When you are unable to explore the maximum potential of Microsoft SharePoint for your organization and struggle to finalize the best SharePoint consulting services provider – what would you do?
According to the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) report, one in two corporations today use SharePoint Server.
Companies such as Kraft Foods, Bristol-Myers Squibb, UPS Store, and Viacom are a few of the Fortune 500 companies that use SharePoint to manage their content and for data sharing internally.
Let’s say you already have an internal IT team managing your day-to-day SharePoint operations?
An extended team will enhance their capabilities and help you with complex requirements. They can not only consult but also implement solutions.
Keep reading to know more about the ins and outs of working with a SharePoint consulting partner…
What Is SharePoint Consulting?
SharePoint consulting is a professional service provided by experts who specialize in Microsoft SharePoint.
The platform is integrated with Microsoft Office, which can help your organization to streamline its business processes – mainly your content management.
But that’s not it.
Professional SharePoint consultants offer guidance and expertise in planning, implementing, customizing, and managing SharePoint environments.
They can offer you services like:
- Assessment of business needs: Professional experts can evaluate your company’s business processes to determine how Microsoft SharePoint can enhance your workflow, collaboration, and document management.
- Custom solution design: They tailor SharePoint to fit the specific requirements of your business. It involves customizing sites, lists, and libraries and integrating with other software systems.
- Migration and upgrade assistance: Microsoft SharePoint experts can help your business move to SharePoint from other systems or upgrade to the latest version of SharePoint.
- User training and support: Consultants can provide tailored training to your employees to ensure they can effectively use SharePoint, as well as offer ongoing support for any issues that arise.
- Governance and best practices: You can also access their advising service on governance policies to maintain data security and integrity.
- Performance optimization: SharePoint Consultants analyze the performance of SharePoint environments to ensure they run efficiently and meet your organization’s needs.
These SharePoint services can help your organization in multiple ways.
Moving on, let’s discuss other important factors why you should choose SharePoint consulting services.
Why Does Your Business Need SharePoint Consulting Services?
When your business engages in SharePoint consulting services, you can expect to see results that positively affect various aspects of operations and performance:
1. Increased productivity
By partnering with professional SharePoint consulting service providers, your business can significantly enhance its productivity through the strategic implementation of custom workflows and automation.
Consultants analyze existing business processes to identify repetitive and time-consuming tasks ripe for automation.
They then design and implement SharePoint workflows that streamline these processes, eliminating manual intervention wherever possible.
2. Cost savings
Professional SharePoint consulting services include conducting a comprehensive analysis of your business’s current software ecosystem to identify and eliminate redundancies and inefficiencies.
By bringing together various separate systems into a single SharePoint platform, you can reduce the number of licenses required for separate software and decrease overall software expenditure.
You can also save the cost of hiring long-term employees and get your desired results cost-effectively by associating with a professional SharePoint consulting agency.
3. Open doors to better growth
With an expert SharePoint consulting team by your side, you can use their experience to improve your existing business and unlock better growth opportunities.
These consultants use their existing experience to craft an infrastructure that’s ideal for your business and can handle an expanding workforce, larger data sets, and complex operations.
As your business ventures into new markets or scales up its operations, a solid SharePoint ecosystem maintained by expert consultants can minimize the difficulties.
4. Better data analysis and reporting
Professional SharePoint consultants can significantly improve how your business handles data analysis and reporting. They can set up advanced features in SharePoint that enable the collection and processing of data more effectively.
They can offer deep insight into using the platform by working for different organizations and helping your business perform better.
Based on your requirements, you might require tailored SharePoint consulting services.
Let’s understand the top consulting services you can access.
Types of SharePoint Consulting Services
From initial setup and customization to migration and ongoing support, SharePoint consultants offer a breadth of services to enhance your platform’s functionality.
Have a look:
1. SharePoint Custom Development
Custom development in SharePoint can be used to create applications specifically tailored to a company’s needs. The service includes the design and implementation of unique workflows, integration of SharePoint with other enterprise systems, and the creation of custom web parts to expand SharePoint’s functionality.
Also, consultants focus on enhancing the user interface and experience by applying custom branding, resulting in a more intuitive and engaging environment for users.
2. SharePoint Migration
SharePoint migration services are critical for organizations transitioning to newer versions of SharePoint or from third-party solutions to SharePoint Online. These services involve a thorough assessment of the current SharePoint environment and careful planning and execution of data and content migration.
The goal is to ensure a seamless upgrade to SharePoint Online or on-premises SharePoint’s latest versions without data loss or significant downtime.
3. SharePoint Process Automation
It streamlines business operations by designing and automating workflows, developing, and customizing forms, and analyzing and optimizing business processes.
Task and approval processes are automated, and notifications and alerts are configured, which helps reduce manual effort and improve efficiency and accuracy across organizational processes.
4. SharePoint Portals
SharePoint Consultants offer services to develop various types of portals within SharePoint, such as intranet portals for internal communications, extranet portals for interacting with external parties, and knowledge portals for information sharing.
They also provide services for document and content management portal design, along with customized branding and user interface design to ensure portals are user-friendly and align with the company’s brand identity.
5. SharePoint Branding
Branding services focus on creating a brand strategy for SharePoint environments and developing master pages to enhance visual appeal.
These services include the optimization of graphics, the development of interactive and user-friendly wireframes, and the creation of customized templates and page layouts.
Aspects of UI and UX are incorporated in SharePoint to enhance the look and feel of your SharePoint’s graphic interface.
Custom navigation based on taxonomy is also developed to facilitate easier access to information.
6. SharePoint B2B Integrations
Business-to-business (B2B) integration services involve connecting SharePoint with various business software solutions.
It allows for seamless data exchange and improved workflow between SharePoint and these external platforms, enhancing the overall business process and data management.
7. SharePoint Mobile Apps
Consultants provide cloud-based, enterprise, and custom app development services tailored for SharePoint. It includes creating mobile apps integrating with SharePoint, leveraging Power Apps, and developing apps for Microsoft Teams.
The aim is to extend SharePoint’s capabilities to mobile platforms, ensuring access to SharePoint resources from anywhere.
8. SharePoint M365
It involves integrating SharePoint Online with the broader suite of Microsoft 365 services, such as Exchange Online, OneDrive for Business, the Microsoft Office suite, and Microsoft Teams.
The integration ensures a cohesive and unified experience that leverages the cloud, enhancing collaboration, communication, and document management across the organization.
Now that you know what type of SharePoint consulting services you require, you might come across multiple options.
But whom to choose as your trusted SharePoint consulting partner or service provider?
Choosing the Right SharePoint Consulting Partner
Selecting the right SharePoint consultant is essential for your project’s success. Let’s highlight the important elements to remember while determining the most suitable Microsoft SharePoint consulting expertise for your needs.
1. Evaluate your SharePoint needs
It’s important to understand your organization’s SharePoint necessities before you choose a partner for avaialing SharePoint consulting services.
Pinpoint your objectives, hurdles, and areas where you require external support.
Determine the extent of the project, be it a new SharePoint implementation, customization, migration, or ongoing support. With a defined vision of your needs, you’re more equipped to evaluate the proficiency of prospective SharePoint advisors.
2. Check SharePoint Consultants track record
When evaluating different SharePoint consultants, you must check their qualifications and past project outcomes.
SharePoint’s complexity requires a high level of expertise, so prioritize consultants with Microsoft certifications and a portfolio of successful SharePoint deployments.
Their experience with various SharePoint versions should align with your organization’s use. Also, ensure they have a history of working with similar-sized companies and industries as yours, as this can be a strong indicator of their ability to meet your business’s unique requirements.
3. Analyze their communication and collaboration skills
Once you check their track record, it will automatically help you check their knowledge and expertise in managing the Microsoft platform.
However, you must ensure that your SharePoint consultants are good listeners who can understand your organization’s needs and translate them into technical requirements.
Their representatives should also possess strong collaboration skills to work in sync with your team, stakeholders, and other entities involved in the project.
4. Check their customization and development capabilities
Apart from communication, you must associate with someone who can deliver tailored results for your organization. When choosing a SharePoint consulting provider, their ability to customize and develop is highly important.
A provider with strong customization skills can tailor SharePoint’s capabilities to fit your specific business processes and ensure your workflow is seamless and efficient.
They should have expertise in SharePoint’s development frameworks, such as SharePoint Framework (SPFx), and programming languages, such as JavaScript, C#, and HTML.
5. Consistent support and maintenance
SharePoint implementation requires ongoing support and maintenance to ensure that you unlock the best potential of the platform.
You must inquire about your potential consultant’s approach to SharePoint support and their availability for ongoing maintenance tasks.
You must be clear about three factors:
- Service-level agreements (SLAs)
- Response times
- Escalation procedures
Your SharePoint consultant should be committed to providing support and addressing any complications that may occur while using Microsoft SharePoint.
6. Be thorough about the cost and value
While cost is an important factor, you must be thorough with the consultant’s pricing structure and the value they offer.
Compare multiple offers you get from different consultants and assess them in conjunction with their experience and services provided.
Also, check the long-term benefits and return on investment they will offer while managing your SharePoint operations.
7. Ask for Integration Solutions
As SharePoint will be used with other systems and platforms in your existing organization’s IT ecosystem, you must ensure that the SharePoint consultants have experience in integrating SharePoint with other software.
It’s highly important for the success of your business operations. Consultants who don’t have familiarity with integration approaches, such as APIs, web services, and third-party tools, cannot ensure smooth data flow.
8. They must have a client-focused approach
Once you have ticked all the above-listed criteria and are sure about the skills and professionalism of your consultants, you must consider the consultant’s client-focused approach.
A trusted SharePoint consultant must be concerned of your organization’s unique needs and provide tailored solutions.
Your concerns should be their top priority, and they should be highly responsive regarding your inquiries.
You must associate with consultants who value customer satisfaction and can stand by their words.
Check their testimonials or contact their previous clients to know the depth of their claims.
Once everything is done, you can finalize your future SharePoint consulting service provider.
But going through these processes can be overwhelming.
Here we are as one of the best SharePoint consulting service providers, you can consider for your upcoming projects.
Why Choose Integrative Systems?
Choosing Integrative Systems for your SharePoint consulting needs positions your business at a strategic advantage.
Our comprehensive approach acknowledges the daily challenges faced by SMBs, from maintaining cost-efficiency to embracing technological innovations and staying competitive.
We also offer a partnership that enhances your business operations by leveraging our expertise in Microsoft technologies.
Our tailored solutions address current needs and are designed to be a key component in your strategic future.
Our skilled team of Microsoft consulting professionals ensures you can focus on core business objectives with confidence.
Feel free to start a conversation and to share your requirements on [email protected].
