Ways to use SharePoint effectively in your business
We list some common business needs that can be addressed by using a SharePoint Services 3.0 site. Maybe you’ll find some things here that you’ve been trying to find a solution for within your own organization.
I’d like to share with you the top 20 ways SharePoint can solve your common business needs. And I want to emphasize that these 20 are just a few of the many ways to use SharePoint Services. Once you start using it, you will begin to realize the many other valuable benefits that can be easily achieved by the everyday user.
Shall we start? Let’s see if you can find some productivity solutions here that you’ve been trying to find for your own organization.
With SharePoint you can:
1. Store all your emails on a centralized secure website for easy archiving.
2. Maintain a central task location to assign tasks to team members. These tasks will automatically appear in your computer’s Outlook 2007 To-Do list. Those tasks will also be linked to your projects so you can easily find out which tasks are still open for each project.
3. Organize big events and store the related documents, assigned tasks and generally publish everything related to the events. It will also integrate with Outlook for added efficiency.
4. Collaborate with team members on all documents and stay on top of who did what. Previous versions can be easily restored in case someone has made too many mistakes. Projects can also be linked to related documents.
5. When team members are assigned tasks, they will be automatically notified that a new task has just been assigned to them. Alerts are sent when there have been updates to tasks.
6. Use SharePoint as a powerful yet simple project management solution for your organization or team.
7. Use the efficient input/output management function to classify your documents.
8. Implement a help ticket resolution for your organization or team without breaking the bank.
9. Start a private company blog to communicate and share ideas with your team that can only be seen by those you give them access to.
10. Get more control over your business documents with the content approval feature.
11. Offer training materials to your teams, customers and/or partners on a password-protected website that can be accessed from anywhere in the world.
12. Offer a secure and private place to share documents and other information with clients and/or partners.
13. Access and work with your data using your Internet-enabled mobile phone for convenience while traveling or out of the office in client meetings.
14. Create better team communication and brainstorming sessions where everyone can participate when their schedules allow.
15. Centralize where company and team project announcements are posted. Everyone will receive an email or mobile phone notification automatically, anywhere in the world.
16. Take project tasks, team discussions, company contacts, centralized calendars, team blogs, and files offline. and then sync the updated information later.
17. Create “central” documents (and sync), so all team members, clients, and/or partners can work on the same document and make changes. Updates are accessible with a click of a button. They can then all sync up with the “central” document and merge all edits into that single document.
18. Easily add custom fields to any area and capture the information most important to your business, all without the help of a web designer or IT person.
19. Extract and update the Microsoft Access 2007 database from a local desktop and synchronize the information in a central location that can be accessed from anywhere at any time.
20. Create a project board where on one page you can view and filter common project items such as: project details, project documents, project tasks, project issues, project schedule, project milestones, project lessons learned , project risks, project change orders and more.
On top of everything, you won’t spend a fortune to meet these communication, collaboration, and organization needs.
Don’t get me started on the integration features between SharePoint Services 3.0 and Microsoft Office 2007 products, especially Outlook 2007. That’s fantastic! Some of the ideas above require Office 2007.
Keep in mind that a little training goes a long way in increasing the productivity of the products you use in your business. I highly recommend taking the time to learn this efficient and effective tool and watch your productivity, along with your profits, soar!