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the Free CMSWire NewsletterAs a trusted SharePoint adviser, IT often becomes the go-to department for troubleshooting this enterprise technology. However, IT has the potential to do much more than that with SharePoint. These five strategies will transform your IT department from a second class, “I-have-a-tech-problem-you-will-fix-it-for-me” citizen in the enterprise into a winning SharePoint rockstar.
There's a lot of great buzz and excitement about the growth of SharePoint in the enterprise. In spite of the rich business solution ideas produced by the vibrant SharePoint community, functional adoption remains focused on file sharing (see AIIM State of the Market: SharePoint report).
Why is this the case, you may wonder? Well, having worked with various enterprise organizations, the reality is that most users rely on IT for SharePoint help. Because SharePoint is an enterprise technology, that means it's IT's job to help/support the user. Unfortunately, I see a lot of IT organizations provide only break/fix-type of SharePoint assistance (i.e., I can't access the site; my permissions are messed up). I don't think this was intentional; IT is busy with a lot of other stuff, so treating SharePoint differently is hard to justify.
Hence, the mindset of SharePoint being a glorified network share is the impression that most users have today. There are only a handful of users who are resourceful, motivated and passionate about SharePoint who do their own research and exploration on maximizing SharePoint to support their business needs.
As IT is the trusted SharePoint advisers within the enterprise (whether users like it or not), it's a great opportunity for IT to elevate their role from being a second class, "I-have-a-tech-problem-you-will-fix-it-for-me" citizen in the enterprise, to becoming the hotshot, thought leader that can help empower the business to solve business challenges.
Here are five ways IT organizations can transform themselves to become winning SharePoint rockstars:
1. Make Sure Your Organization Has a SharePoint Godfather
I was asked one time by a system administrator (the lone SharePoint ranger in their organization) on how to promote better adoption and convince people to use document libraries on SharePoint sites for document collaboration instead of network shares.
I suggested that he get rid of the network share or make it read only. He said he can't do that since he neither has the authority to do that, nor anyone higher up would allow for that to happen.
There is the problem right there: Unless there is an executive-level sponsor committed to using SharePoint as a business platform, it will be difficult for IT to effectively help the business better itself with the technology.
It is NECESSARY for IT to have a SharePoint Godfather — someone who has their back, who can cut through the organizational red tape and more important, have spending power to invest in making SharePoint happen in the organization.
As IT, your job is to identify that person or group of people and educate them on how SharePoint can help transform their business. (Check out this article: 5 Reasons Why SharePoint Ignorance Is Not Bliss.)
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