A constant increase is noted in the number of organizations using Microsoft SharePoint to build websites. Each organization also has option to choose from a variety of SharePoint technologies and products to meet its specific requirements. Along with securely storing, organizing and sharing information, the web application development platform also allow users to access the data using any of the widely used web browsers including Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome. Microsoft recently released the updated version of SharePoint with a set of innovative and extended features.
The latest version of the platform provides a comprehensive solution to manage information, while availing the advantages of your existing IT systems, structured processes and compliance. At the same time, the framework is also optimized to make it easier for users to access information, process and collaboration in a familiar and consistent way. If your organization is already using SharePoint, then you must be aware of the features and benefits of this platform and custom SharePoint development. But you must know the benefits provided by SharePoint 2013, if you are planning to migrate to the popular web application development framework.
Top 5 Benefits of Upgrading to SharePoint 2013
1. Avail the Advantages of Cloud Service: Many enterprises are investing in cloud computing to meet the latest trends in technologies. Many reports have highlighted that more and more companies will include cloud services as part of their infrastructure very soon. With SharePoint 2013, an enterprise can easily embrace the cloud services. You can use Office 365 to run the latest version, while availing its features and benefits. Also, you have option to avail all features in cloud by choosing a solution that can be run in virtual machines through Amazon Web Services or Windows Azure. The feature further enables you to make and implement a hybrid architecture that takes advantages of your entire IT investment.
2. Improved Workflow Manager: Microsoft has designed SharePoint 2013 with an efficient Workflow Manager. The feature makes the web application development platform suitable for all types of enterprises regardless of the size of their workflow. The improved workflow manager also saves the time and efforts when the workflow is huge. Further, an organization can use the workflow managers to easily integrate new work flows. As the business models and work processes are becoming complex, the workflow manager infrastructure is useful for leveraging all types of services.
3. Support for Mobile and Social Computing: Many experts have highlighted the shortcoming of previous versions of SharePoint in handling mobile devices. Microsoft has updated the web application development framework with features to facilitate mobile web browsing, along with rendering customized content according to the device. Also, SharePoint 2013 allow users to stay connected with their business systems on the go by sending direct alert notification to apps installed on their smartphones. Similar to mobile computing, the latest version also comes with additional features to support social sites. Microsoft also allows users to access discussion threads, reputation building through community, and other community sites without incurring any extra expenses.
4. Improved and Integrated Searching: The search feature of SharePoint is hugely popular among users. The feature enables them to effectively index websites and SharePoint sites along with existing NTFS file share. But platform was using a paid but highly effective search engine called FAST to locate the files. But the search engine is now embedded in the platform. Also, the search engine is optimized with analytics integration. So the updated version display the search results in a modified way. At the same time, it also use query rules to allow users to create promoted results. Along with search presentation, a user can also avail the advantages of continuous crawl to generate faster search results.
5. Optimized Performance: Microsoft has further optimized SharePoint 2013 to meet the requirements of rapid web application development projects. The updated version handles the bits of data stored on local disks in a streamlined way to generate application presentations. So the client receives only the data that has been modified on a viewed web page. Also, the portions of SharePoint site that are not updated or modified are presented from the cache. Similarly, the changes in the SQL levels affect the documents stored in SharePoint document library, only if the SQL delta is modified. The streamlined data processing enhances its performance, and makes SharePoint 2013 the best option when large documents are modified and updated on a regular basis.
Microsoft has also simplified user licensing to make SharePoint 2013 popular among small enterprises. As the enterprises are no longer required to buy advanced licensing, they will love to migrate to the web application development platform to complement the needs of their entire business operation.
We provide SharePoint application development services. If you would like to talk to one of our certified SharePoint programmers, please get in touch with us at Mindfire Solutions.
For the small and medium- sized business enterprises, sharing of data with collaboration from a variety of sources is of extreme necessity. The collaboration of these data gathered from the various sources along with sharing allows a person to get all the information at just one place. The ultimate result is reduction in resources along with increase in productivity to a significant extent.
Microsoft SharePoint comes up with a safe, reliable strategy for effective collaboration and sharing of data among a team. It has a lot of benefits for the SMEs. However, prior to looking at its advantages, let us take a glance at the prominent features:
Useful Features of Microsoft SharePoint
- Integration with Microsoft Workplace 2007- Microsoft SharePoint Server or MOSS efficiently integrates Microsoft Workplace, thereby rendering Workplace documents in internet pages.
- InfoPath 2007- Microsoft InfoPath forms are hosted around the internet browser by an application of SharePoint and InfoPath Forms Services. One can see the forms as well as fill them applying the browsers.
- Excel 2007- SharePoint internet site enables fast, easy loading of all excel worksheets. Customers have the option of editing the sheets by an application of the browser.
- Outlook 2007- With an application of the Workplace Outlook, the document libraries can be easily accessed as well as synchronized.
- Access 2007- Entries can be synchronized applying this web application platform to view data and prepare reviews even when the person is offline.
- PowerPoint 2007- PowerPoint slides can be shared with customers by applying SharePoint 2007.
- Enterprise Search- This platform enables enterprise search. It indexes the documents that are saved in the document libraries and person groups with the intention of facilitating the search.
- Business Information Catalog- SharePoint comes incorporated with the Business Enterprise Information Catalog (BDC) feature that helps utilization of the business enterprise data for backend server purposes like SAP. The data can be viewed with the internet based interface of SharePoint without the necessity of composing any code.
Benefits of SharePoint for the SMBs
As the owner of a small or medium- sized business enterprise, you will find the implementation of Microsoft SharePoint turning out to be extremely advantageous. In addition, SharePoint webparts development helps businesses to create and customize webparts for custom functions. However, to get the best out of MOSS, one must stay aware of the right ways of implementing it. Here is a brief overview of how SharePoint can be utilized in the desired way such that it helps the business enterprises in their operation.
Portal and Collaboration for Maximum Returns on Investment: Collaboration, though it has different meaning to different people, is mostly about socializing the content and preparing report or other documents with commendable ease. SharePoint, as collaboration software, is sure to deliver positive results. Now, most organizations deploy SharePoint with portal and collaboration as the first workloads for certain reasons.
To begin with, portals pave the way for rapid returns on investment by means of replacing the rather expensive existing solutions. Secondly, information sharing in the workplace becomes easier as well as more effective by virtue of document collaboration compared to file shares or email attachments. Thirdly, both portal and collaboration are low- risk workloads and they do not bring about complex variables to the environment like the custom application development.
SharePoint, being a feature- rich product that it is, necessitates a careful implementation of its functions only after a governance plan has been developed. This plan must be in keeping with the goals of the particular business organization.
Improved Enterprise Content Management: Microsoft SharePoint facilitates enterprise content management (ECM), which is an excellent way of connecting an organization’s people, processes and information. The small and medium- sized business enterprises, too, face the information overload problem and are therefore, looking forward to implementing this information access software.
ECM is actually an integrated platform and architectural framework that enables uninterrupted collaboration and not just organization or storage of content. Enterprise Content Management leads to greater productivity of a business organization.
External Expansion with Web Content Management: As an effective web content management platform, it is becoming all the more popular especially, among the SMEs. Microsoft SharePoint comes up with a newer set of WCM functionalities, which allows the business enterprises to use this platform primarily for their customer facing websites. With the increasing dependence on the web content, consolidation of both the external and internal presence of the organization on a single platform becomes feasible with this WCM feature of SharePoint.
Adoption of Cloud Computing: Resorting to “Cloud” is turning out to be an essential way of staying ahead in this extremely competitive business scenario. SharePoint adopts cloud computing, which brings about the following benefits for the SMBs apart from lowering the total cost of ownership to a great extent.
Cloud Computing enables completion of deployment tasks with less hardware to be maintained for the IT administrators.
Pay-per-user cloud services offer cost-effective ways for the SMBs as, they now have the opportunity to overprovision resources for meeting the high demands. Offering a target of 99.9% uptime, cloud enables SMBs to maintain high levels of performance. The cloud offerings, on the other hand, have disaster recovery plans, which makes the planning and management aspects rather transparent.
This web application platform with its multiple functionalities goes a long way in facilitating the progress of the SMEs. Monitoring of the progress of the tasks becomes easier too.
We provide SharePoint application development services. If you would like to know more about our expert SharePoint developers, please get in touch with us at Mindfire Solutions.
