- Why Would an Organization Want to Use SharePoint?
- Sharing, Managing, and Finding Documents Made Easier
- Finding Relevant Information
- Providing Efficiencies for Meetings
- Adding Value by Using Alerts
- Engaging in Online Discussions
- Getting Information from Users
- Informing Users with Announcements and News Items
- Creating Sites to Meet the Needs of the User Community
- Expanding SharePoint by Integrating with Microsoft Office 2003 and Other Applications
- Replacing Corporate Intranets
- Hosting SharePoint Sites on the Internet
- Communicating with Partners and Customers Through a SharePoint Extranet
- Summary
- Best Practices
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Summary
Historically, the business goals of an organization were not always aligned with the tools and technology implemented by the IT department. IT departments have been focused more on infrastructure than business applications, and the applications that were available tended to be rigid with a high cost for customization. Corporate intranets, when they existed at all, contained static information and lagged behind in terms of updates.
With SharePoint, users are empowered to create a collaboration environment to serve their needs. SharePoint's flexible design enables ease of customization and development for satisfying application requirements. A well-designed SharePoint solution enables users to have the resources they need to create confident, smarter decisions in less time, using a familiar interface. There are no more islands of knowledge; people can easily come together to collaborate and share ideas. Improvements can also be made in terms of customer and partner loyalty by providing them with access to resources they can use for conducting smooth business transactions.
When implemented correctly, returns from the use of SharePoint technologies can be realized in the areas of business processes and human resources, with regard to efficiency and productivity. Because payroll is generally one of the organization's largest expenses, even a small gain in productivity can result in a considerable return on investment.