scalable solution for the Cloud or an on-site installation, Fabasoft Mindbreeze can save organizations from the cost of customization suggested by Buckley.
“Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise understands you, or more precisely understands exactly what the most important information is for you at any given moment. It’s a center of excellence and simultaneously your personal assistant for all questions. The information pairing technology brings enterprise and Cloud together.”
The more information, the better, and Buckley’s book is worth a read. However, do not neglect smart third-party options like Fabasoft Mindbreeze when analyzing the customization needs of your organization.
Emily Rae Aldridge, April 11, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
SharePoint Extranet Collaboration Manager 2010
April 6, 2012
SharePoint Extranet Collaboration Manager 2010 now has an online extranet sandbox to allow users to test drive the product before purchase. PR Web gives the full report as posted in Virtual Strategy Magazine, “SharePoint Solutions Creates Online Evaluation Sandbox for SharePoint Extranet Collaboration Manager 2010.”
“Developed by SharePoint Solutions, SharePoint Extranet Collaboration Manager for SharePoint Server 2010 and SharePoint Foundation 2010 (ExCM) provides the easy SharePoint extranet collaboration and simplified SharePoint extranet administration that SharePoint 2010 is missing in the out-of-the-box product. From its award-winning 2007 release, ExCM has established itself as the industry leader in powerful, effective SharePoint extranet deployment and management. This latest version adds substantially greater functionality and is simple and intuitive to use. Because EXCM integrates right into SharePoint 2010, all of its features are accessible from within SharePoint itself, so there is no proprietary interface or separate program to learn.”
Third party solutions that interface with SharePoint are a necessity for organizations that need to increase the functionality of their SharePoint deployment without committing huge resources to a customization project. However, a cutting edge solution like Fabasoft Mindbreeze may be a smarter long-term solution for organizations seeking an intuitive, scalable, and mobile enterprise search interface. Functioning stand-alone or as a compliment to an existing SharePoint installation, Mindbreeze is ahead of the competition in mobile searching and the Cloud.
“Smartphones and tablets allow you to act quickly in business matters – an invaluable competitive advantage. Fabasoft Mindbreeze Mobile makes company knowledge available on all mobile devices. You can act freely, independently and yet always securely. Irrespective of what format the data is in. Full functionality: Search results are displayed homogenously to the web client with regards to clear design and intuitive navigation.”
SharePoint needs a little help in realizing its full potential, and while many add-on solutions are on the market, Fabasoft Mindbreeze is worth a second look.
Emily Rae Aldridge, April 6, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
SharePoint 2010 Apple iPad Capability
April 3, 2012
SharePoint Server 2010 allows users to begin using Apple iPad devices to retrieve business intelligence content. Certain restrictions apply, but the functionality is introduced. The details are provided in, “Extra! Extra! Apple iPad Users Can Now View SharePoint Business Intelligence Content.”
“For SharePoint business intelligence users, CU 2011-12 for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 is particularly exciting because it opens the door for people to get business intelligence content on Apple iPad devices. People can now view PerformancePoint reports and scorecards and Excel Services reports on iPad devices running the iOS 5 Safari browser. We just published an article on TechNet that provides more details about which kinds of reports and scorecards will and won’t work on your iPad, how to configure business intelligence content to display with best results, and how to navigate content on your iPad.”
As technology changes, becoming increasingly more mobile, there is no doubt that large infrastructures will have to catch up. However, it seems that SharePoint is a bit late to the mobile game. Third party solutions, like those from Fabasoft Mindbreeze, have entire solutions and connectors devoted to streamlining mobile capability.
Read more about Fabasoft Mindbreeze Mobile:
“Smartphones and tablets allow you to act quickly in business matters – an invaluable competitive advantage. Fabasoft Mindbreeze Mobile makes company knowledge available on all mobile devices. You can act freely, independently and yet always securely. Irrespective of what format the data is in. Full functionality: Search results are displayed homogenously to the web client with regards to clear design and intuitive navigation.”
If your organization is moving more and more toward mobility, and SharePoint is having a hard time keeping up, consider adding a smart third-party solution like Fabasoft Mindbreeze. Mindbreeze can compliment an existing infrastructure or stand on its own.
Emily Rae Aldridge, April 3, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Combine the Cloud and On-Premise Capabilities in SharePoint
March 19, 2012
Over at the SharePoint Pro Blog, Chris McNulty recently posted, “The SharePoint Decision: Do We Choose Cloud or On-Premises?” In the article, the author looks at SharePoint Online versus on-premises SharePoint. SharePoint Online lacks a few features found in an on-premises farm, but SharePoint Online opens new doors that are appealing. McNulty offers a list of questions to ask yourself with respective scores for each answer that may help you decide between the two SharePoint options.
McNulty has this to say:
It’s also important to remember that a cloud vision is almost always a future-looking strategy. Since the cloud is uniformly available, it’s easier to deliver content to users with less respect for their immediate location or device (PCs, tablets, smartphones). Similarly, although Office 365 and SharePoint Online lack features relative to on-premises SharePoint, this isn’t expected to be a permanent situation. If we project forward through the next release of SharePoint, we can forecast a time when the on-premises and cloud versions of SharePoint provide nearly identical functions.
The guidance questions cover a variety of topics, such as the extent of your SharePoint IT team, geographic limitations, and budget outlooks. These questions may be helpful to help you evaluate your system, but we like a simpler solution. Consider a third party solution that combines the best of both worlds. A solution worth a close look is Fabasoft Mindbreeze. One of the key components in their full suite of solutions is the information pairing technology:
Our information pairing technology makes you unbeatable. Information pairing brings enterprise information and information in the Cloud together. This gives you an overall image of a company’s knowledge. This is the basis for your competitive advantage. In this way you can act quickly, reliably, dynamically and profitably in all business matters. Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise and the Cloud fit perfectly together. The Cloud makes you and your business mobile – Mindbreeze makes itself at home in the Cloud.
Read more about the integrated solution that requires no installation at Fabasoft Mindbreeze.
Philip West, March 19, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Bearing with the Hassles of SharePoint
February 23, 2012
Forrester’s latest report on SharePoint 2010 remarks that the platform’s strengths outweigh its weaknesses, providing enough business value to overcome the hassles. Toby Ward comments on the Forrester report in, “If You Can Afford It, SharePoint May be Worth the Hassles.”
Ward disagrees, recommending each organization evaluate whether or not SharePoint is the right solution for their situation:
While the power and feature set of SP 2010 is undeniable, it turns out it is more expensive, more complicated and fails to live up to a number of key expectations. It is, however, a vast improvement over 2007, and is particularly more so for business users such as corporate communications, marketing and HR, who rely more heavily on enterprise content management, collaboration, and portal features.
In his pro/con list, Ward remarks that a major weak point of SharePoint 2010 is its mobile access problems on a variety of platforms. One solution that provides excellent mobile access is Fabasoft Mindbreeze.
Read more about how their Fabasoft Mindbreeze Mobile solution compliments an existing enterprise infrastructure:
Fabasoft Mindbreeze Mobile makes company data available on all mobile devices . . . You can act independently and freely – yet always securely. Irrespective of what format the data is in. Full functionality: the display of the search results is homogenous to the tried and tested web client in terms of clear design and intuitive navigation . . . Existing access rights to company-internal documents and data remain maintained in the view via the mobile client. The user only receives information for which he/she has access rights.
While some organizations may suffer through the idiosyncracies of SharePoint, there are third-party solutions that work with SharePoint to greatly improve the user experience. Fabasoft Mindbreeze is a strong contender, and a great place to start if your organization wants to improve its enterprise usability.
Emily Rae Aldridge, February 23, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Bridging the Gap of Social Business Needs with SharePoint
February 3, 2012
Social business, social media, anything social and it is written up as a weakness in SharePoint. Widely adopted as a broad solution, SharePoint is not exactly end-user friendly or intuitive. The SharePoint Social blog conquers this very topic in, “39 Solutions for Doing Social Business with SharePoint.”
The author proposes:
Doing Social Business with SharePoint is easy and hard at the same time. Easy, because SharePoint has lot’s of basic social functions build in like mysites, ratings, content tagging, blogs, wikis, noteboards, and more. Just start to use them. Hard, because the basic out of the box functions SharePoint falls short of many end-user expectations around social. Customization or the addition of third-party products is needed.
Agreeing with the author above, customization of SharePoint or a third-party solution must be implemented. However, third-party solutions are a much easier answer to the question than customization. Saving time and costly man-hours, there are many good third party solutions that seamlessly provide SharePoint end users with the added functionality so desperately needed.
One solution that is particularly smart and efficient is Fabasoft Mindbreeze. Its suite of solutions solves all the problems listed by our author, including: mobile, website customization, and connectors to other software. Mindbreeze is one solution that works alongside SharePoint but builds connections through an organization’s entire system.
Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise is the leading solution for fast and comprehensive access to corporate-wide knowledge. 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.
Read more about the entire suite of Fabasoft Mindbreeze offerings here.
Emily Rae Aldridge, February 3, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Considerations in SharePoint Hosting
January 20, 2012
Finding an enterprise search solution that works for your organization is no longer just about securing the best solution, it now extends to securing the best hosting option as well. SharePoint is obviously the most widely implemented enterprise solution, but even after choosing a SharePoint installation, a decision must be made whether to host on-site or in the cloud. More and more customers are moving toward cloud hosting for reasons including security and access.
A blog entry, “SharePoint Cloud Hosting Explained,” emphasizes the need to secure an appropriate and smart cloud hosting solution:
When searching for Sharepoint Cloud hosting, companies should be sure that whatever hosting company they choose to work with, is willing to create a system that is tailored-made to their particular needs, if necessary. Some hosting companies will allow businesses to pay as they go or give them the option of purchasing a license. It will also be extremely important that all of a business’ data is stored on servers that are secure.
One third-party solution that has received accolades for its work in the cloud is Fabasoft Mindbreeze. While working as an alternative to SharePoint, or as a compliment to an existing SharePoint infrastructure, Mindbreeze is a smart enterprise solution that works seamlessly on the cloud. Read more on their “Search in the Cloud” page.
Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise and the Cloud fit together perfectly. The Cloud makes your business mobile; Mindbreeze finds its way in the Cloud. This intelligent search is available as a Cloud service. This means that, if you so desire, Fabasoft Mindbreeze can run without any installation whatsoever – we operate the search engine for you. All the data that you manage in the Cloud is made searchable by Fabasoft Mindbreeze. This makes Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise the center of excellence for your knowledge in the Cloud too.
If you desire to cut down on installation and maintenance time and cost, hosting your enterprise solution on the cloud is worth looking into. Check out Fabasoft Mindbreeze and see if their solution and cloud hosting opportunities will work for your organization.
Emily Rae Aldridge, January 20, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
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