Determining the True Cost of Microsoft SharePoint

"For MicrosoftMicrosoft and its partner ecosystem, it's easy to see SharePoint becoming the billion dollar baby in ECMECM [enterprise content management]," says Bell via e-mail. "[However,] estimating the potential ROIROI of SharePoint and related products for enterprise buyers is harder." Alles zu ECM auf CIO.de Alles zu Microsoft auf CIO.de Alles zu ROI auf CIO.de

Indeed, the true costs of deploying and supporting SharePoint are not well understood. Fundamental prevent organizations from deploying it effectively and realizing its value. Many IT executives view SharePoint as a shrink-wrapped product that can be installed and configured in hours or days. In fact, it cannot. SharePoint is truly an enterprise information platform and must be treated as such. That means SharePoint configuration work needs to be well-planned and designed-not conducted in an ad-hoc fashion.

[ For case studies of companies using SharePoint, see and . ]

What's more, because SharePoint has been popular among users, SharePoint sites have popped up all over enterprises, resulting in what is known as "SharePoint sprawl." The ability for users to easily create and manage a SharePoint site is one of the product's benefits, but the subsequent sprawl takes up lots of storage space, increases costs and makes it harder for users to find documents due to inconsistent metadata and tagging.

This article explores the true costs of SharePoint-both expected and unexpected. By gaining a firm handle on these costs, IT leaders will be able to identify whether the product is right for their organizations and will be better prepared to take advantage of SharePoint's many benefits.