SharePoint 2007: Friend or Foe? – 1 of 4 -

In the world of business, SharePoint is becoming a topic hotly discussed. According to the March 31, 2008 issue of NetworkWorld, Microsoft quietly sold over $1 billion dollars in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS). This number didn’t even include the integration dollars behind roll outs of MOSS 2007 or its SMB counterpart, Windows SharePoint Server (WSS), which comes as a free download from Microsoft or as part of the core operating system.

Did that $1 billion (with a “B”) perk your ears?

Well it should.

What does that mean to the independant dealer channel, and just about every other consultant out there?

This technology is not only hear to stay, it has rightly achieved a position within the Enterprise Content Management (ECM) space as a tipping point. Many experts are exclaiming that SharePoint has surprised everyone in how it has offered a wide-reaching solution to previously unmanaged information, and can scale from very small businesses up to large, worldwide organizations.

What is perhaps of most interest to the independant dealer is how SharePoint 2007 accelerates the talk track regarding managing a company’s documents and their workflow, overlays existing Document Management Systems (DMS) offerings, and has the potential to shift balances quite radically.

In this 4 part series, we will examine whether SharePoint 2007 is a friend or foe of the independent dealer; whether it should be embraced or exorcised will be a decision ultimately left to you, but this exploding market offers compelling evidence that you will indeed have to befriend this behemoth – or take it on head to head.

Read this series here. 

Ken Stewart’s blog, ChangeForge.com, focuses on the collision between the constantly changing worlds of business and technology. Ken is also the Director of Technology at Kearns Business Solutions.