As
per a statement made by Gartner analyst Jeffrey Mann, organizations
which are heavily dependent on SharePoint need to start preparations
for a cloud-driven future. He also suggests that SharePoint is a
thing of the past, hence it is good for Microsoft to think about
doing away with this document management system.
Expressing
his thoughts at the Gartner Symposium of 2013, Mann stated that SP is
used throughout the entire workforce by 28% of the organizations. The
number becomes 70% when we take into consideration the organizations
wherein minimum of 50% of the staff are utilizing it once in seven
days or more. However, according to Mann, nobody likes the SharePoint
development platform. With respect to user experience, SharePoint
registers a low score on convenience of use, the quantity of ongoing
management required, and it is a fact that migration of content
between systems is not easy.
by
its own success. It has become very hard, complex as well as big
which makes management or up-gradation difficult, all the more so
because in a large number of organizations, it is immensely
customized. Developing and testing a new version takes around three
to five years, and then couple of years pass before businesses
actually initiate the process of installation. Consequently, a number
of people are making use of versions of SP which are a minimum four
years old. In the meantime, increasingly nimble cloud-based products
derive benefit from much shorter cycles of up-gradation, and
interestingly, the difference has been noticed by a number of users.
Moving
to the cloud for the competitive edge
Mann
is of the opinion that in order to survive the competition, the only
way for Microsoft is to transfer SP to the cloud, meaning that it
should be killed in its present form. Going by what Mann says,
killing on-premises version of this platform is good for Microsoft
and eventually its clients also. It will render a better user
experience, at a potentially lesser cost for the customer, and will
also make room for a steady revenue for Microsoft.
However,
there is indeed hope for Microsoft, and this hope lies in Yammer, the
platform for enterprise social networking. Both SP and Yammer overlap
as well as complement each other in a number of ways. There are
powerful signs which reveal that any evolution that SP undergoes
while becoming increasingly cloud-based would be highly influenced by
Yammer.
But
the core of the issue revolves around the fact that SharePoint
on-premises is gradually moving out and is currently reduced to the
status of an evolutionary dead end. Due to the huge installation
base, it is true that Microsoft will continue to render support to
it, while upgrades will come at a slower pace. Thus, users should not
expect the greatest or the newest functionality. The prime focus of
development would be shifting to the cloud.
When
a solution is cloud-based, it would indeed be more advantageous for
Microsoft. Moreover, according to Mann's argument, SharePoint Online
would be developed at a much quicker pace, to the point where it will
be more beneficial to consider them as two distinct products. Hence,
the gap would continue to increase.
Jeffrey
Mann advises organization technologists to currently come up with
long-term plans for a post-SharePoint world. Keeping in mind
the present scenario, it is good to hold back on upgrades as well as
new development and go for the cloud option whenever there is any
requirement for addition of new functionality. Microsoft might or
might not offer a convenient way forward, but for an individual or
entity who has invested a lot in customization, the process would
never be painless.
We
provide custom
SharePoint development services. If you would like to talk to one
of our certified SharePoint
developers, please get in touch with us at Mindfire Solutions.
