The Microsoft® SharePoint® Dichotomy
October 2013
Dave Cornwell
CEO
PleaseTech Ltd
Hello… In 2012, PleaseTech published a Whitepaper entitled ‘Document Review and SharePoint Document Collaboration’.
• Based on research conducted during two major SharePoint conferences
• Major findings:
• Respondents were broadly satisfied with their document review solutions, but
further questioning revealed many issues.
• Whilst the term collaboration was widely used, in reality expectations were low.
• This demonstrated that in the SharePoint community, education was still required.
We now ask…
Have opinions on SharePoint’s collaborative capabilities changed?
What is the reality of document collaboration in the SharePoint workplace?
Is there a mismatch between requirements and
provision?
The survey
In November 2012 and February 2013 PleaseTech attended two Microsoft’s SharePoint Conferences as an exhibitor, where it also conducted an attendee survey.
276 companies completed the survey
85% were SharePoint 2010 users
79% of respondents
were from an IT background
What are we talking about today?
What the analysts are saying…
SharePoint collaboration – user confusion
Document collaboration – in more detail
A closer look at collaborative requirements v current provision
The final word
About PleaseReview & PleaseTech
Why?
“A firm’s ability to innovate is closely tied to its ability to collaborate” Alan Pelz-Sharpe, 451 Research
What are the analysts saying?
According to Gartner, IT leaders have the opportunity to deliver business value in the area of collaboration.
Research reports published by Forrester suggest there are gaps in the collaborative offerings from the more established players in the market, such as SharePoint1.
Some people argue that SharePoint is just a glorified ‘network share’2.
Ovum writes, ‘document review is a specialist area and document management and enterprise content management (ECM) platforms do not always include the required level of management and control’3.
So the question is, are current collaboration tools delivering the value they should?
1. Forrester, ‘SharePoint Enters Its Awkward Teenage Years’, Feb 2013 2. Dux Raymond Sy, CMS Newswire, Feb 2013 3. PleaseTech innovates in the review process, Ovum July 2013
Our survey said…
2/3rds of respondents agree that user adoption of SharePoint is an issue
¾ say that SharePoint provides the document collaboration requirements needed
There’s a 17% year on year increase in the number of people stating they like SharePoint’s collaborative capabilities
There’s confusion amongst users…
24%
44%
22%
8%
27%
44%
21%
1%
36%
54%
9%
0.4%
Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree
SharePoint is easy to useI like the document co-authoring functionality available with SharePoint 2010/Office 2010Enhancing document collaboration is important to my organization
90% of respondents believe
enhancing document collaboration is important to their
organization
We asked: What are your perspectives on SharePoint’s collaborative capabilities?
72% say they like
SharePoint’s co-authoring functionality
LOOKING AT DOCUMENT COLLABORATION IN MORE DETAIL…
27.5%
35.1%
17.4%
19.9%
Not involved in the document production process
An insignificant part of the job
Part of the job
Significant part of the job
Q: WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DOCUMENT CREATION & REVIEW IN YOUR JOB?
For 63%, document creation and
review is a part or significant part of their jobs
For 27% of people, there are over 20
people involved in the reviewing and editing of documents 27%
We asked: Typically, how many individuals are involved in editing/reviewing documents (e.g. authors, reviewers, approvers etc.)?
0-5 6-10
11-19 20+
44% 18%
8% 27%
56% of people have 6 or
more people involved in the
document review process…
70% said the documents they work on
are business critical, with half agreeing
these documents are both large and complex
71%
64%
52%
Business critical
Time critical
Complex and or large
The documents I work on are…
Many people involved in document collaboration are still using outdated tools to review and comment on content…
56% email
47% ‘track changes’
Respondents could give multiple answers... How do you review and comment on content?
72% of respondents said they liked SharePoint’s co-authoring functionality, yet 2/3rds are not using it
A closer look at collaborative requirements v current provision
88% think management over the process is
important (automated reminders & deadlines)
Only 35% have this facility
82% think control over who can do what
to where in a document is important
Only available to 31%
81% think simultaneous access
to a document is important
Less than 30% can
90% would like to be able to see other’s
comments and changes
Less than 25% can
85% think detailed reporting is important
Only 15% have access to reports
48% think it is critical to work offline and upload comments when online again
Only 16% can
Where existing processes fall short, the domino
effect causes poor quality documents,
time delays and increased costs…
51% of reviewers don’t give feedback on time
35% 24% 26% 28% 13% 30%
Say the process requires too much
time / effort
Proposed changes have to be entered manually
Difficult to reconcile conflicting changes
Reviewers overwrite other’s changes
Can’t capture review metrics
Review cycles delay publication
We asked: Which review issues does your organization face?
In 2012 only 42% of respondents were using SharePoint 2010. By the time the 2013 survey was conducted, this figure had risen to 85%.
Evidence in the market corroborates this
The final word
Document creation & review plays a significant
role in 2/3rd of respondents jobs
Less than 1/3 use SharePoint’s
co-authoring tools
Over 90% work outside their ‘collaboration
portal’
Respondents use outdated tools such as track changes, hard copy format & email to collaborate
There are still huge disparities between requirements and current provision.
There is confusion over what SharePoint’s co-authoring platform delivers…
Document collaboration expectations remain low… Real business value continues to evade many
User expectations have not evolved
Need help to understand your document collaboration requirements and to assess the processes your organization currently has in place to meet them?
Take our document collaboration questionnaire…
http://www.pleasetech.com/collaborationquestionnaire.aspx
www.pleasetech.com
© 2013 PleaseTech Ltd. All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced or distributed in any form without quoting PleaseTech Ltd and linking to our website www.pleasetech.com. The facts of this report are believed to be correct at the time of publication. Please note that the findings, conclusions, and recommendations that PleaseTech delivers are based on information gathered in good faith, whose accuracy we are not always in a position to guarantee. As such PleaseTech can accept no liability whatever for actions taken based on any information that may subsequently prove to be incorrect.