Pelz-Sharpe Alan Pelz-Sharpe

Day 2 UK Roadshow - SharePoint skepticism

15-Jun-2010

Tags: Document Management (ECM), Evaluating SharePoint, SharePoint Ecosystem, European Marketplace, Industry Events, Industry Standards, Marketplace at Large, Selecting Technology, Government, Higher Ed

Day 2 of the UK AIIM Roadshow and we are here at the Reebok Stadium Bolton (home of Bolton Wanderers football club).  Theme of today amongst the attendees seems to be "cost cutting" -- for better or worse the primary reason people invest in ECM and Document Management technology. Why else would you automate a process if not to reduce your reliance on real people? With the new Conservative government in office, and it being made clear that there needs to be heavy cost cutting to sort out the deficit, DM and ECM have become (once again) obvious tools to reduce headcount and still "improve efficiencies."

Once again today we saw a lot of people from local government and higher education. Interestingly for me was that a number of them were looking at the move from SharePoint 2003 or 2007 up to 2010. Yet none of those I spoke to saw this as a clear-cut, predefined decision to upgrade. From what I could gather past experience with some less-than-stellar Microsoft Certified integration partners, and third party add-ons that proved to be more work intensive than the core product they support, meant the move to 2010 has also become an opportunity to reassess and reconsider.

Possibly the highlight discussion related to a major university considering a move from LiveLink to SharePoint. Senior management are convinced it will be a simple move and very cost effective, while others have their doubts, on the grounds that 10 years of customization and integration may make the migration phase alone an extraordinarily expensive challenge. I think they may be right...

So, tonight a drive from the northwest to to Birmingham, potentially traffic hell -- but with yet another interesting venue at the end of the drive, the Motorcycle Museum.

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