It can be a daunting task for businesses to manage SharePoint configuration, and most businesses prefer to outsource it to SharePoint consultancy services. It is one of the most evolving platforms. Though it is user-friendly, the best way to reap the maximum benefits from it is by hiring a reliable SharePoint consulting company.
If you succeed in finding the best out of the pool of SharePoint service providers, you will be able to make maximum gain out of it. SharePoint is a broad and complex platform, and hence, most small organisations need to get support from third-party service providers. The choice of SharePoint consultants plays a major role in its successful implementation. If you are looking to hire SharePoint consultancy services, here are some tips that businesses can practise to hire the best consultants for a smooth and successful SharePoint implementation.
Do they manage SharePoint on their own or pass it on to the other companies?
In the current scenario, a lot of companies give their projects to sub-contractors to handle. The reality is that the projects are not necessarily executed by the Microsoft SharePoint online consulting companies. The projects may be contracted and subcontracted. It is especially important when you want the company to interact with the end-users directly.
Learn about the payment structures used by SharePoint consultancy services.
An hourly fee is commonly charged by a SharePoint consultant. However, it can be difficult to pay for small organisations and non-profit businesses on an hourly basis. Choosing the payment structure is based on your Sharepoint development requirements and the budget.
The experience and expertise of the SharePoint consultants
SharePoint is a complex set of solutions. When you look for Sharepoint consultants near me, you will find each consultant will be specialised in a certain area. Some may be experienced in information architecture, while others may have experience in SharePoint branding and modern sites. Some SharePoint consultants are experienced in SharePoint workflow and in interfaces to other systems.
Find out if your selected consultant has experience with various SharePoint features.
Your chosen SharePoint consultant should be experienced in increasing SharePoint user adoption, SharePoint document libraries and the SharePoint governance model. If they are not experienced in user adoption and governance, the SharePoint implementation will fail.
Knows about data organisation and project management.
SharePoint should be developed step by step based on your organisation’s specific needs. It is advised to look for someone with expertise in modern SharePoint Project Management methodologies such as Waterfall and Agile. Also, your chosen company should have a full understanding of the data organisation and data management system.
Use these tips as a checklist for hiring the best SharePoint consultancy services and you will surely end up with the best.
To manage contents is easy. But the problem arises when a desired or correct version of a document is to be accessed. Therefore, contents must be managed in a way to achieve the business goals rather than stacking it up. Despite having the word management in the title, ECM Is not simply managing, but collecting and organizing information in a systematic way to be used by a designated audience, be it business executives, customers etc. ECM is neither a technology nor a process nor a methodology. It is a dynamic combination of strategies, methods, and tools used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver information supporting key organizational processes through its entire lifecycle. Thus while choosing a platform for Enterprise Content Management this should be the combination it should satisfy.
Enhanced Enterprise Content Management with SharePoint
Responsively, Microsoft SharePoint ECM services are well equipped to deal with the above-mentioned functions. SharePoint is undoubtedly the first product in this area to have met enterprise aspirations of ECM with many companies. For content management, records management, business process management capabilities of SharePoint, things have moved up a notch with the latest releases. It integrates the familiar tools in the Microsoft Office system and the management and collaboration capabilities of Sharepoint technologies and products which helps the users to keep track of their documents, files, media and more.
SharePoint’s content management system is a strong solution for companies looking to:
- Optimize the business with workflow
- Increase employee productivity through simplifying daily business activities.
- Easily manage and repurpose contents
- Allow companywide access to all kind of information.
- Securely connect people by centralizing content while decentralizing control.
- Power advanced search features to get anything with ease.
SharePoint Capabilities as an Effective ECM System
- Document Management
ECM in SharePoint helps you manage your documents by:
-Centrally manage diverse content Store content in a central repository that enables an individual to find, use and share the data.-
-Work easily with document properties The Document Information Panel enables you to browse and edit document properties in the archive itself.
-Manage metadata globally Create term groups that make it easier to sort out and find content
-Make any document unique Unique Document IDs for every asset in the content collection…
-Save time and reuse settings Content Types enable you to assign shared settings for a particular sort of content, such as a manual or a specification.
-Control access to information Uniquely defined permissions give you an abundance of tools to control access to data at any level, from a single document up to the site itself
-Streamline collective document processing Built-in document workflows let you begin, track, and collaborate on document-oriented processes directly from Office desktop programs.
- Web Content Management
The Web Content Management features include:
-Create and publish content quickly Using familiar tools to create and publish regular web content
-Maintain a consistent look throughout your websites Create approved page layouts that enable branding and navigation of the site.
-Lower deployment and management costs for your websites Implement a single multi-tier infrastructure for publishing content internet sites, intranet and extranet.
- Records Management
The integrated records management capabilities in SharePoint enable organizations to protect the business records for the future.
-Improve regulatory and legal compliance Implement policies for information auditing, retention, and protection to guarantee that these records are appropriately retained.
-Help to secure business A secure repository guarantee that records are stored in a locked, final state.
- Digital Media Management
SharePoint products and technologies have integrated usefulness to play and manage digital media content. The capabilities include:
-Play media content directly You can play audio and video directly from a team, portal or publishing site, from a community-generated site, and from managed learning sites.
-Use enhanced media libraries All the helpful administration features of a document library are available, such as metadata, content types, and unique ID
An effective ECM will increase operational efficiency, improve information security, reduce chances of data duplication, improve information security, reduce the probability of data loss and provides search to locate up-to-date information quickly. SharePoint has long been a strategic platform for collecting and servicing all sorts of contents across the enterprise. Here we covered some improved capabilities of SharePoint to implement ECM solutions. Effective adoption of SharePoint content services may take some time but gives great ROI to the organization.
Get in Touch for a free online assessment of your specific requirements related with SharePoint or ECM.
Get complete SharePoint services like Application Development, Customization, Migration, Implementation, Deployment, Consulting, Hosting, Integration & testing from AllianceTek to address a multitude of needs, from branding and marketing, to business automation & enterprise content management.
