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Why I'm interested in SharePoint

By Rich Blank posted 08-30-2010 09:49

  

I’m interested in SharePoint because it's a technology that enables organizations to transform how they connect and communicate, work and work together, and manage process, projects, and information.  What gets me excited about it is the impact it can have in our professional lives and the affect it can have on organizational culture and people --- similar to how technology is changing the social interactions in our personal lives. 

What keeps you up at night?

Outside of my kids, I continually think about how I can help clients I work with.  I think about how to help them manage and share knowledge without drowning in information overload.  I’ve been at this for almost 2 decades and there are still SO many people and organizations who continue to overuse email, are triple-booked for meetings, don’t know how to work asynchronously, and rely on fax and paper.   I see large projects that are simply too large and complex to manage effectively because project managers don’t understand how to organize and manage project information and leverage tools like SharePoint as a dashboard and communication tool – and not just a document library.    And I continue to see executives glued to the comfort of their inboxes and Blackberries without knowing how to leverage technology like SharePoint as a competitive advantage. 

How did you get to where you are?

My career really started at the University of Michigan in the early ‘90s where I was an accounting undergrad major.  While a student, I helped develop some of the first websites and worked on early distance learning initiatives for the Business School … and I was hooked on IT.  I landed my first job as an IT Project Manager for Hewlett Packard and transitioned into consulting at a Big 5 firm from there.   I spent a few years migrating mainframes to ERP systems which gave me a solid foundation in large scale system deployments, project management, consulting, and enterprise IT infrastructure.  Those ERP projects also exposed the difficulty collaborating and sharing information with dozens of resources from around the world.   As I searched for better ways to collaborate and manage projects & information, I found it working for eRoom and eventually Documentum/EMC. After leaving EMC to obtain my MBA full-time, I shifted towards management consulting....with, of course, SharePoint being THE focal point of mine the last few years.



#manage #information #technology #sharepoint #SharePoint #communicate #ERP
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