Content Wrap-Up for December 2013

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imageI hope everyone had a good holiday break. For the most part, I worked right through the holidays, with the occasional family activity, in prep for what looks to be another hectic Q1 in 2014. I’m pushing several articles out the door by early next week in time for me to once again hit the road. On this trip, I’m heading back to DC for a couple days in Metalogix HQ and to present  a session entitled “What It Takes to Make Social Successful” at the SUGDC in Tyson’s Corner on January 9th.

And then on Friday, I’ll be heading down to Virginia Beach, VA for the 6th annual SharePoint Saturday. For those who did not know, SPSVB is the birthplace of the SPS juggernaut, and I believe this will be my fourth time participating in this event. I’ll be presenting two sessions in the main theater in the morning, including “How to Kill Innovation in SharePoint in 5 Easy Steps” and “How Social and the Cloud Impact Your Governance Strategy.” Both are 100-level sessions geared toward IT BDMs (business decision-makers), but end users and admins will find them informative and fun, as well.

As for content in December, it was a typical month for me. One of my primary themes for the month was around the changing face of SharePoint and related technologies as Microsoft intensifies their cloud push, and as companies – and members of the community – struggle to figure out their place within these new models.

On a similar track, I’ve been channeling my inner-consultant, advising customers and partners on how best to approach the cloud issue. If you read my articles, you know that I take a very pragmatic approach to the cloud in which customers should focus first on their requirements, and second on their legal, regulatory constraints. By all means, take advantage of the new deployment models and cost efficiencies of the cloud – but go into it with your eyes wide open about the risks and benefits.

Following up on last month’s focus on SharePoint optimization, including a community tweetjam, I provided a recap of that event,  and also shared some product and partner insights into the topic for CMSWire, which was a follow on to last month’s interview with Mark McGovern (@docpointmark).

One of my January themes will be the app model. Microsoft is all-in on the app model, with mixed results. But my prediction is that mobile will soon outpace social as the most-discussed topic amongst the SharePoint crowd.

Speaking of social, I prefer to go beyond just talking about the technology platforms themselves, and focus more on the business transformation that can happen.

As always, I often write about governance – not just for SharePoint or even IT, but about the practice of governance and change management as a way to transform corporate strategy into innovation. I often quote a classmate from business school, who said “Governance is a set of guidelines to live by, not rules to die by.” What that means to me is that governance is an organic concept that should be regularly reviewed and refined to meet the changing needs of your business and your employee culture.

And, of course, I had to slip in at least one article for self-promotion.

I’m working on a number of posts this weekend before departing for DC, including posts for CMSWire, TechRepublic, B2C, AIIM, and Wired. Lots to do, lots to do. I’ll let you know when they drop.

Christian Buckley

Christian is a Microsoft Regional Director and M365 Apps & Services MVP, and an award-winning product marketer and technology evangelist, based in Silicon Slopes (Lehi), Utah. He is a startup advisor and investor, and an independent consultant providing fractional marketing and channel development services for Microsoft partners. He hosts the weekly #CollabTalk Podcast, weekly #ProjectFailureFiles series, monthly Guardians of M365 Governance (#GoM365gov) series, and the Microsoft 365 Ask-Me-Anything (#M365AMA) series.