Author: Clayton Dorrington

Have you noticed the amount of applications that are now on the market for SharePoint?  Today, there are applications that extend SharePoint to meet nearly every possible business requirement you can think of.  Point in case, Clayko extends SharePoint with:

KnowledgeLake – Document imaging and capture to allow companies to scan and easily search and retrieve documents eg for Accounts Payable, Human Resources, Client Files etc..  More info here http://www.clayko.com.au/Products_and_Services/Products/Knowledgelake.aspx

Organice – Engineering information management system enabling AEC companies to control project related documentation including CAD drawings.  More info here http://www.clayko.com.au/Products_and_Services/Products/Organice.aspx

So it is no surprise that Microsoft have recently announced the creation of a marketplace for SharePoint Online compatible applications.  The creation of the Microsoft "Apps Store" (name pending due to a naming dispute with close friends Apple), will bring specific business solutions to SharePoint Online users, allowing businesses to easily extend SharePoint to meet specific challenges.

I think Steve Ballmer – Microsoft CEO – outlined SharePoint’s position in the market beautifully when he described SharePoint as the operating system for business.  So just as you have applications such as Word, Excel, Outlook, various photo and video editing software, Skype and other applications that you install on your PC operating system (eg Windows 7), businesses these days are looking at applications that meet their specifric needs using SharePoint as the platform.

At Clayko, we’re noticing the increase in adoption of SharePoint Online.  Some of the reasons our customers are adopting SharePoint Online are listed below:

• We need an Intranet

• Manage business content easily

• Enterprise grade solution at a fraction of the cost

• It is seen as a better business solution than DropBox and Skydrive

• Have used SharePoint in a previous role and want to bring it into this business but they can’t afford to buy the on-premise version

• Want low cost entry to SharePoint

• Proof of concept before making a larger investment in an on-premise deployment

Generally we find clients will extend SharePoint with KnowledgeLake and/or Organice and other 3^rd party applications after they are confident with where SharePoint sits in their organisation and realise that they have specific requirements which just can’t be achieved using native SharePoint.

The good news for Clayko’s customers is that both KnowledgeLake and Organice are SharePoint Online compatible, meaning they will work in the cloud as well as in hosted and on-premise environments.  This means that even if you’re a single person operation, you can now have the same solution as much larger organisations, at a fraction of the cost!

Unfortunately these solutions are not yet available in the App Store, so in the meantime, you’ll just have to contact us the old fashioned way.