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Where does SharePoint make its point and its mark? Answer: Document and data management.
A heavier, enterprise, legacy based software, the interface of SharePoint is reminiscent of the older software designs and ‘file folder’ structures.
Eloqua, an enterprise level, legacy marketing automation platform, and Salesforce, originally designed for Salesforce automation but now scaling into the intranet space, fall into this category of user interface design as well. These three platforms overall have an older look and feel to them, an architecture which is also reminiscent of earlier times and overall feel “heavier”. However, this is a lighter view of how Sharepoint helps your teams get the job done.
Historically heavily dependent on internal IT teams, SharePoint has often been the tried and true platform of choice in windows based environments, and as such is often the recommendation by internal IT professionals.
Based on Windows, and historically an on-premise only solution, Microsoft had to respond to the allure of the competing lighter, social cloud solutions with Azure, a platform running their new Office 365 Enterprise hosted collaboration service released in 2013. Office 365 is made up of Office 2013 Professional, Exchange 2013, SharePoint 2013, and Lync 2013. Office 365 has gained enterprise-strength management features like data loss prevention and e-discovery. The SharePoint platform is a strong platform for records management.
Data management, including recovery, tracing, protection, tracking of data, version control, and extensive and complex permissions, are all key strengths of the SharePoint Platform.
Strength
Seamless Integration with Microsoft Outlook, document management, document collaboration and version control, document storage and retrieval, and integration with existing databases and internal infrastructure for the on-premise solution.
Weaknesses
SharePoint is a heavy, older application designed and developed without social engagement and collaboration in mind. While SharePoint is trying to have these features integrated, SharePoint is having a hard time evolving into a true social platform, as its architecture is simply older.
Mad tip
A mature platform and solution to manage mass amounts of documents and data within an enterprise, SharePoint will still offer deep document management features and functionality which the new social platforms cannot yet match. Newer social platforms are are all working towards enhancing their document and data management features in their technology road maps, but they still have some catching up to do. For some enterprises, it will be the combination of Jive and SharePoint, which may be necessary to meet your requirements.
The next part of our series will show you how Salesforce could be the solution your business needs.
