LONDON, ON, Jan. 17 /PRNewswire/ - While Microsoft's collaboration
software tool SharePoint is exceeding customer expectations, customer
support is falling short, a new study from Info-Tech Research Group
reveals. SharePoint garnered high praise from enterprise end users
consulted because it delivers major business value with low total cost of
ownership, but close to one-quarter of customers said they were
disappointed in Microsoft's support.

    "I don't think they (Microsoft) knew what to expect, and they were the
first ones to admit it because they didn't expect that SharePoint was going
to reach this kind of demand. They are just overwhelmed with calls," stated
one survey respondent.

    Microsoft's ongoing support for SharePoint customers is the
lowest-ranked aspect of product deployment, the Info-Tech study found, with
23 per cent stating they are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with
SharePoint support. Top-ranked categories with up to 92 per cent
satisfaction ratings included functionality, end user experience, total
cost of ownership, and end user acceptance. SharePoint's main selling
features include collaboration, portal, enterprise search, content
management, business forms and business intelligence. Info-Tech's study
delved into SharePoint implementations of 258 organizations primarily in
the U.S. and Canada across varying industries and sizes of business.

    "SharePoint is more than just a software product, because it clearly
transforms the way IT departments and end users conduct their daily work by
enabling more efficient communication and collaboration," said Fen Yik,
research analyst with Info-Tech Research Group. "Adoption has been swift
across companies of all sizes and industries but not all are happy with the
level of support from Microsoft."

    Yik said Microsoft's tools and training are not at issue; rather the
complaints reported related to ongoing operational support once the
solution was deployed. Meanwhile, implementation rates for collaboration
software have been high, with adoption statistics indicating that 34 per
cent of companies in North America would deploy SharePoint or an equivalent
tool by the end of 2007, another 25 per cent plan to do so by end of this
year, and a further 19 per cent between 2009 and 2011.

    "Clearly this is a winning product for Microsoft and, with such a high
percentage of companies saying they are going to implement this type of
solution over the next three years, it would be wise for Microsoft to shore
up their service," Yik concluded.

    About Info-Tech Research Group

    With a paid membership of over 21,000 worldwide, Info-Tech Research
Group (http://www.infotech.com) is the global leader in providing tactical,
practical Information Technology research and analysis. Info-Tech has a
ten-year history of delivering quality research and is one of North
America's fastest growing full-service IT analyst firms.



    For interviews with Info-Tech Research Group, contact Info-Tech's
    PR team: Shelley Grandy at 905-866-2656 or Mandy Merryweather at
    1-888-670-8889 Ext. 2936.

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