IT Solutions Architect at a transportation company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
It's just for internet and communication. It's not a busy implementation.
Pros and Cons
  • "It is very stable."
  • "I understand that some functions are lost when you store the information in a file system, so maybe that's a way SharePoint can improve."

What is our primary use case?

It's good but we are not using a lot of load in the system.

How has it helped my organization?

It's the look and feel and maybe the integration with the Office platform.

What is most valuable?

Basically, it's just for internet and communication. It's not a busy implementation.

What needs improvement?

We need the storage of the files, the documents right now are in the database. Maybe SharePoint has to improve the capability to store the information in file systems. In theory right now, it could do that. But, I understand that some functions are lost when you store the information in a file system, so maybe that's a way SharePoint can improve.

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SharePoint
May 2024
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For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is very stable. But, I think it depends on the infrastructure. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's scalable because you can add more and more SharePoint's installations and maybe you can divide the content and everything, so it's scalable.

How are customer service and support?

We have not yet had a need to contact tech support.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Vice President & Head Technology Transition at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Consultant
While the tool has more functionality available, it should have more user-friendly customization
Pros and Cons
  • "It allows for simultaneous users to be on it."
  • "Information is much more readily available."
  • "SharePoint has made things easier with the increased functionality for building the portals, microsites, and total integration with Microsoft categories."
  • "It should have more user-friendly customization, as it still requires developers to get engaged and build sites."
  • "I would like it to be more compliant with global regulations. There are certain features which could be included that currently are not there, such as compliance and record management capabilities."

What is our primary use case?

My primary use case is largely content management. The product is good.

How has it helped my organization?

  • Information is much more readily available. 
  • There is more functionality available.
  • It allows for simultaneous users to be on it.

What is most valuable?

A combination of:

  • Auditing
  • Logging
  • Collaboration.

It has been very useful and easy to use.

What needs improvement?

It should have more user-friendly customization, as it still requires developers to get engaged and build sites.

I would like it to be more compliant with global regulations. There are certain features which could be included that currently are not there, such as compliance and record management capabilities.

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is very stability. I don't foresee any issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have not faced scalability issues.

How are customer service and technical support?

I would rate Microsoft technical support as a six out of 10. They are just okay.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Previously, we were using file share. We switched because SharePoint made things easier with the increased functionality for building the portals, microsites, and total integration with Microsoft categories.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was fairly complex, but that may just be our environment. A fair amount of design and consolidation needed to go into it.

What other advice do I have?

With this product, have a decent skill set in-house. 

Most important criteria when selecting a vendor: support.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
SharePoint
May 2024
Learn what your peers think about SharePoint. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2024.
772,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user799479 - PeerSpot reviewer
Assistant Manager at Li & Fung
User
It speeds up document sharing. Replication needs improvement.
Pros and Cons
  • "It has improve our organization by speeding up document sharing."
  • "Its most valuable feature is the document library."
  • "Replication needs improvement."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use is document sharing.

How has it helped my organization?

It has improve our organization by speeding up document sharing.

What is most valuable?

Its most valuable feature is the document library.

What needs improvement?

Replication needs improvement.

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Technical Writer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Documentation management and workflow features enable better organization, control, and knowledge sharing. Workflows have glitches.

What is most valuable?

  • Mostly the documentation management features.
  • Managing information such as events and announcements, document libraries, picture libraries, using calendars, lists and custom lists.
  • Sharing files, document storage and retrieval, the check-in and check-out functionality, version history, custom properties, customized views, customizable workflows.
  • Collaborative team sites for sharing and managing information.
  • Search features, including advanced content processing, managed metadata, and continuous crawls.
  • Security features, including permissions and document/page/site control.

How has it helped my organization?

We are now able to organize and control our documentation easily. Versioning, check in, check out and setting permissions for pages and sites enable us to manage our document and picture libraries without a fuss. We can now easily find documents within sites and pages, as long as documents are named and tagged appropriately. We can now create more complex workflows using SharePoint Designer, which is easy to use. However some improvements to SharePoint's workflow functionality could prove useful.

Approved and updated templates and documentation are now available on SharePoint. This ensures consistency and standardization across the organization. Documents and templates are centralized in this one repository, and only selected individuals are permitted to edit documents within the organization’s main documentation library.

There is transparency to the organization; whereas, previously there was none. Knowledge sharing and collaboration is more prevalent; therefore, communication has increased. We use the SharePoint home page to make company announcements, such as employee birthdays, anniversaries ,and upcoming events. We have also recently started using SharePoint to automate some of our manual processes.

What needs improvement?

SharePoint Designer enables creating workflows easily. However, they produce errors at times. There seems to be glitches which require workarounds to sort out. It is an amazing feature to have because workflows can fully automate processes that would otherwise be manual.

For how long have I used the solution?

SharePoint Foundation was found to be adequate to our prior business needs and has been used company-wide for the last two years. However, due to its limitations in features, a decision was recently made to move away from Foundation to either Standard Edition or Enterprise Edition.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have not experienced any serious issues regarding stability, except for the minor glitches with workflows. As previously mentioned, we are still on the Foundation version. However, I believe if SharePoint has been properly set up on a stable server, using proper governance and a strong infrastructure, we should not experience major issues with stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have not yet encountered any scalability issues. SharePoint 2013 is reportedly scalable. As long as the solution has been properly configured, our organization should not experience any foreseeable issues.

How are customer service and technical support?

We have not engaged with technical support from Microsoft at this time. We deal directly with in-house technical support. We will definitely be using external technical support from Microsoft when moving over to the Standard or Enterprise Edition.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We were previously using a network drive that we accessed directly from our laptops and desktops. There was simply no control of information and documentation; and loss of information occurred. There were inadequate, non-existent, or deep folder structures, messy content structures, and a lack of document management and control. Versioning was done manually. Important documentation with sensitive information was being stored on local drives. Updated templates and documentation were not being used.

How was the initial setup?

There was a fair amount of research, investigation and infrastructure planning involved prior to its implementation and setup. SharePoint was a new initiative that was attempted by our in-house team. Initial setup was not so straightforward. It was a bit complex, as it is with most new products; but we did eventually get it up and running.

Our technical team is now up-to-speed, and the current process moves smoothly. With that said, it is useful to have prior technical knowledge and experience in SharePoint in order to facilitate a smooth setup and integration process.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Pricing and licensing options are structured according to the size of the organization. Good business leaders make the best decisions and choose the best fit for their organizations based not only on its business needs, resources and budgets; but also based on what people at their organization need and will use. Make sure that all areas of the organization buy-into it. Don't invest in a solution that you have not properly investigated first. Weigh out all your options first.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

The SharePoint project had already been initiated before I joined the organization. However, since we are only on Foundation, the organization has embarked on a comparison between SharePoint and Confluence. After proper investigation and research, it was decided that both solutions were useful in their own right. Confluence is a collaborative working tool; and SharePoint offered a documentation management solution.

SharePoint and Confluence integrate well with each other. Confluence also connects with SharePoint. The business leaders and decision makers of our organization decided to test the SharePoint solution using Foundation 2013. Based on user feedback and interaction with SharePoint Foundation, they have recently decided to go with the Enterprise version.

What other advice do I have?

I advise organizations or business leaders to fully investigate and research SharePoint, as well as all the features that are available for each edition. Based on your business needs, it might or might not be the right fit for your company. Properly weigh out your options and make the right decision for your organization, based on what your organization’s needs; how people work; or ideally should work.

Indecisiveness from a management and leadership perspective on what tool to use reflects poorly on the rest of the organization. Therefore, people feel discouraged.

SharePoint is a great document management tool. It works for me and fits the specific needs of my job. However, while it works for me, it is not being used in the same way by the rest of the organization, or sometimes not at all. There must be buy-in. It is best to survey whether people in your organization find this tool useful, and help them understand how it could best be used. It is also in the best interests of the organization to consult with a SharePoint Expert before, while, and after implementing SharePoint. Many organizations implement the best tools without helping their people realize the full potential of their use. Therefore, people become wary of new technology. They don't welcome the change and fail to engage with the new product.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Our organisation has a strategic partnership with Microsoft.
PeerSpot user
it_user577425 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user577425Sales Associate at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Consultant

I believe that Centralpoint is superior and much cheaper!

See all 2 comments
it_user500811 - PeerSpot reviewer
SI with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Provides faster search results and better document search. Data portability between Excel reporting and Power BI allows us to create beautiful company reports.

What is most valuable?

SharePoint Search. The combination of a central search portal and search-based navigation (search based on predefined metadata) returns faster search results.

SharePoint business intelligence. The data portability between SharePoint Excel reporting and Power BI allows power users to quickly create beautiful company reports.

Hybrid in SharePoint 2016

How has it helped my organization?

SharePoint Search improved document searchability from different sources like file systems and Office 365.

SharePoint Reporting and PowerPivot make it much easier to create a company report portal.

The SharePoint 2016 on-premises version, Office 365 and ADFS integration allow a good intranet/extranet architecture scenario.

What needs improvement?

The workflow engine. MS Workflow Manager is still in Version 1.0 and the future Microsoft strategy for this product is unclear.

Requirement dependencies of the initial setup and support could be very complex.

Companies often decide to buy workflow products such as K2 or Nintex because of larger features set and better stability.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using SharePoint for five months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

There were issues with a cumulative update for SharePoint.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The new MinRole feature does not support a small environment. It will be solved with new Feature Pack 1 this year.

How are customer service and technical support?

I rate technical support 3.5/5.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Our intranet portal was based on in-house development. We moved from legacy to a standard product.

How was the initial setup?

Initial setup using the graphical wizard is very easy, but the recommendation is to use PowerShell scripts. Ready to use scripts like AutoSPInstaller make it much easier.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

In SharePoint Hybrid Mode, Office 365 User SLs can be used to access your licensed servers deployed on third party shared servers/datacenters via License Mobility using Software Assurance. Check this possibility for saving money.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated Alfresco and Liferay Portal.

What other advice do I have?

Take time to plan your portal information architecture before installation and train your users and create a content editorial group.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: We have a gold partnership with Microsoft.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Project Manager at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
MSP
It provides multiple site collections, list libraries, a content and document library, and custom development & integration.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of this product are: multiple site collections, list libraries, the content and document library, and custom development & integration.

Multiple site and subsites are created for around 10 subsidiaries of the main company which has a uniform portal along with subsidiary specific contents and documents.

Discussion forum, content library, document library, task calendar, job postings, integration with ticketing tool, etc. are features which are general as well as specific to each subsidiary and built by using SharePoint 2013.

How has it helped my organization?

We created a uniform portal for multiple subsidiaries of the company; a single place where employees can find all related documents, references and can raise requests to another application via this portal.

What needs improvement?

Areas with room for improvement:

  • A more responsive UI: There is a set of user groups who want to use this application in their mobile devices. If SharePoint provides a responsive UI by default, then no extra efforts are needed to integrate the existing UI with a more responsive UI.
  • The deployment process on multiple servers adds redundant work, mainly for configurations and creating site collections: Same-application deployment requires initial setup to be repeated for any new environment. For example, the very first time we need to set up each environment, we need to create the site collections and so on, and then deploy WSP packages.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No issues have been encountered in terms of stability.

How is customer service and technical support?

I have not got a chance to make use of technical support for any issues.

How was the initial setup?

Initial setup was complex for IT resources with a non-SharePoint background.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

License cost is slightly higher so it is suggestible to derive license cost based on relevant features.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not evaluate any other options.

What other advice do I have?

Using this product, one can benefit from OOB features in regards to content and document management. It provides a single platform where multiple applications can be integrated under one roof.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user250926 - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing Director & Chief Technology Officer at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Vendor
It simplifies development of portal and document management.

What is most valuable?

  • Visual web parts
  • Document libraries
  • FBA
  • Document templates

How has it helped my organization?

It simplifies development of portal and document management. Also, by using Office 365, we got good integration with office tools.

What needs improvement?

When we develop portals, we need to develop a lot of web parts that eventually go to a number of pages. These pages must be created manually. There should be some easy way to develop pages automatically via programing.

For how long have I used the solution?

I am working on SharePoint since 2011. I have worked (with my team) on Microsoft SharePoint 2010 and 2013. We have developed enterprise web portals of government entities and large private organizations.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have not had any stability issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Actually, the scaling is very simple. One of my customers needs their portal in three languages (English, Arabic and Urdu). SharePoint doesn’t have the Urdu language package, hence we had to work hard for it.

How are customer service and technical support?

Most of time we got support from forum and that is good enough.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did not use a previous solution.

How was the initial setup?

Setup was simple.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I recommend using Office 365.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not look at other solutions.

What other advice do I have?

if you have a .NET team, the SharePoint is right solution for you.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Change Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Consultant
Sharepoint is a good solution for collaboration but needs a good technical support

Valuable Features:

Meeting workspaces, version history, bulk tagging.

Improvements to My Organization:

It has helped us collapse all our versions into a single file. It has also improved our meetings.

Room for Improvement:

Setting up permissions can be overwhelming. If this can be improved it would be great. Also Sharepoint search out-of-the-box needs improvement.

Use of Solution:

Five years. Started out with Sharepoint 2007.

Deployment Issues:

Most issues are from the change management part.

Stability Issues:

The solution appeared unstable at deployment but it's been more stable since then.

Implementation Team:

We implemented through a vendor team.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free SharePoint Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: May 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free SharePoint Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.