Office 365 in the Real World...

Two days ago, I had the pleasure to go to the NYC Office 365 User Group.  David Carlos was the speaker and his talk centered on the Real World Experineces Deploying and Migrating to Office 365. First I must say that David Carlos is a very intriguing speaker.  Not only is he well spoken and animated, he also is willing to use props. I recall him dragging the closes table across the room, clutching it for dare life as an analogy of a tech guy not wanting to alleviate power to the cloud.

Releasing control is a clear example of one of the few reasons that many have a negative viewpoint of going to the Cloud. The others mentioned yesterday, were the following:

1. Hosted Solutions  are Not Perfect, they can go down
2. Some feel it might interject Microsoft into relationships with their clients
3. Closed System, you can’t install anything that is not apart of the Office 365 environment

But what about the good? Well as buzz continues to grow, and more users move to the cloud, the good must have been found.  And yes, it lives in transferring risk, except for connectivity the risk is shifted to an outside source. A plus mentioned, is that the cloud grants businesses the ability to focus on their core competencies. And another great point mentioned, was the fact that most users have become remote anyway.  We work on public transportation, from home, from client sites, it can be argued that it is just as hard to have a local solution divvied out to remote users.

Who was the audience at the Office 365 group? Yep, you guessed it… or maybe you didn’t. But it was SharePoint users, wanting to find out what you can do in the new world and what you can’t do. My ear placed firmly to the ground, I learned that SharePoint in the cloud has its limitations. However it is on a path of improvement.  Simply put, ride the rocky start and wait for the bumps to smooth out. (Edited to Add ETA:) "SharePoint Online is wonderful and should definitely be used and can only get better...except for Search") Paraphrased from SharePoint ShopTalk Panelists' Natalya Voskresenskaya & John P. White

Others wanted to learn what the overall impact of the business model moving to the cloud. The consensus was releasing control, realizing that I can’t deliver what Microsoft can. Also Microsoft partners, third party solutions are there to solve key business problems. Lastly, you must identify the business problem, the business need and do not focus on the technology. Only then will Office 365 become a satisfactory solution.

Bhupendra V. Gadhavi and independent consultant informed me that in 12-18 months all government agencies must have three of their core systems moved to the cloud.  What does this mean? Learn, learn, learn, there are many jobs that Office 365 is going to provide so get the knowledge so you can be a help to those in need.

Last but certainly not least Google vs. Microsoft argument came into play.  It began with Google Docs versus Coauthoring.  What was noted was that Coauthoring has not reached Google Docs yet, in terms of real time sharing of a document.  Coauthoring still leaves too much up to the user to check in and check out. While Google Docs shows edits right away, and you get a real view of the document at all times. 

However, Google Docs limitations live in formatting. To format the document is a final step that must take place after all edits are made from the various contributors to the document.  I do believe Ryan Finessey, said it best when he broke down the argument like this, “Google is 100% in the cloud while Microsoft is a hybrid.”

Product Overview

Office 365 consists of four key things: Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Microsoft Web Apps (word, excel, etc.) and Lync

There is a personal skew and an enterprise skew (including SharePoint Workspace)

The Enterprise skew goes to E5 which includes Universal Communication Server –Lync plus
*For those upgrading from BPOS, you must wait for the call...and the word is they are calling Enterprise Customers first.*

Search is Misunderstood...

I recently helped to organize the first New York Enterprise Search User Group meeting of 2012.  The topic for the evening, was The Past, Present and Future of Search: A Round Table Discussion.

The Panel included, SharePoint MVP, Natalya Voskresenskaya, Senior SharePoint and Search Architect for Arcovis, Paul Olenick, Carlos Valcarcel, Microsoft Technical Solutions Professional, and BA Insight's CEO Guy Mounier, and Director of Search Consulting, Mike Himelstein along with Gig Werk's own Information Architect, Michael McCabe.

This group of experts have worked with Search for an average of 10 years. Their experience and enthusiasm for Search, created an intriguing discussion. The members, including myself were able to hear what these experts have been doing with search as well as their view of the direction of Search as the technology continues to develop.

The Panel Shared the Following Key Thoughts:
1. Search is Misunderstood.  
2. It is more comprehensive to "Solve a Business Need" with Search versus  providing a "Search Solution".
3. Taxonomy is for a more defined approach and may not be an ideal solution for most organizations.
4. Consumer Search and Enterprise Search are completely different markets.
5. The ideal direction of Search is to become a hidden solution solving specific business needs.
6. Search is providing jobs for tech experts as well as professionals in a variety of other industries.
7. Social Sites such as Facebook and Consumer Search is a driving force for Enterprise Search.
8. Search experts need to learn the business and business leaders need to learn Search.

Simply put, this meeting was so informative, forward thinking and a fun experience all around.   Thank you once again everyone who attended.  Special thanks to Leo Souza who was slotted to be on the Panel but due to technical difficulties was not able to join. I would also like to thank Gig Werks who sponsored the event and of course Arcovis the organizer of The New York Enterprise Search User Group.

Search has been and is still a bit misunderstood.
Listen to Carlos' explanation below.

Social Sites, such as Facebook & LinkedIn are also driving Enterprise Search.
The Panel discusses this viewpoint below.