There's Life Beyond SharePoint (I think)

Something's been bugging me for a while.

Periodically, I've been dinged for being pro-Microsoft because of the amount of coverage/attention SharePoint gets in Infonomics Weekly and the AIIM Webinar program (I provide the content for both). While this is absolutely NOT the case, I can understand how someone could get that impression. We do cover SharePoint, and the issues of compliance, MORE content silos, etc. SharePoint trails in its wake quite a bit. I will state unequivocably that I (nor is AIIM) am not in the business of promoting SharePoint.* We DO consider it an important editorial topic to cover though. I've bounced the kudzu** analogy off of people before, and no one has disagreed -- SharePoint is all over the place. As an editor, you've got to cover the issues confronting your readers. We have to cover it as a topic.

That said, I consider the "old" topics of capture and workflow and document management  and records management (the basic blocking and tackling topics in the ECM industry) as, or even more, important. Judging by reader feedback, I don't think I'm out of step.

Yet, I find myself in a conundrum. SharePoint titles generally are read at a higher rate than a more "boring" piece on scanning or records management or even ediscovery at times. Is SharePoint some sort of catnip for the IT crowd? So, to draw attention to the newsletter, and the "other" content in it, I often use SharePoint to suck folks in.

We'll continue covering SharePoint within the confines of the enterprise content management industry (a pretty big confine) and providing you with great information on the basic blocking and tackling building blocks of this industry too.

But, here's what I'm curious about -- if scanning/capture (which is still under-implemented and under used everywhere; see the AIIM INdustry Report on Capture); ediscovery, email management, etc. are just as important as SharePoint, why don't those articles get read more avidly? What are you looking for? What's going to draw you in? Maybe SharePoint, as the new issue on the block is more wide open so taht everything written about it is new. Maybe I'm covering too much of the same ground in other topics. Help an editor attempt to pin point what you need to know. Otherwise, I'm just going to name every webinar "Getting the Most from SharePoint" and every Infonomics Weekly subject line will read "SharePointpalooza" 

Just kidding about that last point. Sort of. :)

*Beyond using the topic "SharePoint" to draw eyeballs to the newsletter, of course.

**For you non-southerners out there, Kudzu is a vine that grows over EVERYTHING that doesn't move. used to be only in the deep south, but I saw it as far north as Virginia driving to Louisiana over Christmas break.

THanks for reading,

Bryant

Comments

[Laurie]

I agree with the readers who say that SharePoint gets too much coverage. In my opinion a collaboration tool with only fair document management ability does not deserve the space you give it. Further, I think your readers may get the wrong impression of SharePoint's capabilities.

On the other side of the coin I am one of those who avidly read about SharePoint. Not because I think it is great, but to try to figure out why everyone else does, and to see if I have missed something (and I speak from experience).

Maybe you should occasionally be writing about the downside of SharePoint instead of, what seems to me, the constant promotion of a great collaborative tool that provides only mediocre DM tool and pretty bad RM.

[Deano]

I agree. I think just hearing the word "Sharepoint" is like catnip for the IT crowd. My little whiskers stand on end!

I liken Sharepoint to late-night TV... at least when I used to watch it, which was years ago, I'll grant.

I grew up on the east coast, so staying up until midnight to watch Johnny Carson or Letterman took some planning for a kid. I'd wait around trying to stay awake, so I could see what the buzz was about. But it seemed that each time I watched it, I was left wondering, "What's the big deal? Nothing happened. Why do people stay up so late to watch this stuff?"

I think Sharepoint has the same effect. I'm reading article after article, hoping the light will come on, and I'll discover what the big deal is about this tool.

I have yet to see it for anything other than a huge waste of time. If you have information challenges, you need someone -- a skilled person or team, not a tool -- to help you organize, re-position, and throw out information, so your end-users can find the information they need to do their jobs and use it effectively.

(In case someone out there agrees with me -- doubtful, I know -- and is faced with the dilemma of what to do with Sharepoint now that the executives have promoted it as the savior, we are still using it, but just as a front-end to where the majority of our information resides, which is in a robust wiki... finally a solution that actually makes sense and is truly about collaboration. Oh if Johny could see us now!)

[JeffK]

This is real simple. I am a document management reseller that needs to know what customers are thinking about Sharepoint and how they hope to implement it, so I read.

I know that there are some significant holes in the product as compared to a traditional ECM system, but that doesn’t mean that I can prevent my customers from heading down that road. They have been at least sipping the Kool-aid long enough to become believers.

Regardless of whether or not I believe this is the correct path for their particular situation, I need to be on it with them for a number of obvious reasons.

I am on the other side of the vendor/user fence as Deano, but he has stated the situation very eloquently. He wants to stay on board as an employee, I want to stay on board as a vendor, so we go with the flow and hope that the current either eventually diminishes or takes us somewhere productive.

[Ardith]

I guess I'm in a minority since I skip everything Sharepoint - I'm not using it and I'm not evaluating it. Maybe the hook is partly that it IS a specific product so if you are using or thinking about using Sharepoint the article sounds less generic than a lot of other articles are. What I'd really like to read are some taxonomy-related articles.

[Bryant Duhon]

Thanks for the comments, folks.

Ardith, regarding taxonomy. I'm working on identifying contributors for just that. I recommend Theresa Regli at CMS Watch and Susan Cisco of Gimmal Group as two analysts/consultants who are great on the topic.

JeffK, I think you hit on why we (and others) do cover SharePoint -- for good or ill, companies are using it. Increasingly, it looks like there is a bit of buyers' remorse on the part of companies that bought into the SharePoint (and, it's mostly free) hype without delving too deeply into whether it fit their needs or not.

Deano, I feel the same way about Taco Bell--great at the time, but after about 30 minutes I always think I could've/should've had something else. I don't think it's a huge waste of time for everyone, I have seen companies use it effectively as PART of an ECM strategy. You sum up my thoughts quite well: "f you have information challenges, you need someone -- a skilled person or team, not a tool -- to help you organize, re-position, and throw out information, so your end-users can find the information they need to do their jobs and use it effectively."

Laurie, I reread a good number of articles I've published on SharePoint. I don't think any of them promote it as THE solution/silver bullet to anyone's problem. However, to your point about negative experiences:

Anyone out there willing to share how/why their SP use is good/bad/mediocre? Would love to work with you on turning your experiences in a lessons learned article for everyone else to learn from.

Drop me a line at bduhon@aiim.org. Can be anonymous if need be.

Bryant

[Marko Sillanpaa]

You ask why records management or imaging doesn't get enough face time. I think it's because we in the industry don't give it as much face time. Look at SharePoint. For better or worse SharePoint as a product has been around since 1998. That's over ten years. Microsoft has said, since day one, that SharePoint is about collaboration and document management. How well it has done this has been up for debate, but they have been consistent. The rest of ECM has been bitten by the need for instant gratification. If the message doesn't work well in six months lets change it. Every year there's another new marketing strategy. Just as a message starts to resonate it changes.

Look at clouds, SaS, outsourcing, hosting, and ASP. All are roughly the same thing. Not even a next-generation of the one before in cases. Five strategy names for the same problem in the same time period that SharePoint has been offering collaboration. The technology of SharePoint has evolved but the messaging has not. Consistency is what builds momentum.

[Bryant Duhon]

That's a good point, Marko. Haven't thought of it that way, but makes sense. I don't know how many times over the years I've heard how dull/boring/DONE document imaging is. Yet, all research I've ever seen points to a huge need for capture tools/technology and that implementations almost always yield a positive ROI.

And, while not as frequent, there's still the occasional RM/blue haired lady joke hovering in the background when talk turns to managing records.

[Rahul]

nice article

http://sharepointbank.com