Is it just me or does it seem like we’ve done this before? I began working with SharePoint with the release of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, lovingly (or not so lovingly) referred to as MOSS ’07, then came SharePoint Server 2010, and 2013, and now we’re at SharePoint 2016 and all feeling a little déjà vu. There has been a familiar pattern that has repeated itself over my career, it goes a little something like this:
Prospective Customer – “We’d like to build a new intranet, our old one used to be great but now it doesn’t really work very well anymore. We’d like to upgrade to the new SharePoint Server [insert version here], we’ve heard it solves world hunger and will get our coffee too!”
Consultant- “That sounds great, yes SharePoint Server [insert version here] is a great product and we can build you a great intranet, however we probably won’t solve world hunger and you may have to get your own coffee. Let’s start with understanding your requirements…”
4-6 months later…
Happy Customer – “This new intranet is great! It works really well and does almost everything I need, we should really look into that world hunger and coffee scenario next.”
3-5 years later…
Prospective Customer – “We’d like to build a new intranet, our old one used to be great but now it doesn’t really meet our needs. We’d like to upgrade to the new SharePoint Server [insert version here], maybe this time we can do that world hunger thing or at least the coffee!”
The simple truth is that keeping the intranet continuously relevant in any organization is a real challenge that can’t be addressed by a platform upgrade every 3-5 years.
With Office 365 and SharePoint Online it is now possible to do your organization’s final SharePoint Migration to SharePoint Online. With SharePoint Online Microsoft has upped the ante, instead of delivering value with a major on-premise release every few years, Microsoft has outlined a cloud-first, mobile-first roadmap for delivering value to SharePoint Online on a continuous basis with new features available every few months or sooner.
Microsoft has set the stage for innovation at a rapid pace with new and exciting features such as The SharePoint Framework, Flow and PowerApps, modern Team Sites, and more. All experiences that will first be made available in Office 365. This presents a new set of challenges to many organizations that traditionally invested in their intranet every 3-5 years. These companies are now being tasked by their users with how to take advantage of the new capabilities of Office 365 on a continuous basis. Many organizations are simply not equipped to handle that level of Organizational Change Management.
An Evergreen Approach to the Intranet
That is why we built Rise as an intranet-as-a-Service enabling the ability to provide continuous value through your organization’s intranet. Rise delivers an integrated Office 365 experience with all of the common intranet functionality available out of the box. Rise keeps up with the pace of innovation set by Microsoft allowing your users to take advantage of new capabilities in Office 365 faster. Rise delivers on a customer driven roadmap, operating as an extension of your team to help drive user adoption and intranet success.
Intranet value over time for custom solution as compared to a Rise Intranet
Let’s face it, expectations rise (no pun intended) over time. The value add feature of today is the expected functionality of tomorrow. With Rise, no longer will your intranet experience that slow decline in value. With a Rise Intranet, your intranet will continuously get better and offer new features to meet your users expectations now and in the future. Let us show you how, contact us for a demo of Rise.
Learn more in our latest guide: Accelerate Your SharePoint Intranet with Rise.
