Are you feeling overwhelmed by the vast and complex world of Microsoft SharePoint? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. With its multitude of features and customisation options, navigating SharePoint Online can often feel like a maze. Finding the right consultants for your SharePoint or Office 365 project is crucial to your success.
In this article, we will guide you through the process of choosing the best consultants for your SharePoint project, ensuring that you receive the expertise and guidance necessary to achieve your goals. Whether you’re looking for assistance with implementation, customisation, or training. It’s essential to select the right team who understands the unique challenges of your project and the opportunities that SharePoint presents.
With years of experience in the industry and a deep understanding of SharePoint and Office 365 best practices, our team of experts has curated a comprehensive guide to help you make the best decision. We will explore factors such as expertise, reputation, and project management skills that can significantly impact the success of your SharePoint project.
Don’t let the SharePoint maze intimidate you. Let us show you how to choose the best consultants to navigate it with confidence and achieve your desired outcomes. While SharePoint Consulting is a niche skill, there are great teams out there that can help you.
SharePoint & SharePoint Online are powerful collaboration and document management platforms developed by Microsoft. While SharePoint offers a wide range of capabilities out of the box, it often requires customisation and expertise to leverage its potential fully. It also requires an understanding of how to use its features within your business structure and processes. Hiring SharePoint consultants can provide you with the necessary knowledge and skills to optimise your design and deployment and ensure it aligns with your business goals.
SharePoint consultants can help you align your specific business requirements and customise SharePoint if required, to meet your needs. They have the expertise to configure SharePoint’s features, set up workflows, and create custom solutions that align with your organisation’s goals and business processes. Additionally, consultants can offer valuable insights and best practices to ensure that your SharePoint implementation is efficient, secure, modern experience and user-friendly. They are also able to support your organisation today and well into the future.
Working with SharePoint consultants can save you time and resources by avoiding common pitfalls and mistakes. Their deep understanding of SharePoint’s capabilities and limitations allows them to design and implement solutions that maximise your organisation’s digital transformation journey. By partnering with consultants, you can accelerate your SharePoint project and achieve tangible results much faster than you could alone.
Working alongside SharePoint consultants comes with many benefits that can significantly impact the success of your project. Firstly, consultants bring specialised knowledge and experience in implementing SharePoint solutions whether it be a SharePoint Intranet, Document Management System, Team Sites, Client Portals or Business Process Automation. Their expertise allows them to design a user experience, and deploy a SharePoint environment tailored to your unique business requirements. This experience helps ensure that you get the most out of the platform.
Moreover, SharePoint consultants can provide ongoing support and maintenance, ensuring that your SharePoint environment remains secure and optimised for performance. They can assist with troubleshooting issues, managing permissions, and planning for updates. Allowing you to focus on your core business activities.
Another advantage of working with SharePoint consultants and their expert teams is their ability to train and educate your team. SharePoint consultants can provide comprehensive training programs, empowering your employees to utilise the features of your SharePoint implementation effectively. This knowledge transfer enables your organisation to become self-sufficient in managing and maintaining your SharePoint environment in the long run. It also means that you get value for the investment that you have made.
Overall, hiring SharePoint consultants offers a cost-effective solution to leverage SharePoint and Office 365 to its full potential. Their expertise, ongoing support, and ability to train users can drive user adoption, improve productivity, and enhance collaboration within your organisation.
Selecting the right SharePoint consultants for your project requires careful consideration of various factors; expertise, experience, reputation, alignment, and budget. By following these steps, you can ensure that you choose consultants who align with your project goals and can deliver the desired outcomes.
Start by researching and shortlisting potential SharePoint consultants. Look for consultants who have a strong reputation, SharePoint consulting expertise, and a proven track record of successful SharePoint implementations. Reach out to your professional network, attend industry events, and read online reviews to gather recommendations and insights about potential consultants.
Next, evaluate the expertise and experience of the shortlisted SharePoint consultants. Consider their technical skills, industry knowledge, and familiarity with your specific business requirements. Look for consultants who have experience in similar projects and can provide references or case studies to showcase their past work. SharePoint has a lot of interconnected parts when you look at it from the perspective of the greater Office 365 platform. Can they assist with many of the components we see an organisation using SharePoint for;
You also want a partner who can support you with consulting services end to end through the project so it’s good to ensure they have Business Analysts, Project Managers, Change Management Support and Training Services available for your end users. Having consultants who can take your business content and processes and turn it into a working solution is invaluable and will drive seamless user adoption and business efficiency.
Effective communication and collaboration are essential for a successful partnership with your chosen consultants. Are they a friendly team you feel you can work with? Evaluate how the consultants communicate, respond to inquiries, and collaborate with your team. Look for consultants who actively listen, understand your needs, and can clearly articulate their solutions and recommendations. A good consultant should be able to explain complex concepts in a simple and clear way.
To gauge the reliability and quality of potential SharePoint consultants, review their track record and client testimonials. Request references from past clients and inquire about their experiences working with the team. This will give you valuable insights into the consultants’ ability to deliver on their promises and meet your expectations.
Consider the pricing and contract terms offered by the shortlisted SharePoint consultants. Whilst deployment cost should not be the sole determining factor, it is essential to evaluate the consultants’ pricing structures and ensure that it aligns with your budget and project requirements. Review the contract terms, including service level agreements, deliverables, and project timelines, to ensure clarity and avoid any potential misunderstandings. Some providers prefer time and materials projects over fixed price. Make sure you understand the risks, and the pros and cons, before signing.
Often a SharePoint Project will require the use of third-party tools to deliver the final solution. There are a number of reasons for this, most commonly the third-party tools can be less expensive than building the functionality that you need from scratch. A common case for this could be content migration. There are many products available that are much more cost-effective than building migration scripts from scratch, and they achieve the same outcome. You will want your SharePoint consultant to have established partner relationships, both to simplify procurement and ensure priority response when needed.
The project is over, and you have a working solution, but the party has only just begun. Now it’s time to support the business operations through business as usual, and having the specialist team around is invaluable. So it’s good to know if your SharePoint consultants offer post-implementation support with Service Level Agreement’s. Having someone on call who knows your system and can provide ongoing guidance, support and training is priceless. SharePoint Online isn’t a set and forget platform, and there is always more tweaking and refining to benefit your organisation.
Selecting the right SharePoint consultants involves a comprehensive process. It includes researching and shortlisting potential candidates, evaluating their expertise and experience, assessing their communication skills, reviewing their track-record and client testimonials, and comparing pricing and contract terms. Additionally, it’s essential to consider factors such as vendor partnerships for third-party tools and post-implementation support. These steps and considerations ensure that you choose consultants who align with your project’s needs and goals while maintaining a budget-friendly approach.
So, you are through the maze and you have chosen the right SharePoint consultants to help you reach your goal with confidence. Be assured that with the expertise, wisdom and perspective of your chosen consultants, your organisation will thrive with an awesome SharePoint set up leading the way!
© 2024 Propelle Pty Ltd
