A recent Forrester publication has found that organizations can achieve significant financial and productivity benefits by consolidating collaboration, document management, internal and external portals, and search onto SharePoint 2010 as their central information management platform. The findings were published in the report: “The Total Economic ImpactTM of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010”. The publication aims to provide readers with a framework to evaluate the potential impact of SharePoint 2010 within their organizations.
Why Forrester Research?
Microsoft selected Forrester to conduct this research because of their well respected industry expertise in enterprise collaboration strategy and tools1. The research was based on in-depth interviews with eleven organizations currently using SharePoint 2010. User interviews and the creation of a composite organization (a 5,000-user, professional services company) demonstrated a complete picture of the return on investment and benefits of SharePoint 2010, utilizing Forrester’s Total Economic Impact2 methodology.
Significant ROI
The quantifiable benefits found in the study came to $3.1 million in savings for the composite organization. A majority of cost savings was realized through the consolidation of technologies from multiple vendors, resulting in lower maintenance and management demands. The report also provides in-depth cost considerations for internal labor, professional services, and hardware.
Value Beyond Cost Savings
Growing recognition of the value of collective knowledge within organizations has been vital to the continued success of SharePoint. The composite company in this research recognized the strong need for an effective collaboration tool that will enhance employee productivity and create competitive advantages for client service.
Advantages to Business Units
SharePoint 2010 gives companies the option to gain future benefits from relatively easy integration of business intelligence, ERP, CRM, and other line-of-business applications. Many of the organizations interviewed in the study discussed the advantage of allowing individual business units to hold the power of controlling their own information and reducing reliance on Information Technology to accomplish simple tasks.
A few examples cited by those interviewed in the research include:
Human Resources
HR Staff within many organizations spends a good amount of time answering the same frequently asked questions. SharePoint allows HR to easily generate and maintain content to deliver timely and reliable information without reliance on IT. Communications tools such as a weekly blog on high-profile HR issues, online messaging, and team or department specific HR elements added to team sites results in less duplicated effort responding to individual inquiries, and a more informed workforce. The freed time that was previously spent on repetitive tasks can now be focused on more strategic initiatives within the organization such as hiring or assisting executive decision makers.
Sales & Account Management
Understanding clients’ needs and developing relationships to prove the value of your service is the key to closing new business for professional services companies. Utilizing new SharePoint tools to fill in the gaps on client and prospect information can result in faster responses to new opportunities and make for stronger client and prospect engagement and relationships.
Contact Risetime today to schedule a complimentary demonstration of SharePoint 2010 to learn how your organization can realize these benefits and more.
If you’re considering a SharePoint 2010 project, this research is a must read! Download the paper from the Microsoft SharePoint 2010 website: http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/ or Click here to download.
1. Study Disclaimer: The study was commissioned by Microsoft and delivered by the Forrester Consulting group. Microsoft reviewed and provided feedback to Forrester, but Forrester maintained editorial control over the study and its findings.
2. Total Economic Impact (TEI) is a methodology developed by Forrester Research that explores the tangible value of IT initiatives designed to assist companies in the technology purchase decision making process and vendors in communicating the value proposition of the products and services.