The Future of SharePoint - My Verdict

I had the distinct honor of attending the Future of SharePoint event in San Francisco this past Wednesday May 4th. I was able to get in early enough to snag a seat on the front row as me and 99 other customers, press, and MVP’s witnessed the public announcement of information that had previously been under NDA. Finally, when my customers ask questions about mobile I can say more than “just wait” or when they ask about development I can say more than “trust me.” Do you realize how hard it is for me to keep a secret???

Anyway… for the next couple of hours we listened to Microsoft give an overview of everything that’s coming for SharePoint. It took 2 hours just to scratch the surface. So yeah, there’s A LOT coming. I won’t go into great detail about all of it because there are countless blog posts out there now on the different topics. I will link to those so you can find out more information. Rather than add to what’s already been said ad nauseam, I wanted to give my own thoughts and insights on what I’m seeing from Microsoft and the future of SharePoint.

Check out all of Microsoft’s blogs and videos about the new features of SharePoint.

What others in the community are saying about the future of SharePoint

• SharePoint’s Next Epoch
• What’s New with Sharepoint? Microsoft’s Future of Sharepoint Event Round-Up
• The Future of SharePoint Looks Good!
• Overview of the New SharePoint – Modern Team Sites, Pages, Web Parts, and Applications
• The Future of SharePoint - it's here!
• Microsoft’s May 4 SharePoint Announcements and Client Side Development Futures



What Stood Out to Me

I think the big takeaway for me is that SharePoint is back… with a vengeance. There were whispers, okay... not whispers, but people shouting from the rooftop that SharePoint was dead! On-Premises was dead! We’re all doomed! Time to find another technology to pin all our hopes and dreams on. I mean just look, the link to SharePoint in Office 365 was called “Sites.” Obviously Microsoft was trying to kill SharePoint (that’s sarcasm by the way). However, it’s absolutely clear now that Microsoft is dedicated to SharePoint. They’ve changed that “Sites” link to “SharePoint,” and they already announced there will be ANOTHER release of SharePoint. Jeff Teper proudly proclaimed “SharePoint is the core of Office 365.” This is really great news for companies that have invested so much time and talent into SharePoint, and it’s nice to know that Microsoft has embraced SharePoint again.

Several other items really stood out to me. 

A Mobile App!

What are our clients most excited about? Easily it’s the new mobile app. Finally! (I’m not going to say “Intranet in my pocket”) But finally! A real mobile experience. We no longer have to hack master pages or tell customers that there really is no good story. The new mobile app will work with existing team sites too, so don’t worry about having to rewrite all your team sites to get a mobile experience. Find out more about the new mobile story on SharePoint—the mobile and intelligent intranet.

The SharePoint Framework

• The Sharepoint Framework—An Open and Connected Platform
• SharePoint Framework - Initial Questions and Answers
• Introducing the SharePoint Framework
• Getting started with SharePoint Framework - Office Dev PnP Web Cast
• Sharepoint Entering 2016 Style of Web Development with the Introduction of Sharepoint Framework!
• The New Sharepoint Development Model – Client Web Parts, Javascript Frameworks, NPM, Gulp, Typescript Etc.
• Introducing the SharePoint Framework - The New Developer Experience for SharePoint

Key Takeaways

• SharePoint is not dead - there is a future in SharePoint
• OneDrive App integration with SharePoint Document libraries looks pretty seamless
• It’s Groups AND Team Sites, not Groups OR Team Sites
• There’s finally a good mobile story
• Client-side development is awesome and I’ve been right since SharePoint 2007 
• Team Sites can be created in 5 seconds… Holy sprawl batman… MAKE SURE YOU HAVE GOVERNANCE IN PLACE!
• On-Premises features will come as feature packs for SA customers starting in 2017

Finally, it is important to note that none of these changes affect you today. You have time to get ready. You will have “classic mode” to fall back on for quite a while. So, if you are worried about any branding or customizations, maybe you should be, but don’t panic. Simply reach out to a competent resource to help guide you along the way, and once you get to your destination you will be pleasantly surprised. This is the most optimistic I’ve been about SharePoint in a long time.

Finally Finally…

Overall, the Future of SharePoint event in San Francisco really was a great one and completely worth the cross country trip to be there and be a part of it. 5/4/2016 really was one of the biggest days in the history of SharePoint with some of the most dramatic updates ever. For the first time in a while, SharePoint feels modern and not two versions behind, and it feels like it is future focused. The future of SharePoint is bright and I’m looking forward to being a part of it!