Fuse is a Microsoft Partner, based in Northampton. We help organisations of all sizes to maximise IT efficiencies through the use of Microsoft cloud computing solutions.
Leave Your SharePoint To Us
There are many different definitions of what SharePoint is on Google, but my favourite explanation is the following:
SharePoint is a web application from Microsoft that enables organizations to work more efficiently by letting users share documents, data and information.
SharePoint is really underrated in my opinion and the later versions have the scope of being extremely beneficial for businesses – and not just from a functional point of view. Microsoft have put a lot of emphasis on compliance and security with the latest SharePoint 2016, adding new features and upgrading existing ones. After the recent hackings and outages, I think everyone can be relieved they have!
SharePoint however, from a back-end perspective, can be troublesome to manage. This can put a lot of people off, but the benefits (and uses) far outweigh the nuisances. Four main factors affect how complex SharePoint is to support – and why outsourcing may be your most convenient option:
- Size of environment
(users/servers): - In an enterprise environment, a medium size SharePoint farm would have 3-7 servers, with at least 1, ideally 2 SQL servers. Large farms (for 10,000+ users) may have 10 or more servers, potentially alongside a dev/test farm too. A lot of storage is needed for this type of an environment, plus high availability features and backup/disaster recovery.
- Features used:
- Some organisations use SharePoint purely as storage, others will use for data processing, workflow, collaboration, publishing, BI, as a reporting solution… The search component alone can get very complex with this.
- Customisation:
- One popular characteristic, especially in the later versions of SharePoint, is the ability to customise the look/feel of the portal. Creating own web parts, own content engine, layouts, workflows, integration with 3rd party systems etc.
- Performance:
- Largely down to SQL performance, and storage system of SQL underneath. Most SharePoint performance issues are down to SQL layer.
The biggest 'complexity' with SharePoint, even single server farms, is the patching. It's quite a complex process, and can cause problems with the farm, including stopping it working completely. A lot of the time (with our support calls), this is due to a failed upgrade.
If you want to adopt SharePoint, but don't have the expertise or means to manage it, call us for a no-obligation chat on how we work with you on maximising you. From integration, upgrade, support or a total solution package of your SharePoint environment, our expert technicians make the process hassle-free.
