SharePoint is one of the most famous enterprise-level tools used for collaborating on business documents. This widely popular document management tool developed by Microsoft has been instrumental in integrating organizations for carrying out a variety of tasks. SharePoint as a toolset is equipped with an array of helpful technologies besides offering integrated access to Microsoft Office 365 document management tools. As of now, SharePoint is used by the vast majority of Fortune 500 companies, and it is the most popular document management tool among small and medium enterprises as well.
While the SharePoint license can be bought and implemented by any enterprise, the implementation itself is challenging depending on the existing suite of tools you use in your company. This is why enterprises hire expert SharePoint development company with experience in SharePoint implementation in different enterprise environments.
Before we explain here the key considerations for hiring SharePoint developers, let us first give an overview of the key benefits of SharePoint.
- Context-aware documents and folder management: SharePoint creates different contexts around every folder to find documents when and where they are needed.
- Facilitating seamless communication across ranks: SharePoint allows aware context collaboration among employees for whom a particular document is meant. This precise and specific approach in sharing documents boosts better teamwork.
- Maintaining central storage: By keeping all data in central storage, this document management system implies accessibility and ease of use in different contexts and scenarios.
- Collaboration at all levels: Thanks to SharePoint, all staff can communicate and collaborate on documents at different levels through a portal and remain thoroughly well versed about what’s going on.
A Few Words about the Implementation of SharePoint
Now when it comes to the implementation, SharePoint is equally easy and challenging. To make the implementation successful, you need to know the reasons behind using SharePoint in your company clearly. These reasons can be different from one company and industry to another company and industry.
For the successful implementation of this toolset, it is important to remember and follow these principles mentioned below. These are tested and tried principles based upon challenges faced by enterprises and the solutions that worked for successful SharePoint implementation.
- An evaluation and analysis of the requirements: As we already mentioned, you need to have a clear vision of what SharePoint is going to do and how it’s going to benefit your business process. This requires a thorough assessment of the business requirements.
- Choosing the right SharePoint service model: SharePoint is available in a few different versions, and every type of version fits different enterprise requirements. The free version is not noteworthy as it doesn’t fit into enterprise purposes. The less expensive version with integrated Microsoft Office 365 is the best one in all regards. You can also choose for SharePoint with hosting from third-party service providers.
- Staff training for using SharePoint: Since SharePoint allows non-IT staff to manage and update documents in a different enterprise, staff training is essential. Besides availing Microsoft support website help, you can also hire experts with good SharePoint experience.
What SharePoint Developers need to do?
Now that you have a fair idea of SharePoint platform, it is important to know what the SharePoint developers stand for or to be more precise, what exactly they do for implementing this toolset?
Let us explain here the key responsibilities of SharePoint developers.
Creating Custom SharePoint Experience
The most important reason for the enterprises to hire SharePoint developers is to get a custom SharePoint experience. The custom SharePoint experience can be created in enterprises at different layers.
- Using SharePoint, developers can create web portals, intranets, learning systems, helpdesks, document storage, management systems, contract management systems, ticketing systems, and many others. These industry-specific solutions are built based on business needs and size.
- SharePoint developers also create extensions or plugins to extend the functions and user experience of the above solutions.
- SharePoint developers also build custom features for all the different solutions they make for industries. They can create custom features like templates, workflows, web parts, and different elements.
Brand Promotion
Branding exercises and brand promotion is another key responsibility of the SharePoint experts. The branding exercises help any company to build a community and boost new user acquisition. Thanks to customization, experts can create SharePoint experience that looks very integrated into the brand. The design-centric customizations and custom features together deliver a robust SharePoint user experience.
Smooth Integration with Other Systems
SharePoint developers also play a key role in integrating the toolset with different Microsoft platforms and other third-party systems and solutions to make sure that the business process works smoothly and without the least interruption. Thanks to developer support in integrating SharePoint, different enterprise systems such as CRM, ERP, BPM, BI, and others can work side by side. When integrated in the right manner, SharePoint allows all collaboration tools such as Yammer and Microsoft Teams, email tools like Exchange and Gmail, social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, and other LMS and CMS solutions to work in sync with SharePoint.
Maintenance and Support
SharePoint developers also provide extensive post-launch support to ensure the smooth functioning of the platform without hitches. They can also offer continuous support to help companies scale solutions and add new features and capabilities as per their business needs. They are also responsible for dealing with technical glitches and performance issues with the rise in business traffic.
Training Staff
Finally, SharePoint development companies also need to train non-IT staff and professionals to effectively use the toolset for document collaboration and improved data management.
Conclusion
If you are going to hire experts for implementing SharePoint in your enterprise, a solid knowledge of the key responsibilities is a must. This is why we explained all the important roles and responsibilities that you should look for in SharePoint developers.
