I recently delivered a presentation on using Microsoft SharePoint to improve business performance through team collaboration to our Microsoft Dynamics CRM customers at a nice venue in London. Out of all of the new SharePoint features that were discussed at the m-hance three steps to success event, the one you need to know about now is the amazing search capabilities you now get as standard so that you never lose anything again!!!
One of the things I hate is losing something I hate that feeling of knowing that I’ve seen it recently but just can’t quite remember where which is why the search capabilities of SharePoint is my favourite feature.
Being able to simply type in a word or phrase and rely on SharePoint to surface every relevant document across all of the sites I have access to, ready for me to start filtering down further (if needed) saves my time and my sanity. It’s brilliant. So much so, that I catch myself using the search feature even when I probably know where the document is!
SharePoint Refiners feature
The filter capability (or œrefiners to give them their proper term) are where the real magic is. If you plan ahead with your organisation of documents you can ensure that the right refiners are available to help users go from 100’s of results to just the one they wanted.
The handy preview also is great for making sure you have the right document.
SharePoint’s productivity dedication
All of these features may seem mundane on the surface, but that’s the secret behind Microsoft’s success with SharePoint. Microsoft SharePoint is completely dedicated to make every user’s working life easier, and in most cases without the user realising it. Microsoft know the easier the tool is to use, the quicker the tool is chosen to be adopted and incorporated into the working lives of individuals, teams and whole organisations, which is the real acid test of good business collaboration software (This same principle is also why other Microsoft applications such as Microsoft Dynamics GP and CRM is so popular amongst Microsoft Office 365 users.) There are hundreds of business collaboration platforms and document management software available, both on premise or as cloud based, but if the investment is considered to be little more than œjust another username and password to remember by the majority that are using it, proving the ROI won’t be so easy!
If you are using Office 365 in conjunction with SharePoint you may also have discovered something called Delve. If you haven’t it’s great if you are a bit nosy (like me) and like to see what your colleagues are working on.