​Business-Critical SharePoint (“BCSP”) was introduced to our blog readers a few months ago (post), as an approach to driving productivity with SharePoint-based solutions using line-of-business data. Since then, we’ve been witnessing the type of momentum that only a few had predicted - customers from around the world and across different industries have been adopting BCSP by connecting SharePoint to a variety of LOB systems (ERP, CRM, PLM and more), surfacing data in SharePoint and utilizing that data to share information and improve cross-team collaboration across their organization.

What customers are finding is that the business value to be gained from SharePoint is significantly enhanced when they take it beyond more basic scenarios such as Document Management and Intranet solutions. As Steven Wong from Concatenate puts it, “SharePoint is great as an Intranet but really rocks when you use it for connecting backend business systems.” A recent survey conducted by the Central Marketing Group at Microsoft found that customers that connect SharePoint to LOB systems and perceive it to be “Mission Critical” are the ones with the highest levels of product satisfaction when it comes to their SharePoint deployments.

At the forefront of the effort to address this surging demand by customers around utilizing SharePoint in these highly-connected scenarios, are 90 SharePoint partners who are leading the way with the Business-Critical SharePoint approach and helping companies break-down information silos.

Organizations implementing the BCSP approach are already seeing business process improvements and return on investment (ROI), including the Street Crane Company, the United Kingdom’s largest manufacturer of electric overhead traveling cranes. Their SharePoint-based solution from Siemens PLM Software now connects the previously disparate line-of-business systems; therefore, also the previously disconnected teams using the data. “Different people from within our organization are able to see different areas, write to different areas, or edit different areas,” said Chris Russell, Director of Development at Street Crane. “The opportunity was to improve the speed, efficiency and precision with which users inside and outside the company could access the data specific to them.” Andrew Pimblett, Managing Director, Street Crane concludes, “Without doubt, the return on our investment in using SharePoint and Solid Edge products has been absolutely second to none. We wouldn’t have achieved what we have, I believe, with any other products on the market.”

To learn more about how the benefits of the Business-Critical SharePoint approach and how the Business-Critical SharePoint partners can help companies like yours, join our BCSP Webcast on Dec. 4th, or find a partner in your area on www.sharepoint.com/bcsp.