How Software Systems Like WordPress CMS And Microsoft SharePoint Have Changed The Landscape

Many moons ago people got software either off the shelf and it was rubbish or got a developer to sit and code. This simply made clever websites too expensive for most people so they just had simple flat HTML websites and simple intranet systems.

Over the years we have moved a distance away from hard coding every website and intranets to out of the box solutions that really do work. See https://wordpress.org/ and http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/sharepoint/. Two very different solutions but both having lots of out of the box functionality meaning hard coding is only needed for the bespoke.

How Has This Impacted The Landscape?

Okay so that’s the introduction but what am I getting at? What does this mean to 75% of people who need a basic to intermediate solution? It means it is within reach to have great solutions at affordable rates, that how the landscape has changed. I am writing this article because many people still miss these opportunities.

Most people will wake up, have a directors meeting and decide they need a solution. This could be an internal document sharing platform or a website. The first thing they do is phone 3 IT/software companies and get quotes. You may find three fantastic companies and will do everything you need. But what is missed is a good rummage around the web to see if you can get the solution without the extra input and without compromise.

Each platform I have mentioned (WordPress or SharePoint) both have the ability to be loaded, customised and used without the aid of any developer. A computer savvy person can load either and get a decent level of functionality. This is how the landscape has changed. On top of that there are loads of build your own site companies like www.weebly.com where you can get a small website up and running that looks great.

Examples:

1. You need a basic website for a small B&B – go to Weebly, get an account, load a template, add your content, drag and drop functionality and publish. For a small fee you can also use your own domain. And it has lightening quick load times and the search engines cache it no problems
2. You need a reasonable size website for a small shop. You want to show off your products on the site like a catalogue but you have no desire at the moment to do full ecommerce. Find a decent hosting company online that is WordPress optimised like TSO Host. Get a hosting account, get a domain, one click install for WordPress and away you go. Use YouTube to show you how to add pages, change themes, add ecommerce to allow you to load products, add plugins to help push SEO etc. Even if you get stuck it isn’t a problem because at that stage you phone up the development company for help and you have already saved time as you have a much better idea what you actually want
3. You are a small company with say 10 employees. You all work on documents and need the ability to work out of the office but share documents. You also need to tie this into the website and you use all the normal Microsoft office programs. Then go to office 365 and get on the cloud! You can store your documents, host emails, host a website and have it all backed up. Access everything from anywhere and also get the latest Microsoft office product licenses as part of your package. If you out grow this just phone the developers up to help you, like this site http://www.evokeit.com/contact-us/sharepoint-leeds.

My Conclusion

In conclusion the world has changed and evolved away from needing a coder to produce every solution. They still have a prominent place but it is worth looking at the options as there are lots about.  If you need a coder get one but if you only need some admin help setting up office 365 or a simple WordPress website then either use internal resources or chose the appropriate company.

Why go bespoke and rebuild what already works for millions of people?

Article Author Janet Smith. A love to help business save money so they can invest in more oppotunities to keep them expanding.