Why is developing a successful SharePoint intranet site so tough? One of the reasons is that we usually approach an intranet as a one time project that has a target end date. Modern intranets represent a progression towards total virtualization of the work environment, encompassing all the value chain processes and relationships with buyers and suppliers, integrating with CRM and ERP systems to create a united whole.
Training, governance, communications, and measurement should continue for the life of the system (even if development is on hold).
When you spend too much attention to the technical aspects of the project and too little to the social and organizational change that must take place for widespread adoption to take place, your project will likely fail.
As one researcher put it when performing a post-mortem on a failed implementation for a major university library, “availability and ease of use did little to motivate the staff” to use the system. Another study aptly concludes that “despite the best efforts of information technology departments, the user implementation stage of intranet portals remains the most detrimental stumbling block.”
Keep in mind that users (especially those who are not technically savvy) pay a price to learn new software. Even if you believe the solution makes their job easier, they may not believe it, or they may be unwilling to do what it takes to reach a minimum level of proficiency.
With SharePoint, we are awash in platitudes and nuggets of conventional wisdom that may or not may be true, but we rely upon them nonetheless. The knowledge I share with you in this course comes from dozens of SharePoint projects combined with research and recommendations from thought leaders in this space.
I hope that this course will help you to understand the unexpected ways that SharePoint projects fail and give you some ideas about how failure can be prevented. I encourage you to consider the questions posed at the end of each lesson. If you aren’t happy with the answers, the hard truth is that there is likely some work to do or your project team might lack the skill or experience to get the job done.
If you have questions or would like copies of the studies referenced in this course, feel free to contact me by replying to the lesson emails!
You will receive the first lesson tomorrow in your email inbox.
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Our relationship with our clients often begins when they notice something that they’re not quite happy with within their SharePoint environment. Maybe it’s slow performance, or maybe things have gotten a little bit out of control with the number of sites, subsites, or the way documents have been stored. We can help figure out how to maintain your ROI, how to increase user adoption, and figure out what’s wrong with your SharePoint environment.
We believe that a rich work life involves a minimum of fear, frustration, and repetition, so we work hard to enable our clients with:
Our mission is to take as much of the risk out of large software projects for our customers as possible. We finish our projects on time, on budget, and make sure your users receive training and support.
No matter what we do, we engage with clients in a way that is open, collaborative, and enjoyable. Our clients say their Entrance projects are Smart + Fun.
