More companies than ever are discovering the benefits of collaboratively linking to SharePoint, including Tibco, the company that promotes its Tibbr enterprise social networking suite. Tibco recently announced that it will aim for deeper SharePoint integration to target customers who are using the Microsoft platform in its self-contained format. Tibbr hopes to capitalize on the fact that the on-premises versions of SharePoint do not have as many ESN features as SharePoint Online.
Microsoft’s First Focus Is Online Version
Microsoft has made no secret that its first priority for delivering ESN and other improvements is to its online customers. Microsoft has recently increased integration with Yammer, the cloud-based social network that the company purchased two years ago.
Therefore, on-premises customers may feel as if they have been left out in the cold. Tibbr hopes to capitalize on this perceived lack of attention by offering its ESN suite that integrates well with on-site versions of SharePoint.
Tibco is not the first social media provider to try to provide SharePoint users with integrated social platforms. However, Tibbr may have taken the integration capabilities to a deeper level than most other SM providers. For example, Tibbr users who click on users, subjects or hashtags can open them inside SharePoint rather than on a separate platform. Tibbr also builds a composite wall that uses elements from both its own and SharePoint’s interfaces.
In addition, Tibbr adds enhanced templates for site-based collaboration, bi-directional document sharing and commenting from within SharePoint document libraries and Outlook integration. This is very important because it mimics, to a certain degree, the experience of online users of SharePoint.
Online or On-Site?
The hard work of Tibbr in attempting to entice on-site customers of SharePoint to use its social networking capabilities indicates that the company does not expect all customers to move to cloud-based technology just yet. There may be good reasons for some customers to choose on-site instead of online versions of SharePoint, and Tibbr recognizes that some companies may simply not want to make the change, now or in the foreseeable future.
There are differences in which SharePoint apps are available in the online and onsite versions, for example. Another difference is the cost: online users must pay per user rather than a one-time fee for the software with an unlimited number of onsite users.
Ultimately, a company’s choice of online or onsite versions of SharePoint will determine which social media platforms are available.