It is anticipated that Microsoft will make use of the upcoming SharePoint Summit, which has been scheduled for May 16th, to outline in more detail what its future plans are for this server.
Although in-depth information about exactly what these plans involve will not become clear until then, those who follow the software giant’s SharePoint developments will not be too surprised to learn that further integrations with other Microsoft products are high on the agenda. Among the products that Microsoft is likely to pursue integrations with are its brand new chat service called ‘Teams’, along with Flow, PowerApps, Windows, Yammer, OneDrive and Office 365.
Jeff Teper, the corporate VP in charge of overseeing Office 365 and SharePoint, is the man who will be leading this summit alongside Chuck Friedman and James Phillips. Microsoft’s invite indicates that the firm is set to provide an explanation of the ways in which Azure, Windows and Office 365 connections are reinventing enterprise productivity. The company has also suggested that those who attend the summit will be able to find out more about creating what it is referring to as a ‘connected workplace’, as well as getting a first look at the firm’s latest batch of products.
Exactly what Microsoft means by the term ‘connected workplace’ is still fairly vague at the moment, but it does appear to be consistent with the company’s avowed focus on creating an Office 365 and SharePoint user experience that is both more connected and more social.
The update to the roadmap for SharePoint has been planned for a date that is just over a year after the ‘Future of SharePoint’ conference Microsoft hosted in San Francisco. That event saw the announcement of the SharePoint Framework, representing SharePoint Server 2016’s official launch. At that time, Microsoft made a commitment to releasing on-site SharePoint updates during 2017, but also stated that hybrid cloud and Office 365 deployments would remain its main focus. Microsoft has been promoting the summit as a kind of informational update offering news on releases, rather than as a big launch.
The question remains of to what degree SharePoint shops are beginning the process of migrating this enterprise collaboration suite into the cloud, and whether they are doing so in purely online form or as a hybrid. A recent survey that Microsoft co-sponsored is intended to clarify this. The early results indicate that roughly half are still using on-premises SharePoint, with 31% deploying hybrid solutions. They also show that, of those using SharePoint hybrids, over 60% are managing on-premises SharePoint. Close to half of the entirely on premises enterprises intend to switch to hybrid inside the next three years.
Here at WM Reply, we are looking forward to finding out what this summit will tell us about the future of SharePoint. If you would like to find out how our solutions can support your business, why not call or and speak to a member of our team today?