The Strategic Value of Hybrid SharePoint

It’s amazing to see the SharePoint community continue to grow. While there are many new tools in the space (Teams, Planner, OneDrive for Business, Yammer, etc) that may pull users away from the traditional SharePoint interface, the reality is that SharePoint services are very much a part of most of these products and features – and SharePoint is a key component of the overall Office 365 platform. According to the recent CollabTalk/BYU study, the ecosystem is projected to grow by $1.4 billion in the next 3 years, and the primary environment running SharePoint will be hybrid.

This month’s #CollabTalk tweetjam will focus on “Hybrid SharePoint as a Strategy” – specifically, the gaps and opportunities of pursuing hybrid as an organizational strategy. With the results now available of the Q1 research into the state of the hybrid SharePoint ecosystem (you can download a copy at http://hybrid-sp.collabtalk.com) there is solid data that shows where people still have concern around security, governance, and the future of a decade of customizations. But the report also shows areas where companies believe hybrid can provide a competitive advantage. Looking forward to everyone's input and experiences.

Please join the community discussion on Tuesday, April 25th at 9am Pacific using Twitter and the #CollabTalk hashtag, or through the dedicated tweetjam site at http://twubs.com/CollabTalk. This month’s tweetjam is sponsored by AvePoint, with tyGraph once again provided the awesome statistics! 

If you’ve never participated in one of these tweetjams, it's pretty simple: anyone can jump in and share their thoughts, or just lurk in the wings and absorb the wisdom of the crowd. Either way, it’ll be a TON of content to consume in a single hour. You can follow the live session using the Twitter UI of your choice (Twitter.com, Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, Twubs, whatever). How it works is that I’ll post a series of questions every few minutes, and people will respond to Q1, Q2, Q3 and so forth with A1, A2, A3, always including the #CollabTalk hashtag with their answers. Feel free to reply as often (or as little) as you’d like, ask your own follow up questions, share relevant links, retweet others, and engage with the audience.

The questions we will discuss during the session include:

1. How have attitudes toward hybrid SharePoint changed within the past year, if at all?
2. Which features/capabilities are driving customers toward hybrid SharePoint?
3. Is hybrid truly a “strategy” or do customers feel they have no other choice?
4. What are the major gaps, if any, for pursuing a hybrid SharePoint strategy?
5. What examples have you seen where hybrid SharePoint can be a competitive advantage?
6. How can Microsoft, ISVs, and SIs improve the hybrid SharePoint story?
7. What is your own organizational strategy for hybrid SharePoint going forward?

Of course, there will be side-questions, side-conversations, and wise-cracking throughout. The dialog is usually thought-provoking but also fun. Participating on this panel are a number of MVPs and experts on SharePoint and Office 365. Of course, this is open to the public, so please join in the discussion!

• Eric Overfield (@ericoverfield), Microsoft Regional Director, SharePoint MVP, and founder of PixelMill
• Andrew Connell (@andrewconnell), SharePoint MVP, and founder, instructor, chief puppeteer at Voitanos LLC
• Jeffrey Schwartz (@jeffreyschwartz), editor of Redmond Magazine and editor-at-large for Redmond Channel Partner magazine
• Dux Raymond Sy (@meetdux), Microsoft Regional Director, SharePoint MVP, and CTO at AvePoint Public Sector
• John Peltonen (@johnpeltonen), founding partner at 3Sharp
• Mark Kashman (@mkashman), semi-pro Instagram photographer and senior product manager at Microsoft
• Mike Oryszak (next_connect), managing director at B&R Business Solutions
• Scott Restivo (@crowcanyonsw), ceo of Crow Canyon Software
• Jennifer Mason (@jennifermason), SharePoint MVP and director of innovation & strategic solutions at Planet Technologies
• Jeff Willinger (@jwillie), Office 365 MVP and director of collaboration and social business at Rightpoint
• Dean Swann (@sdeanswann), social collaborator, growth hacker and product manager for UnlimitedViz
• Heather Newman (@heddanewman), co-founder and cmo of ContentPanda
• Barry Jinks (@BJinks), founder and ceo at Colligo
• Stacy Deere-Strole (@sldeere), SharePoint MVP and owner of Focal Point Solutions
• Ed Senez (@edsenez), president at UnlimitedViz and TyGraph
• Jeremy Thake (@jthake), vp of product technology at Hyperfish
• Pat Esposito (@patespoim), enterprise architect at Blue Dog Technology
• John Peluso (@johnconnected), vice president of product management at AvePoint
• Rob Windsor (@robwindsor), .NET/SharePoint developer and MVP, trainer, and author
• Vlad Catrinescu (@vladcatrinescu),SharePoint and Office 365 MVP, speaker, and author
• Sebastien Levert (@sebastienlevert), Office365 MVP and specialist in Azure, SharePoint, and O365
• Kanwal Khipple (@kkhipple), Office 365 MVP and founder of 2toLead
• Jeff Fried (@jefffried), chief technology officer at BA Insight
• Brett Hill (@bretthill), Office365 MVP and manager of technical marketing at Riverbed Technology
• Liz Sundet (@percusn), Microsoft MVP, fern-loving percussionist, director of business relationships at Focal Point Solutions
• Debbie Ferolito (@dbraunert), chief marketing officer at BA Insight
• Marlee Long (@cardiolog), marketing manager at Intlock
• Marc Anderson (@sympmarc), SharePoint MVP and co-founder, president of Sympraxis Consulting
• Scot Hillier (@scothillier), SharePoint MVP and independent consultant
• David Roe (@druadh20), technology journalist with CMSWire
• Eric Riz (@rizinsights), SharePoint MVP and ceo of Empty Cubicle
• John White (@diverdown1964), SharePoint MVP and cto at UnlimitedViz Inc.
• Michal Pisarek (@michalpisarek), SharePoint MVP and founder of Bonzai Intranet
• Randy Drisgill (@drisgill), SharePoint MVP and branding and design expert at Rackspace
• Adam Levithan (@collabadam), Office 365 MVP and director of product management at Metalogix
• Gokan Ozcifci (@gokanozcifci), Microsoft Regional Director, SharePoint MVP, and IT infrastructure consultant at Neoxy
• Nikkia Carter (@carterMcGServ), ceo at CMW LLC and tech speaker
• Tom Resing (@resing), senior content developer, modern assistance and support experience at Microsoft
• Tracy Van der Schyff (@tracyvds), Office Servers and Services MVP and manager at GT Academy / GTconsult
• Maarten Eekels (@maarteneekels), SharePoint MVP and cto for Portiva
• Ragnar Heil (@ragnarh), Office 365 E5 channel lead at Microsoft
• Brian Culver (@SPbrianculver), SharePoint MCM and founder, president of Expert Point Solution
• Shyam Oza (@ShyamOza), senior product manager at AvePoint
• Michael Greth (@mysharepoint), Microsoft MVP, SharePoint and Office 365 specialist, podcaster and speaker
• Jared Shockley (@jshoq), senior systems engineer with SESIT at Microsoft
• Erica Toelle (@ericatoelle), portals and content manager at Valorem Consulting
• Patrick Curran (@pcfromdc), director, federal group at Planet Technologies
• Ryan Schouten (@ShrPntKnight) senior SharePoint architect and evangelist at ZAACT
• Mark Jones (@markqjones), founder of Collaboris and Collab365.community
• Jakob Maciolek (@koobar), vice president of sales at Hyperfish
• and your host, Christian Buckley (@buckleyplanet), Office Server and Services MVP, founder & ceo of CollabTalk LLC

If you’re an expert on the topic and would like to join our panel, please drop me a line. Otherwise, everyone is invited – and I’ll see you online this Wednesday. And if you can’t make the time – don’t worry. I’ll capture the entire discussion in Storify and post the link to the various interweb feeds. Watch my Twitters via @buckleyplanet for updates.

And thank you once again to this month's sponsors – AvePoint and tyGraph!