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.