In many companies, SharePoint has long been more than just a document repository. The platform serves as a central hub for internal communication, process information, project knowledge, and collaboration. It’s where news is published, knowledge is shared, and relevant information is made available to various target audiences. However, when teams collaborate internationally, a challenge arises that quickly becomes apparent in day-to-day work: content is often available in only one language. This can lead to misunderstandings, create additional coordination efforts, or, in the worst case, result in important information not being used at all.
The demands placed on a modern, integrated communications landscape are constantly increasing. Outdated IT systems not only slow down processes, but also increasingly impair the innovation and competitiveness of companies. Against this backdrop, HEWI Heinrich Wilke GmbH, a long-established manufacturer of high-quality sanitary systems, fittings, and barrier-free solutions, decided to replace its established Lotus Notes groupware system and make a strategic switch to Microsoft 365. Together with noventum consulting, this change was carefully prepared and successfully implemented.
The South Westphalia Chamber of Crafts found a sound solution to this problem – as part of its digital transformation, it introduced a modern intranet based on Microsoft SharePoint Online. The aim was to improve internal communication in the long term while also making document management more efficient. In collaboration with noventum, a platform was quickly developed that enables centralized document management, structures internal communication, and consistently takes into account the chamber's heterogeneous user landscape.
Automation has long been more than just RPA. While robotic process automation was originally seen as a solution for repetitive processes, the field has evolved: Process mining, business process management (BPM) and artificial intelligence are expanding the possibilities and pushing the boundaries of what is considered automatable. However, the euphoria surrounding these advances is often in stark contrast to the reality of many companies. Even today, numerous RPA projects fail or do not deliver the hoped-for added value. The causes are complex - from strategic omissions to unrealistic expectations.
The demands on a "modern" IT organisation have changed fundamentally; in addition to the classic characteristics such as operational stability and provision of current technologies with high cost efficiency, there are additional wishes and expectations driven by the specialist departments and business partners - the immediate implementation of new business ideas in digital products before competitors are faster and secure market shares.
Digitalisation thus places new demands on corporate IT. In addition to its traditional function, it must now play a central role as an enabler of innovative business models.
SAERTEX GmbH & Co KG and its subsidiary SAERTEX multiCom GmbH produce technical textiles in Saerbeck, Westphalia, and in a number of locations worldwide. In order to improve cooperation within the group, SAERTEX multiCom initiated the creation of an intranet based on the latest Microsoft SharePoint technology. In the future, all locations and departments of the parent company and subsidiaries will gradually work together on the intranet. In 2022, the Saerbeck-based company successfully implemented the pilot project and opened up new ways of communication and data sharing for its employees. Some departments of the parent company SAERTEX were already involved in the SharePoint set-up from the beginning. noventum consultants and SAERTEX employees met in person for the first time after the completion of the fully online project.
On the third of October 2022, the "Microsoft Partner Network" was replaced and switched to the new "Microsoft Cloud Partner Program" (MCPP). In future, IT companies will be able to demonstrate their expertise in six areas of competence. Three different "Partner Capability Scores" are available for this, in which companies must prove themselves: Performance, qualification and customer success.
Some companies operate their Exchange on premises and want to take advantage of a team environment at the same time without losing functionality. Problems arise, for example, with the synchronization of calendars or the coordination of appointments. Dreve, an internationally active manufacturer of medical devices, was faced with this challenge and found a perfect solution with the Microsoft experts at noventum consulting.
In order to better serve the diverse requirements for internal communication in the future, Ahlen-based LR Health & Beauty Systems GmbH developed the basics for an intranet with the support of management consultants noventum consulting from Münster. The technical basis of the installation is Microsoft SharePoint technology. Future expansion stages will be further developed by LR Health & Beauty Systems using its own resources. Following the positive experience with the agile approach in this project, agile project management will also be used as a possible method in the future.
The management of the wholesale and production company WULFF used the development of a Microsoft-based intranet to promote their internal communication and at the same time gain experience in agility. Employees from various departments of the company worked with developers and agile moderation from noventum consulting to develop the first stages of a SharePoint, as it is increasingly being used by medium-sized and smaller companies.
Data overload and increasing requirements are forcing many companies to improve their internal processes and communication channels. Cathalog GmbH from Steinfurt is meeting this challenge with its digitalization roadmap to gradually create more transparency for information that is used across departments. The introduction of a Microsoft SharePoint-based intranet and a quality management manual were the first steps on this path. A special novelty for the Steinfurter was the agile approach.
For 35 years, the North Westphalia Chamber of Industry and Commerce has been the organiser of the regional preliminary round of the nationwide "Jugend forscht" competition. Even in the analogue event of earlier years, the organisation of participants and jurors was demanding. This year, the organisers were faced with the challenge of providing 137 young researchers from 23 schools in the Münsterland region, divided into 7 subject groups, with a digital opportunity to take part in the competition.
Around 2,500 employees and approx. 100,000 patients p.a. ensure a very high volume of data at Osnabrück Hospital. Data integrity and availability are particularly important in everyday hospital life. In particular, SharePoint's high adaptability and good connection to other Microsoft components tipped the scales in favor of the software. SharePoint experts from the Münster-based IT management consultancy noventum implemented the important project together with the KosIT specialists.
With the SharePoint online communication platform, the company TECE uses Microsoft technology for its project management, sales and quality management. TECE is taking this path step by step and is focusing on inspiring its employees and carefully replacing old systems. The next step will be to introduce further Microsoft tools such as teams. noventum supports the internationally active manufacturer of sanitary products.
Organising a congress for a few hundred visitors with twenty speakers and opportunities for networking and meeting is a great challenge online. This year's IT Strategy Congress of IT-Forum Nordwestfalen and IHK-Nordwestfalen has been held online for the first time. The consultants of noventum consulting were responsible for the technical implementation with Microsoft TEAMS. In the end, organizers and participants were enthusiastic about a perfectly staged congress.
There are many collaboration platforms, and depending on the company's technical history, these may be from one of the large manufacturers or they may be small special applications, often with very individual options, suitable for the respective company's everyday life. What they have in common is that they are intended to ensure collaboration within the company or are also used with a corresponding interface in customer communication.
The past months have forced many institutions to review their processes. Home offices have become the norm and traditional meetings or events have been held online with appropriate software. The Microsoft 365 tools are quickly available and in their extended use almost cost neutral. However, some companies are still unsure of the benefits they can derive from the O365 applications.
Microsoft SharePoint has been a synonym for contemporary collaboration for several years. A super-functional application that promises to restructure the entire corporate communication. Many companies are trying to implement these diverse offerings in a "big bang" and replace their existing applications. However, success often fails to materialize and the introduction of SharePoint fails due to resistance within the organization.
It sounds simple, yet, it is of central importance: Software that functions without any error is good, as software errors cost time and money. That applies to standard software, but of course also to custom applications such as those used at many companies in day to day business. Through automated tests, it is possible to continuously measure and assure software quality. Undesired side effects of software changes can be directly identified and avoided through automated tests.
Quite often, SharePoint projects are conceptualised and set up to mirror their technical capabilities. In many companies, the initiative for such projects originates from the technical department which considers SharePoint no different from any other software product and rolls it out. In this, questions regarding the “why” and “what for” are often asked too late. As such, failure over the short or long term is pre-programmed, given that the SharePoint technology is considerably meshing with the internal communication and collaboration processes. That, however, requires the support of all parties involved, from the responsible manager all the way to the user side.
For most companies the use of cloud services is initially often a step-by-step experiment. Based on individual accounts with one of the major cloud providers, various employees explore the possibilities and get an idea of what might be of interest to their company or department. Even these first explorations are usually subject to a fee. In order to keep an eye on where the journey is going financially, this initial option testing has to be tackled systematically. Such a plan is mandatory for a later widespread use of the cloud. Large providers such as AWS or Azure have usually planned the first steps for new customers diligently. With a Trusted Advisor, such as that found at AWS, the first steps are quickly and safely taken.
With its collaboration software SharePoint, Microsoft has been working since 2001 on combining under one roof a lot of functions that - to date - are operated separate from one another at companies: Intranet, extranet, content management, document management, personal cloud, business social networking, business intelligence, workflow management, web content management, and a lot more. The collaboration software - which has to potential to shape business communications as a whole - has arrived in day-to-day business at a lot of companies. Yet, the implementation of SharePoint technology is still a big challenge and a lot of implementation projects fail.
Bring Your Own Device is still among the most discussed trends in the IT industry. What‘s making BYOD interesting for companies? Or is BYOD just an acronym for „Bring Your Own Disaster“?
