Microsoft SharePoint: The billion-dollar, slumbering giant

Almost overnight, Microsoft SharePoint 2007 sold more than $1 billion since its release, according to the March 31, 2008 issue of NetworkWorld. Mike Gotta, an analyst with the Burton Group goes on to say,

I have not seen anything like this since the early days of [Lotus] Notes… The talk [around SharePoint] is getting strategic now, and people are talking about it as a middleware solution”

In my March article, Are You Getting Schooled on SharePoint?, John Mancini, president of AIIM, went on to say:

1. The entry of Microsoft SharePoint as a serious player in the document and records infrastructure marketplace.  This is one of the most important developments in evangelizing these technologies that we have ever seen. Suppliers and consultants will debate what MOSS can do and what it can’t.  But it won’t matter; it will spread like kudzu through the end user community.

I said it then, and I say it again, John is right on. Without even trying, Microsoft has sold over $1 billion (that’s with a “B” folks) in licensing. This isn’t even including the WSS rollouts, and third-party revenues being generated. John Fontana had this to say:

…[It's the] prototypical Microsoft tool – good enough for small-to-midsize businesses; adaptable to large enterprises; and most important, having plenty of financial opportunities for third-party ISVs and systems integrators.

One of the big tricks for Microsoft is that it’s SharePoint solutions are so tightly integrated with it’s own unified communications stack, Exchange servers, and Office application suites. Simply put, it is extremely flexible for workgroup and small company collaboration opportunities.

However, it has its limitations. Those thinking it is the end-all-be-all of document management, are sorely mistaken. It does not scale well, according to Fontana. Simply put, Microsoft stores everything in “what amounts to one universal table”, to include the documents themselves. This is a nightmare to manage with large amounts of content.

However, Microsoft is expected to fix this in its next version, rumored to be shipping in 2009. What does this mean for the competitors? Watch and see!

My suggestion would be to acquaint yourself with the solution now, and either begin offering solutions with this in mind, or partner with a company that understands it and can work symbiotically with your company.