By Joan Muschamp, December 12, 2007

Tags: change management collaboration SharePoint technology implementation

AKG hosted a live seminar last week, Improve Collaboration and Extend the Value of Microsoft SharePoint. We had a great crowd; with a mix from experienced SharePoint users to "newbies" trying to jump start their knowledge. What stood out to me was the incredible "buzz" generated by MOSS 2007.

Only a year after its release, there is already more interest in MOSS than we had seen 3 years after SharePoint version 2's release. Some of the new features and functionality resonated with our audience -workflow, item level security, document and records management, wikis and blogs, to name a few. They generated significant interest because the audience could envision the benefits in their own workplace. They were clearly past the bells and whistles of software and asking 'why?'.

Their reactions also underscored AKG's fundamental approach to SharePoint implementation- there are four pillars to collaboration: people, process, learning and technology. Technology alone won't create collaboration; the other pillars must be in place to create a truly collaborative virtual environment. It's no longer good enough just to have a new feature to a technology product. It has to offer something that will improve the worklife or business process of the user. And it has to be compelling enough to motivate them to change. Anything else is simply viewed as noise to be ignored.

The challenge is to understand what your group can handle, and what "better" looks like to them. Our seminar audience mirrored this – some were excited to have access to wikis and blogs, others wanting to implement workflow, while yet others were asking "What's a wiki?" SharePoint 2007 is a big step forward for the platform. The key is remembering the technology alone won't solve your business problems. Collaboration will require change in your organization, so you need to be prepared to enable the change.