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Why You Should Consider SharePoint as a Business Technology Solution, part 2

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StrategyDriven Tactical Execution Article
 
In the part 1 of this topic, the likes of communication, organization and information was discussed as some of the reasons every business owner should consider using SharePoint. In this article, the focus will be on the pros of using SharePoint as a business technology solution.

Four Advantages of SharePoint

Experts at Domains4less.co.nz say that SharePoint reduces costs by consolidating intranet, extranet and internet sites in a single platform – either internally or through the use of Cloud technology. Training costs can be reduced by using SharePoint to deliver training materials to teams, customers and partners via a password-protected website, accessible from anywhere. Resources, time and effort are saved with SharePoint’s collaboration and productivity capabilities, which allow companies to focus more on higher business priorities.

Useful SharePoint Tools

Often, the reason why companies are reluctant to switch to SharePoint is because they don’t imagine how they can apply it to their business to provide tangible benefits. While there are many tools associated with SharePoint, the following generally feature the most easy to understand applications for business operations:

CRM Tools

With SharePoint, companies can more easily implement a strategy to manage their company’s interactions with customers, distributors and sales prospects. The CRM tools provided by SharePoint can help with marketing efforts, customer service and even technical challenges. CRM data can be shared with customers, partners and distributors, allowing them to send requests, track status and view information. Content management features can be extended to your customers and you can create secure central documents that they can both view and edit.

Calendar

A SharePoint calendar will keep users abreast of events, meetings, deadlines, milestones, and other important dates to remember. Users remain focused and teams are more consistent when everyone is aware of notable calendar events. Customers can also stay abreast of company or product events via e-mail updates. You can even overlay a SharePoint calendar with Outlook calendars (or other SharePoint calendars) so you can filter events or view them simultaneously.

Workflow Solution

Regardless of their size or scope, all companies have workflows that dictate an activity pattern, enabled by the systematic organisation of resources, defined roles and flow of information in a tangible process that can be documented and learnt. Using SharePoint, the workflow is defined as the automated movement of documents or items via a sequence of actions or activities, related to a business process. When applying SharePoint business logic, you can attach workflows to instructions that specify and control the actions that occur in any given document or article. Subsequently, this can simplify the costs and time needed to coordinate common business processes.

Dashboard Instruments

SharePoint lets you create a project panel to help users synchronise and perform tasks. You can view and filter elements such as project details, project documents, project activities, project problems, project calendars, project milestones, lessons learnt from the project, the risks of project, and project modification orders, amongst others. Effective use of the dashboard can help you monitor business metrics, analyse the causes of any problems and improve business intelligence to aid decision making. You can customise the SharePoint panel so that essential tools for managing content and users are readily available.

Is Sharepoint Adequate For Your Business?

There are valid business reasons to use SharePoint, but it’s up to each entrepreneur to carefully analyse their business credentials and calculate the actual cost of ownership. In general, if effectively implemented, SharePoint should reduce costs, save resources and ensure accuracy, whilst delivering tangible benefits for the business, including improved productivity, better decision-making and greater innovation.

Why You Should Consider SharePoint as a Business Technology Solution, part 1

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StrategyDriven Tactical Execution Article
 
SharePoint divides the different areas of a company and provides tools to connect them in a meaningful way. However, many businesses are cynical about Microsoft’s swiftly rising SharePoint tool. This could be because they’re not entirely sure how it can be applied to their business operations. Therefore, the goal of this article is to define SharePoint, analyse its uses and help you apply it to achieve a positive return on your investment.

What is SharePoint?

Microsoft SharePoint is a multipurpose web application platform that makes communication, collaboration and content management more fluid and effective for many businesses. The SharePoint platform collaborates with information exchange, enterprise research implementation, business processes and business intelligence to simplify operations, increase productivity and ultimately save time and money. The three main components of SharePoint are communication, information and organisation.

Communication

SharePoint’s communication capabilities improve the way people work together, enabling teams to be aware of who did what, when and with what documents. Essentially, it helps to share and distribute information in order to improve teamwork. You could also install virtual machines, Artificial intelligence equipments, bots and the likes, but do not neglect the power of SharePoint.

Content is stored in a central repository instead of being distributed throughout the organisation; this facilitates access, allocation, control and exchange. Tasks are assigned and team members receive automatic notifications accordingly. Any upcoming events are easily available and sent to the relevant parties. Meanwhile, blogs and discussion forums provide a platform for sharing information and ideas.

Information

SharePoint allows users more control over information. Content management is more fluid and effective for companies, keeping it in a centralised and synchronised position for all members to access. Here, information is stored in a secure and private place, where it can be shared with team members, customers or assigned partners. With efficient input / output management features, users can add, edit and delete the same documents, whilst maintaining version control.

Organisation

The organisation as a whole is also improved through using SharePoint. Content can be added as a table or list, in which users can easily search for and assign tasks. By storing the content in a manageable database, it becomes much easier to access and share. Utilising the calendar tool, an event can be created and stored alongside related documents, while automatic notifications can alert interested parties about any upcoming events or document changes. Data can be accessed on mobile devices with internet access, so that all parties can have the relevant information at their fingertips, no matter where they are in the world.

In short, SharePoint is a collaborative tool that improves the way in which colleagues work together by providing tools that facilitates information flow between users and departments.

How Can A SharePoint Solution Help Your Business?

Increased Productivity

SharePoint aims to increase productivity via a range of features and tools that provide the relevant information for the right people at the right time, eliminating unnecessary activities through automated processes. Team projects are best managed using centralised workstations and workflow solutions that keep members informed about the status of activities, deadlines and milestones.

Best Decisions

The decisions made by any business consequently determine its future. Successful companies know how to gather, save and study vital trade and marketing statistics to attain efficient, tactical, strategic and active information to facilitate better decision making. SharePoint services enable organisations to quickly respond to a changing market and fast-changing business needs by easily accessing readily available information.

For example, a project panel allows users to view and filter information about the company and project, so they can get an overview of a particular business problem at their fingertips. Subsequently, accessing and distributing correct business information allows a company to make more effective decisions about its future.

Unlocked Innovation

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Innovation is a process whereby new ideas are created and applied successfully. Innovation can help businesses improve productivity, reduce costs, be more competitive, find new customers and increase profitability. A company that fails to innovate will lose market share and won’t succeed.

SharePoint is an innovation assistance tool that helps unlock creativity through discovery and information exchange. SharePoint discussion features allow users to share ideas, as well as offer experience and create customised solutions for specific needs. For example, a user can start a blog for a private company to share ideas with a team that’s visible only to those who have access.