Byrne Tony Byrne

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Three options for social-enabling SharePoint

8-Dec-2011

Tags: Enterprise Collaboration & Social Software, SharePoint Ecosystem, Intranets / Digital Workplace, Selecting Technology, Vendor Viability & Financials, Confluence, Drupal Commons, Jive Social Business Software , NewsGator, SharePoint 2010, Socialtext, WordPress

Whatever SharePoint's merits as a file-oriented collaboration service, SharePoint licensees generally concur that the platform's native social networking services range from merely adequate to severely lacking -- particularly in the area of discussion-oriented applications (like collective ideation).

SharePoint licensees seeking to deliver on the promise of social networking and more advanced collaboration applications must therefore choose among three alternative approaches to close the gap:

  1. Complement
  2. Supplement
  3. Extend

Each alternative carries specific benefits and demerits in terms of cost, time to market, long-term adaptability, mobile enablement, user experience, external access, and other dimensions. This recent briefing carefully examines the pros and cons to help you make the best decision.  It concludes with an analysis of a bonus fourth option -- do nothing and wait for SharePoint 2013 -- as well as a handy comparison chart to guide your decision-making.

It's available to our Collaboration and SharePoint research stream subscribers.  If you're not a subscriber, you can also purchase the briefing à la carte.

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