Yesterday, the third #ECMJam was held. A lot of people were involved and it was a very interesting discussion about
the place of SharePoint in the world of ECM.
Bryant Duhon was the Jam facilitator. Check out his “Introductory” post here (http://www.aiim.org/community/blogs/expert/ECMjam-SharePoint-and-ECM).
There were a number of Questions that formed the basis of the discussion. These were:
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Q1: Is there problem with #sharepoint expectations, marketing, or the product itself? |
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Q2: #SharePoint / #governance — how to do it for real (in 140 characters or less!) |
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Q4: What does #SharePoint do well ootb? What doesn’t it do?
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Q5 Can #SharePoint solve #collab and DM problems for larger companies, as well as smaller? Can/does it really scale?
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Each question raised some interesting responses.
With regards Question 1, there was a feeling that SharePoint was not quite an ECM application:
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#ECMjam A>Q1 Sharepoint is no #ECM system when you take the #AIIM definition as reference |
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#ECMjam A>Q1 Sharepoint claims to be #ECM, but a lot of ECM vendors make money enriching SPS2010 with ECM functionality |
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Q1: There’s a problem with expectations! #SharePoint isn’t the be-all/end-all too many folks seem to believe.
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Others pointed out that the problem isn’t with what the product, itself, can do, but with the “misunderstanding” of what SharePoint actually is.
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Q1: IMO, SharePoint “problem” is not with product as much as with misunderstanding of what, why, where, how it can/should be used.
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Q1 Agree that SP does a lot and what it does, it does well. TCM is the big gap. #ECMjam |
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Q1: #sharepoint is a platform, but was sold as a product. Leaves users spending $$$ to get what they were promised #ecmjam |
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Others expanded on this, and discussed what ECM should actually be, as well as pointing out that after the “purchase” of SharePoint, extra costs.
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Q1 you can not achieve ECM with 1 product or a platform, SP still does not provide scanning OOTB #ecmjam + you need PM consulting & techserv |
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Q1 Saw recent data from a SP conf that for every $1 of SP license it sells, partners sell $6 of services. Underscore OOTB issue. #ECMjam |
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Q1: So expectations are over-hyped and fueled by microsoft to make #SharePoint out as more than it is. #ECM #ecmjam |
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Q1. As follow up to my previous comment, from my standpoint, people just seem to buy software as a panacea. Why not more plan 1st #ecmjam |
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Q1. My theory, it’s from Microsoft, so folks believe it’s just going to be out of the box #ECM. #ecmjam |
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And not just by Microsoft RT @bduhon: Q1: So expectations are over-hyped and fueled by microsoft #ECM #ecmjam |
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Too hard, too long, too obvious! RT @bduhon: Q1. people just seem to buy software as a panacea. Why not more plan 1st #ecmjam |
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Question 2 (SharePoint and Governance) was met with a unaimous response – PLANNING & CONTROL
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#ECMjam A>Q2 #Sharepoint governance needs good planning and administration esp. in distributed environments |
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4 characters: P-L-A-N. 5 characters: T-H-I-N-K RT @bduhon: Q2: #SharePoint/#governance: how to do it (in 140 characters) #ECM #ecmjam |
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#ECMjam Q2-You can define segments of SP with different technical restrictions to assist in governance (e.g. size quotas for team sites) |
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Q2: #sharepoint governance must be both centralized and distributed. Policies set by org, solution design by business units. #ecmjam |
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#ECMjam A>Q2 Viral, uncontrolled installation and usage of #Sharepoint is the death of every information management governance! |
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One of the advantages of SharePoint is that is puts the administration, and “growth” of a site into the hands of the end-users (empowers). But this is also a disadvantage. Sites can expand and spread “virally”. The discussion touched upon this.
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Q2: Governace requires planning up front and RIM on the back. Can’t be done with a full featured ECM #ECMJAM |
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Q2 @piewords “Viral w governance can work.” Sort of like a organizational social media policy? #ECMjam |
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More involved but yes RT @inoldland: Q2 @piewords “Viral w governance can work.” Sort of like a organizational social media policy? #ECMjam |
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Q2 so how do you explain governance to an end user and get them involved? Easy to say, hard to do #ecmjam |
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There, and in CIO office (and in Redmond?) RT @bduhon: Q2. So #governance is where a hammer is needed? #ECM #SharePoint #ecmjam |
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Q2. So, @danieloleary @jessewilkins: #governance is where a hammer is needed? #ECM #SharePoint #ecmjam |
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The discussion surrounding this question ended with a few good points that summed up the use of governance in a SP environment. It is useful, but needs to be applied sensibly.
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So what kills #SharePoint? RT @incontextmag: Q2: SP doesnt kill governance. People kill governance. #ecmjam |
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Q2: SP doesn’t kill governance. People kill governance. #ECMJAM |
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(Answer) So what kills #SharePoint? Governance! (sometimes) RT @incontextmag: Q2: SP doesnt kill governance. People kill governance. #ecmjam |
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Question 3 (Is there/will there be a backlash against SharePoint) was very much related to expectations.
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Only against over-inflated expectations. RT @bduhon: Q3. Is there/will there be a backlash against #SharePoint? #ECM #AIIM #ecmjam |
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#ECMjam A>Q3 #Sharepoint is already outdated compared to mobile and apps |
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After 10 yrs? Seems to me we should have seen one already. <Q3. Is there/will there be a backlash against #SharePoint?> #ECM #AIIM #ecmjam |
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#ECMjam A>Q3 #Sharepoint is too complex in relation to consumerisation of #collaboration & #ECM |
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Q3: There surely is a @sharepoint backlash, but it’s misguided, because it’s based on the misunderstandings we discussed re: Q1. #ecmjam |
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Q3 Backlash will come only if SP doesn’t deliver value. Same reason there’s backlash against anything. (Apologies to Susan Faludi.). #ECMjam |
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Q3: SharePoint has a place, but it’s not a mass market tool. It won’t ever be the Facebook of ECM #ecmjam |
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In the end, this comment was made:
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Q3: The problem is that they market it as ECM but ECM is a category and no one product is all ECM. #ECMJAM |
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Only in our circles; elsewhere they promote other stuff (eg, collab) RT @incontextmag: Q3 The problem is that they market it as #ECM #ecmjam |
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Question 4 discussed what SharePoint did well, and what it did not do well.
While this question didn’t generate the same discussion as others, there were some interesting comments.
The “does well” comments included:
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Q4 SP does sharing, collaboration and portals very well OOTB. It does not handle high-volume, transactional stuff well. #ECMjam |
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Easy way to share Office docs. Replacement for file shares. RT @bduhon: Q4: What does #SharePoint do well ootb? #ECM #AIIM #SP2010 #ecmjam |
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Q4 – Collab & portals are good. Governance, transactional content, capture weak. #ecmjam #ecmjam |
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#ecmjam Q4: Good: Basic document management. Huge improvement over shared drives. Bad: Dependent metadata and field validation. |
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Q4 SEARCH! In 2010 they nailed it, wish every platform was as functional #ecmjam |
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Whereas, the “does not do well” included:
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Q4 SP doesn’t do BPM well. Managing docs from outside an org’s four walls that need to be processed. #ECMjam |
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Q4: Doesn’t physical records management, BPM, transactional content management, scanning & capture, archiving & library services #ECMJAM |
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Q4 – Weakness: Seen many orgs empower depts to make their own teamsites, but result is too many silos and no enterprise governance #ecmjam |
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Q4: SP default is to store as blobs, inflating the DB, but if you do much you need a SP work around. #ECMJAM |
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Question 5 asked “Can SharePoint solve collaboration and DM problems for larger companies as well as for smaller?“
Generally it seemed that while SharePoint was useful for a small company, the administration, and maintenance requirements were too high to make it practical.
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#ecmjam Q5 SharePoint has always been able to scale the difference is it puts it in the users hands front end, versus other ECM backend |
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#ecmjam Q5 so scaling requires more planning, but absolutely can scale for large companies |
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Q5 the time to live and staffing requirements are too much for small business, #sharepoint is a better fit for larger orgs #ecmjam |
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#ECMjam A>Q5 #Sharepoint can solve DM problems in smaller orgs but is some overkill in regard to admin |
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Q5 no 4 SMB’s. lack time and IT resources. rely on specific OOTB and references to their biz/problems that dont exist #ecmjam |
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Q5: Technically (performance, scaling) Yes, but for the features and manageability No. #ecmjam |
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The discussion also touched upon the scalability of SharePoint, as well as its use in the Cloud.
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Short ans: yes. Better ans: yes, but, with “but” = may require 3rd pty apps RT @bduhon: Q5 Can #SharePoint really scale? #ECM #AIIM #ecmjam |
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Q5 the best way to scale sharepoint is to run in the cloud #ecmjam |
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What kind of cloud? Cloud cloud or VM? RT@shadrachwhite: Q5 the best way to scale sharepoint is to run in the cloud #ECMJAM |
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#ECMjam A>Q5 #Sharepoint as Office365 SaaS might be the solution for SMEs |
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@bduhon q5 Not yet. There is promise for the future for SP for SMBs with Azure and the future cloud platformed SP in dev. #ecmjam #AIIM |
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Q5 Wondering if performance is an issue as SP scales (when it does). #ECMjam |
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#ECMjam Q5: We’re 26,000 people. SP scales, but it needs careful focus and planning. |
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Q5: hmmm. Scale in what way? functionality … no. of users … geography … ? #ecmjam |
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So it was a very interesting discussion with a lot of interesting comments.
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