Huddle vs. SharePoint: A Comparative Analysis in Three Collaboration Scenarios

Most enterprises, nowadays, complete projects through distributed teams. So businesses often look for customized content management and enterprise collaboration to enable the members of a distributed team to communicate and stay connected without any interruption. As innovative collaboration software, Microsoft SharePoint is used by many companies to organize data, people and projects. Microsoft has further released SharePoint 2013 with a set of advanced features that enable a business to stay connected with employees regardless of their physical location.

However, each enterprise also has options to choose from several SharePoint alternatives. In comparison to other content management and collaboration systems, Huddle is more widely used by enterprises across the world. In addition to allowing organizations to share files with their team members and partners across the firewall, Huddle also facilitates content collaboration through posting comments, assigning tasks, and getting approvals. Also, an organization can create individual user profiles to connect with each team member or partner according to his role in the project.

Comparing Huddle and SharePoint in Three Common Usage Scenarios

1. Easy to Use and Deploy Collaboration Tools: Unlike SharePoint, Huddle offers as set of administrative and collaboration tools that are easy to learn and deploy. The tools further make it easier for users to distribute site administration tasks among team members without increasing the collaborative platform management overheads. On the other hand, the use of SharePoint requires enterprises to increase the collaborative platform management overheads. Further, SharePoint must be implemented in an exact and planned way to avail its advantages.

But Huddle comes with a well designed user interface that performs seamlessly across multiple workspaces. The SharePoint security features vary based on the way the platform is deployed by an organization. But Huddle allows users to implement security at multiple levels including application, data center, physical and network. So an organization can share files and data among its employees in a more secure environment.

2. Options to Integrate Third-Party and Custom Applications: Most enterprises, nowadays, use custom applications developed by third-party vendors to optimize their business process. So an enterprise will definitely expect the collaboration software to support these applications. In comparison to Huddle, SharePoint is more effective in integrating the third-party and custom-developed applications. In addition to the administrative tools required for these third-party application integration, Huddle further lacks the collaboration feature.

So the enterprises using third-party applications have to opt for SharePoint. Also, SharePoint offers some advantages as a web application development platform. Each enterprise has option to choose from several partners dealing in SharePoint web parts and applications. Also, a company can hire developers to build custom SharePoint applications according to its business process. However, the integration of third-party application may have an adverse impact on SharePoint security.

3. Availing the Advantages of Enterprise’s Existing Cloud Infrastructure: Many reports have already highlighted the constant increase in the popularity of Cloud computing. Many enterprises are also investing in Cloud infrastructure to meet the latest trends in technology and user demand. Huddle supports a multi-tenant cloud architecture that helps enterprises in reducing the initial investment. Microsoft has further made SharePoint 2013 ready for Cloud environments. But the SharePoint Cloud administration can be complex depending on the configuration and security of the site.

On the other hand, Huddle comes with agile administration tools that are effective in managing users and adopting Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC). The users also have option to use the Huddle Activity Stream to view the files or information on each accessible workspace. The feature further makes it easier for the members of a distributed team to access business data regardless of their current location. However, an organization needs to deploy SharePoint in a planned and exact way to avail the advantages of its existing Cloud infrastructure.

While comparing SharePoint and Huddle, one must keep certain key points in mind. SharePoint is a complete platform, whereas Huddle is only an application. So as a platform, SharePoint allows users to perform a variety of activities. But Huddle can be used only by focusing on specific scenarios. At the same time, it is also important to evaluate the two according to the technological infrastructure of the organization. Despite offering improved collaboration, Huddle still requires users to create additional overheads, and thus carry more risk. Custom sharepoint development teams can help you build projects within allocated budgets and time schedules.

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