The Cult of the SharePoint (2007/2010) Platform. The SharePoint Customer Experience.

Also posted at http://blogs.driskells.com/2009/09/cult-of-sharepoint-20072010-platform.html.

I know that many are questioning the title of this blog. I want to focus on the title and answer the question, “Why use the term Cult in conjunction with SharePoint?”

First, my blog is inspired by a great speaker named, Shep Hyken. Shep has written a great book titled, The Cult of the Customer. I had the pleasure of attending one of Shep’s seminar about building a cult for your business. I am a bit light on his message. So, I invite you all to visit his site. Thanx Shep.

I want to begin with a quote from Shep.

“…. The Cult of the Customer is an organization’s culture that is so focused on taking care of their employees and customers that it creates amazement. In the world of business that means consistent, predictable and better-than-average experiences. These experiences can help create evangelists –employees and customers - who are loyal and go out of their way to be your advocates….”

Over the years, I have watched the many changes of SharePoint - even before it took on the name SharePoint. So, the use of the term cult –as it associates with SharePoint - is not a reference to a negative group of people or experiences. As defined by Shep, “A cult is a when a group of people that have a common interest.” In fact, a cult is actually a culture that evangelizes a solution, a platform, that adds value and provides a flexible infrastructure for additional value-add. That is, SharePoint has become a culture in itself. I know some may think that I have drunk the juice. The fact is…. We all have.

As I speak with a number of SharePoint MVPs, SharePoint product team members and, my experience from the trenches, SharePoint experts, the message is consistently the same. As a rule, organizations must ensure a proper assessment that ties organizational goals to the various features of SharePoint to deliver the highest value. At the same time, IT must involve the users of the, current, business processes so that we can ensure that those requirements are met. This blog does not focus on specific features of SharePoint. It focuses on, “Why SharePoint?”



1. The Cult of Uncertainty

a. It is unfortunate that many organizations exist in this very culture. The fact remains is that many organizations deploy technologies without proper planning. In addition, many organizations fail to properly train their employees. I could go on and on. The end result is a cycle of uncertainty and distrust. That boils down to inconsistencies for an organizations employees. I speak to this fact based on my many engagements over the last 16 years and conversations with other experts in the space. I can relate to Shep’s point about employees and customers living in a parallel world. It is my position that this speaks volume when we reference the use of SharePoint as a platform. Bottom line, how can you expect for your customers to be happy with the use of SharePoint and your employees are not (Intranet versus Internet). To put it differently, an organization must deliver a consistent message and deliver a consistent SharePoint solution to eliminate or minimize inconsistency.

2. The Cult of Alignment

a. On many engagements, the employees were not clear about the purpose of SharePoint. This fact exists for a number of reasons. By and large, it boils down to lack of communications or poor communications. That is, the stakeholders and/or IT has not communicated the value of SharePoint.

b. In order to encourage employee buy-in, and ultimately, customer buy-in an organization need to create a communication plan. The organization, as a whole, must buy into the overall SharePoint strategy. That is, all employees must understand the vision and mission of an organization’s business. It is my position that an employee that understands its organizations business has a better chance of understanding an organization’s SharePoint strategy.

3. The Cult of Experience

a. The overall goal here is to ensure that all employees experience the SharePoint promise. Rather than falling short on your deliverable, an organization that properly plans their SharePoint strategy has a higher possibility of delivering a positive experience.

4. The Cult of Ownership

a. An employee that has a positive experience generally takes ownership of a solid solution. That is, the employees own the SharePoint experience. As a result, IT is a trusted body that supports the overall goals of the organization or business.

5. The Cult of Amazement

a. At this point, the stakeholders and IT has built a comfortable level of trust. In essence, the employees use of SharePoint is predictable. Namely, the expectations are consistent and appealing. It is better than other average technologies.

On the whole, SharePoint architects, administrators and evangelist must ensure that SharePoint’s deployment is consistent, aligned with business goals and predictable. Consequently, an organizations employees ultimately takes ownership and customers are amazed. It is my position that the previously mentioned points achievable leveraging methodologies and processes. That is just my $19.11 worth. I am encouraging all to apply these principles when planning upgrades to or new deployments of SharePoint 2010.