Best Practices for Using SharePoint for Public Websites
I recently received a copy of a new analyst report entitled "Best Practices for Using SharePoint for Public Websites - A Business Person's Guide" (I was interviewed as part of the research). It's an interesting piece for those considering using MOSS for their internet facing websites. While I can't give too much away (it is a for-purchase report), I can say that it offers practical advice on how to manage the branding (i.e. using a professional design team), building the right team, and leveraging Microsoft expertise.
There continues to be strong interest in internet facing MOSS applications (at least in my world). What I find most interesting is that I continue to interact with folks who are using MOSS on the internet as their first exposure to SharePoint. In my mind, I always saw the progression from intranet to extranet to internet. I’m talking to more and more companies that are doing the reverse. This is a strong testimonial to the content management components in MOSS. It also offers the advantage of growing SharePoint expertise by starting with a highly focused initiative (web-based brochure-ware) and growing into more complex business projects like collaboration and social networking.
Get the analyst report here.
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 has been tremendously successful for collaboration and intranets, but the dominant position in both the public and the private sector means that SharePoint 2007 has also emerged an obvious; some would say almost unavoidable choice as the next generation web solution. While there are good reasons for the popularity of SharePoint, it is certainly not as safe and risk-free as many like to think. Find out, what you as a business user, should understand about using Microsoft SharePoint 2007 for public websites.