SharePoint is a platform designed by Microsoft to bring organizations together and collaborate better. It is designed as an intranet and content management portal where organizations could use it to communicate and share information without a hassle. With small and medium sized businesses having working professionals at remote locations, SharePoint becomes a necessity for easy collaboration within the organization.
Microsoft has been highly successful with SharePoint for over a decade since its release in 2006. They claim to have sold 36.5 million SharePoint licenses within the first five years of its release till 2011. Providing incredibly easy document management abilities, SharePoint’s flawless integration with Office 360 has propelled it to be used in around 70% of all Fortune 500 companies around the world.
Here are some of the most important reasons why small businesses should implement SharePoint.
1. Hassle Free Communication with Staffs:
Microsoft SharePoint enables seamless communication between all members of your organization with fairly limited technical knowledge. Traditional methods like sending group mails have not been efficient as they are usually ignored and information fails to get registered with your staff. A lot of critical information is lost taking its toll on the organization. With SharePoint however, your staff are enabled to access all the important information whenever they require it.
2. Centralized Database:
Many organizations have understood the importance of holding a centralized database specific for their business. With SharePoint’s centralized document server OneDrive, your staffs have the power to access all the information they require when they want it. You can also send customized messages to your staff to give them a heads-up before an important client meeting, share specific client information, and information about important events everyone needs to know.
3. Easy Documentation and Retrieval:
SharePoint has several advantages over traditional document folders. SharePoint provides the context for each file, and enables you to track the different changes made during the evolution of the document. It allows users to track even name changes among other changes made to each document. Better tracking of documents removes ambiguity around changes made and also ensures no vital data is lost during the changes.
4. Facilitate Better Collaboration:
Facilitating collaboration is one of the vital attributes of Microsoft SharePoint. It is specifically important for small businesses where your staffs are working in diverse geographical locations across varied time zones. SharePoint empowers your staff to stay connected with the decision makers at all times. They could use SharePoint to access vital information, connect with other colleagues, and interact better during team meetings. SharePoint binds the organization together fostering innovation and greater connectivity.
Challenges
One of the major challenges to effective use of SharePoint in organizations lies in the implementation. While the process of implementation is relatively easy, without proper planning and understanding, SharePoint implementation could very easily become an expensive loss. In a small business with stifled budgets, SharePoint implementation could easily become a major mistake.
Working with a professional SharePoint consultant could usher a host of advantages for small businesses looking to implement SharePoint. Technical Consultants could enable to you to undertake 3 important steps to ensure SharePoint implementation success.
1. Assess Requirements:
Before you start to implement SharePoint in your organization, you should first brainstorm to understand why you need the portal and what benefits your organization could derive from it. Then you could go into the specifics on which process could be taken on SharePoint, what information you could mine, and what features you would like to have. A SharePoint consultant could help you make right decision while you assess your requirements.
2. Choosing the Right Option:
Microsoft offers three different options of SharePoint for businesses. First one is offered for free to everyone who runs Microsoft Server. The Free version however has limitations, and may not have all the features your organization might require. The second is Microsoft Cloud’s SharePoint solution. It enables you to leverage Office 365 to the fullest and also offers 100 GB of storage space which would be sufficient for a majority of small businesses’ documentation.
If you are among those who don’t prefer to store their data on the Microsoft cloud, the company offers you a third option where your solution could be hosted on a third party server. It is important that you take relevant advice from your IT consultant to choose the right option for your business.
3. Training:
SharePoint generally requires little to no training even for non technical personnel to use. Microsoft itself offers technical training material on their website which anyone can access. However, there are few industry best practices which need to be taught to the staff for efficient collaboration. Your SharePoint Consultant could provide this training drawing on their extensive experience to ensure your organization utilizes Microsoft SharePoint to maximum benefit.
Apart from these factors, choosing the right SharePoint Technology consultant plays an important role in the successful implementation of SharePoint. XCEL Solutions Corp of Matawan, New Jersey is a global leader in IT solutions. With over a decade of experience in SharePoint Consulting, professional consultants at XCEL Corp have successfully implemented SharePoint Solutions for various small businesses around the world.
XCEL Corp is also a partner with Microsoft with access to exclusive updates and changes in the technology. We offer highly industry specific solutions that could unite your small business and provide greater ROI. If you are looking to implement SharePoint Solutions for your small business, call +1-732-765-9235 now!
