Social Computing and SharePoint. I talk about this subject all the time as it is increasingly becoming a key area of focus with the Enterprise accounts I work with here in the southeast United States. Retail, Healthcare, Financial, Power, Manufacturing, these industries and more are all grappling with how to approach Social Computing within the context of the Enterprise space where things such as Security, SOX, HIPPA, SEC, and other areas of compliancy and restrictions come in to play. Most software on the market that focuses on Social Computing was developed with the Internet in mind and often fails to take in to account the regulatory needs within the Enterprise space.
With virtually all of the clients I work with having an investment in SharePoint in one manner or another utilizing it as the baseline, integrated, platform for Social Computing within these organizations is of key interest. Out of the box SharePoint integrates with their directory structure for authentication and trimmed uses access to content based on access authority granted or denied. Search across a SharePoint based infrastructure is an out of the box experience that does not require development and integration efforts. The need to provide an integrated, smooth transition of ad-hoc content that is generated within a Social Computing environment to formal records management when needed is also provided for out of the box. Finally when looking to address the requirements of today’s regulatory requirements clients know that SharePoint is one of the few platforms on the planet to have achieved full DOD certification, the most stringent level of certification for a records management system available.
The problem often is people want to know where to get started and what are approaches to incrementally introducing Social Computing that leverages a SharePoint investment in a manner consistent with Enterprise requirements? It is these types of questions that are increasingly leading me to be asked onsite through the area I work here in the southeast United States. Since there is only one little ‘ol me I am very happy to present a great resource for anyone with those types of questions. Microsoft has launched a great resource page with these needs in mind titled “Learn more about Social Computing.” Just a small smattering of resources on this page includes things like:
· Managing Social Networking with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
Learn about the importance of social networking in an organization and how to properly implement Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 as a social networking platform.
· Enterprise 2.0 Conference Keynote Presentation - Amplify The Impact Of Your People With Enterprise 2.0 Technologies
Derek Burney, Microsoft's General Manager of SharePoint Platform & Tools, discusses advances in social computing, composite applications and mash-ups, and unified communications are creating value for enterprises by changing the way people collaborate, innovate, and communicate—not only internally but also with customers, partners and suppliers.
· Bringing Web 2.0 to the Enterprise with the 2007 Office System
This white paper explores how the 2007 Microsoft Office system allows enterprises to adopt Web 2.0 ideas and technologies to create high-value, user-driven applications for the Internet and intranet.
· Using Blogs and Wikis in Business
This paper includes a discussion of the built-in wiki and blog support in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, and includes examples of features that are relevant to business decision makers and technical managers.
· Office Hours: Stir up your best ideas with a group SharePoint blog
Many good ideas were getting buried at the bottom of inboxes, or not getting to the right people. This article provides recommendations to make a group blog successful and easy to use, so we can connect, collaborate and share those ideas.
· Wiki While You Work
This article on TechNet Magazine provides an overview of what a wiki is, how to build a wiki in SharePoint, and how to edit and track changes.
· Community Kit for SharePoint
The Community Kit for SharePoint is a set of best practices, templates, Web Parts, tools, and source code that enables practically anyone to create a community website based on SharePoint technology for practically any group of people with a common interest.
Additionally, there are related whitepapers, news, reviews, and resources. The content is constantly expanding (there is a great forthcoming piece by Microsoft’s Alina Fu on “How to Get the Most Value from Social Computing for Business with Microsoft” that promises some great insight…. Okay I cheated on that as I have an early draft ;-)
To get started on your People Ready, Social Computing journey within the Enterprise be sure to check out “Learn more about Social Computing.”