The Value of SharePoint 2016

It’s time to get excited again with the recent release of SharePoint 2016.  As with every major version release of SharePoint, IT managers and executives across the globe start to determine the upgrade and migration strategy that is best for their business. In the end, each company will need to make a subjective decision based on its particular circumstances. It is not always easy to determine these circumstances, but it should depend on the value it will add to the business overall.
While there are many new features with the latest release of SharePoint, not all of them will be of any value to your users, or ultimately, your business.  The following features are ones that are most likely to benefit your business.

Hybrid Configuration

The strongest new feature presented in SharePoint 2016 is arguably the hybrid configuration options.  This allows a connection to be made between an Office 365 SharePoint portal and an on premise SharePoint Server 2016 farm.  While this approach was possible with SharePoint 2013, Microsoft has made great strides to make this configuration simpler and easier for the administrators.  Central Administration now has a new section, Office 365, which provides easy to complete forms to connect the farm to Office 365.

Look and Feel

Typically, the biggest change between each version of SharePoint has been the UI.  This time, the look and feel of SharePoint has almost no change.  This can be seen as a positive since users are already familiar with this layout, if they are coming from SharePoint 2013 or Office 365.  The newest addition to the SharePoint 2016 UI is the App Launcher, taken from the Office 365 experience.  When paired with the hybrid configuration, the app launcher can be a very powerful tool for users.
 

Size and Count Restrictions

Microsoft has made big changes with some of the most common restrictions faced in SharePoint 2013.  The most useful update is the increased list view threshold restriction.  A list can now efficiently handle over 5,000 items through a new auto-indexing mechanism.  Not only can a list manage more items than before, users can now upload larger files to libraries.  Microsoft upped the limitation from 2 GB to 10 GB.  Reducing these restrictions allow users to do what they want and easily share more content.

Final Thoughts

SharePoint is a large investment to make for any business and an upgrade process continues to increase the cost of such an investment.  It is important to protect that investment and ensure the business is getting the most value out of it.  Upgrading to SharePoint 2016 is a smart decision to make for the Office 365 integrations alone, but the many additional features will also add business value in the long run.

About Anexinet

Anexinet is a leading professional consulting and services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions around digital disruption, analytics (and big data), and hybrid and private cloud strategies. Anexinet brings insight into how technology will impact how business decisions will be made and how our clients interact with their customers in the future.

About the Author

Matt Riedel is a Consultant with Anexinet in the Application & Analytics practice.  Reach out directly to Matt at mriedel@anexinet.com