In a study conducted by SharePoint ISV Metalogix, with more than 1,000 SharePoint administrators and power users participating, it is readily apparent that collaboration platforms, such as SharePoint, are adding significant value to organizations, however many organizations admitted their collaboration platforms are disconnected from business goals. You can find details of the research at 'SharePoint Governance Maturity Benchmark.'
Analysis of the research data and detailed interviews with many of the participants showed some very consistent themes -- the strongest theme was recognition that collaboration platforms require strong governance strategies, and these strategies need to be directly aligned with business objectives. To put it simply, governance strategies are to collaboration platforms like a floor plan is to a home – a house would fall apart without a blueprint that was vetted by experts and built by qualified craftsmen. These same truths apply for enterprise collaboration, as governance strategies are the foundation and frame that support and secure the content and users within the platform.
A governance strategy is the link that directly connects all of the business needs to the platform and can easily be defined as the set of policies that directs and enables the business and IT teams to jointly achieve business goals. The research found that nearly 65 percent of respondents agreed SharePoint is a strategic, enterprise-wide platform. A governance strategy not only easily taps into all of the value that is potentially available within the platform, but also ensures platform activities map to business objectives.
Some additional stats pulled from the research include:
- Only 33.8 percent said their SharePoint strategy directly connects with their business goals
- 60.5 percent stated their governance plans ranged from being neutral to not at all linked to business objectives
- 30 percent of companies connect their governance plans with an end-user adoption strategy well or extremely well
Needless to say, many organizations have a governance gap that could be seriously preventing their business from realizing the full potential of their existing collaboration platforms and employee productivity. Raw numbers aside, here are a few additional reasons why enterprise collaboration platforms need governance strategies:
- End-user adoption – Enterprise collaboration suites are empowering technologies, however, if no one is using it or understands how to use it, the entire investment quickly goes to waste. When governance strategies are disconnected from employee adoption, businesses quickly lower the platform’s efficiency potential and miss out on building ongoing participation.
- ROI from the platform investment – Why introduce an entirely new platform to only hope for the best? Governance plans continuously uncover the value within the platform and identifies not only who should manage the platform, but also guides the strategic direction of the platform’s content.
- Reducing risk – In the research, just over 43 percent of respondents claimed they do not regularly run audits on usage, security, content or permissions, which is frightening to say the least. A governance plan that protects business IP and is aligned with the appropriate compliance regulations eliminates potentially devastating risk and losses in the future.
Collaboration platforms create a deep pool of collective intelligence across an organization, arming end-users with the information and context to not only move faster, but smarter. Healthy governance practices enables actual business agility and protects the business from data leaks, risk and lost resources. For businesses, governance helps tap into true flexibility and innovation.
The problem then becomes "How do I build out a governance strategy?" or "Where should I begin?" There's a lot of great content available online, and even Microsoft has improved their governance documentation because of this growing community need. If you would like more practical guidance on developing your governance strategy, you can download my free SharePoint Governance Best Practices ebook from the Metalogix website.