SharePoint Implementation – Why should you opt for the cloud?

SharePoint Implementation

According to a report, around 75% of Fortune 100 companies use SharePoint. The reason is simple: taking care of business processes and management is one of the essential parts of any business that wants to keep things going smoothly and effectively. Business process management is one of the most critical measures for efficiency and productivity. That’s where SharePoint implementations come in. SharePoint Services are a saviour for modern businesses due to their advanced storage, management, and collaboration solutions.

SharePoint can replace those bad (and never-ending!) days of task and employee management, information and document storage, and schedule monitoring with increased productivity days. But is it easy to implement SharePoint? Not really! Companies often run into a disaster if they initiate the implementation cycle without understanding their requirements, SharePoint’s capabilities, and a lot more. It can become a headache with poor ROI rather than the perfect content management system (CMS) your company was looking for.

SharePoint Services

So, the question is: how to carry out things the right way? We have the answer for you! But before we go giving out the secrets of a proper SharePoint implementation, lets briefly discuss the two types of SharePoint implementation options or “deployment models” that a SharePoint consulting service may give to you:

SharePoint On-premise server setup in on-premises SharePoint services is local, i.e., locally stored in the organization’s server. This would mean that the server would be dependent on the internal IT team in terms of maintenance and updates. The organization would be responsible for backing up its data and have complete ease of customization. The platforms speed and data security would be dependent on the local infrastructure and the internal IT team. Many SharePoint consulting service providers deal with on-premises implementations and help companies set up local servers.

1. SharePoint Online

SharePoint online is the more common form of SharePoint implementation. Most SharePoint consulting services deal solely in SharePoint online implementations due to its many benefits.

The reason for its popularity is that Microsoft itself manages the backup for SharePoint Online. The data is stored on Microsoft cloud servers, and Microsoft manages it. Speed, updates, maintenance etc., are all taken care of by Microsoft itself. Additionally, the security of these SharePoint services relies on industry-specific standards.

According to Statista, SharePoint implementations have only increased in the last four years, with cloud-based services taking the stage with a 19% increase. Furthermore, the study also concludes that in 2021, 86% of SharePoint implementations were cloud-based, i.e. SharePoint Online rather than on-premises servers. For this post, we will be focusing on SharePoint Online.

SharePoint is a highly adaptable, responsive, and customizable platform businesses use for their content management, collaboration, business process automation, and workflow creation needs. SharePoint Online helps increase productivity and efficiency across the organization and help boost profitability in the following ways:

1. Acting as a centralized hub
2. Streamlining collaboration and removing siloes
3. Integrating with the Microsoft technology stack
4. Customizing features and solutions to meet the company’s needs
5. Giving access to limitless storage for data management and security

There is more to why SharePoint implementations with the cloud are beneficial for organizations. SharePoint online has three key benefits that make it a popular choice in the modern workplace.

• Unlike SharePoint on-premises, a SharePoint Online implementation does not require hardware. An organization needs to subscribe to SharePoint Online or Office 365. However, hardware is required for a proper migration.
• SharePoint Online has more accessibility compared to on-premises. A solution based on SharePoint online can be easily accessed by a company’s employees on all mobile devices across the globe since the solution is deployed on Microsoft data centres.
• SharePoint Online is always the first to get updates. This is because of Microsoft’s cloud-first principle; therefore, SharePoint Online has the edge over on-premises.

SharePoint Consulting Services – what goes wrong in implementations?

Many SharePoint consulting services offer SharePoint implementations, and generally speaking, it is not often that technical issues cause the demise of a SharePoint project. It is usually a problem with the organizational process. A SharePoint implementation requires more than just a standard procedure; it requires a robust strategy aligned with the company’s existing and future goals. Whether an organization is directly licensing off SharePoint services from Microsoft or using SharePoint consulting services, a robust strategy will help ensure that the SharePoint solution is tailored to their needs and is accepted by their teams.

As with any software or change, employees can be reluctant to adapt to the new changes a SharePoint implementation brings. Having an implementation strategy that addresses all possible business scenarios that the new SharePoint solution will solve helps increase user adaptiveness. A well-designed plan for SharePoint Online implementation will have the following phases:

• Discovery – requirements gathered
• Design – solution created
• Deployment – solution deployed
• Configuration/customization – customizations made according to the company’s needs
• User adoption training and feedback – training and feedback exercises performed
• Support and evaluation – solution upgraded, and issues fixed

By following the above-mentioned steps, and creating a unified, robust strategy that defines the need for SharePoint, allows SharePoint to be customized according to the company needs, and finally further configured based on employee feedback, any company can achieve a smooth, streamlined, and successful SharePoint implementation. Companies need to understand that SharePoint has a lot to offer to their processes, but they need to determine how and where they can best utilize it. They can do this through internal research or by taking onboard SharePoint consulting services.

AlphaBOLD as your SharePoint partner:

There are many reasons why you should choose AlphaBOLD as your SharePoint partner! Our SharePoint team can help you build a solution that caters to your organization’s exact needs. Once you connect with our team, you will understand how!

Furthermore, we are a one-stop shop! Whether you are looking for help with specific platforms such as SharePoint, NetSuite, BI Solutions, AI, DevOps, Managed Services or Microsoft Dynamics Suite, we have got you covered. We have the technology and expertise to customize solutions, platforms, and apps to give system agnostic solutions to your needs.

Conclusion:

Successful technology introduction and implementation requires the careful following of proper steps and proven processes. Similarly, SharePoint implementation should also be backed by a robust strategy, well-thought plan, and sleek steps that drive the desired results.

Power the successful installation with defined goals and mentioned steps to leverage all the SharePoint benefits and get the best ROI. SharePoint integration and implementation will not happen overnight, and it might not be an easy process. But increased productivity and business growth are the definite perks that come as the by-product of the successful implementation!