Benefits of Web Platform Consolidation
and Standardization
by Ken Withee
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Wouldn't it be wonderful if an organization
could just appear out of the dark ages (before
the Internet) and adopt the latest technology?
If such a scenario were to occur, the newly
awakened organization could avail itself of the
latest standards. The result would be a tightly
integrated ecosystem of computer technology
all working together in harmony.
Unfortunately such a scenario almost never
happens.
Technology disparity comes with time
Most organizations have adopted technology in starts and fits and waves. Someone in the accounting
department might have developed a purchasing website in the 1990s. The purchasing website might be
based on data from an advanced Excel spreadsheet that everyone uses but nobody understands. The
data might be keyed into a text document and then pulled onto the purchasing website for reporting
purposes.
Or, someone in the human resources department might have taken a series of typewritten forms and
converted them to digital Microsoft Word documents in 1997. Then in 2000 the same person might
have decided that it was a pain to email those forms around and created a series of shared folders. Then
in 2004 an ambitious human
resources director might have
hired a consulting firm to
develop a page on the company
intranet web portal that would
display the documents that
were in the shared folder for
easy access. In 2005 the IT
department might have
adopted SharePoint Server and
people throughout the
organization might be using
pieces of it here and there
alongside the existing legacy
web systems.
In the past, when a solution was implemented or developed it might have been the absolute correct
decision. The problems occur over time as disparate solutions build up. It is like a city that has grown up
without central planning. You might have three or four separate water systems, a couple of crusty and
dilapidated sewage systems that are not connected, clogged roads, and little zoning. Just as cities need
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to go through phases of consolidation and standardization, so too does an organization's technology
landscape. As a decision maker, you may be all too familiar with the disparate systems and diverse
landscape at your own organization.
Standardization reduces cost
Whether you are considering
the cost of running a poorly
functioning city or an
organization with a
hodgepodge of technologies,
the result is the same: The costs
are higher than necessary
because of duplication of effort
and breadth of knowledge
required across a multitude of
systems.
In the case of our hypothetical
city, you need a body of expert
knowledge in four different
types of water systems. In the
case of technology, the same
cost discrimination holds true. Your web platform might have three different database systems and 20
different websites built using 5 different programming languages. Just to maintain the required
expertise might require three or four times the manpower of having a single standardized web platform.
Choose your standard wisely
As organizations consolidate and standardize their web platform, a clear winner has been Microsoft
SharePoint Server. SharePoint Server often wins this contest for a number of reasons, but it is not the
only solution. Most major software organizations have a web platform. Some are more mature than
others and have different levels of support.
SharePoint has a massive
community of users and
experts. Microsoft recognizes
these experts through
certifications and the
prestigious distinction known
as a Microsoft Most Valuable
Professional (MVP).
What often happens in computer software is a tipping point of
adoption. The tipping point happens when a software company
produces a viable product that is adopted and accepted by a large
number of organizations. This adoption creates a community of
experts that propel the particular technology even further.
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The phenomenon can be witnessed throughout the corporate software world and also the consumer
world. Take the iPhone as an example. Apple was able to create a device that enough people adopted
and accepted as a standard. The adoption of the consumer base propelled application developers to
build software for the device, which in turn shifted technical expertise towards the iPhone platform. At
the other end of the spectrum
are completely custom
solutions. A custom solution is
difficult for any organization
because there is no common
shared community of expertise
outside of the organization.
Products like SharePoint Server
and the iPhone are not perfect,
but they don’t have to be. They
just have to be able to achieve
their desired result. The
momentum that a product has
is based on acceptance,
adoption, and standardization
across industries. These factors
are critical when making a
decision about your own
organization.
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