Quest Software Debuts AttachThis to Enable Rapid SharePoint Adoption

IT managers are keenly aware of the investment their organizations have made in SharePoint®, and for good reason. SharePoint helps businesses improve content collaboration and increase access to business intelligence, while ensuring that strong data security, compliance and auditing processes are in place.

Unfortunately, many organizations struggle to drive SharePoint usage, and thus miss the inherent benefits of the platform. Organizations cannot assume that once they’ve deployed SharePoint, users will immediately embrace the change in work habits needed to leverage all the benefits SharePoint has to offer. As the real owner of SharePoint, IT must make a concerted effort to drive SharePoint adoption to ensure the company’s investment is a strategic advantage, and does not become an unused digital wasteland.

To help change the issue of SharePoint adoption, Quest Software launched AttachThis, a new tool that enables Outlook® users to take advantage of SharePoint without changing their desktop context. In addition to the new tool, SharePoint experts at Quest identified three reasons why IT needs to take the reins to help drive SharePoint adoption.

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Collaborative Tools Can Speed SharePoint Adoption:

• Available today, Quest® AttachThis is an easy-to-use Outlook add-in that enables end users to adopt SharePoint for content collaboration without changing the way they work. With AttachThis, users can:
  • Automatically upload attachments to SharePoint and replace the attachment with a link that is then sent to recipients from within Outlook
  • Simplify collaboration by using SharePoint to automatically consolidate edits from various team members into a single document
  • Reduce time spent searching for the right email attachment
  • Eliminate out-of-space email alerts

• For administrators, the new Quest AttachThis Pro increases SharePoint adoption by streamlining the use of SharePoint for users, and centralizing the experience for busy administrators.  Using AttachThis Pro, administrators can:
  • Control where end users store their email attachments in SharePoint with easily identifiable smart tags
  • Improve security by granting document access to email recipients only
  • Perform statistical analysis of organizational usage of AttachThis

 

Supporting Quote:

Chris McNulty, strategic product manager, Quest Software

“Two of the biggest reasons users don’t adopt SharePoint is because they’re asked to shift away from behavior they already know, as well as a tool, Outlook, they’re already comfortable with. Quest’s new AttachThis and AttachThis Pro provide solutions that enable IT and SharePoint administrators to remove roadblocks. Organizations using these products will see users adopt SharePoint more readily, as they don’t have to change the context of how they work. These same users also can be confident that they’re storing information in an easy-to-use, collaborative platform that’s secure and fully supported by IT.”

 

Three Reasons Why IT Must Drive SharePoint Adoption:

1. Governance and Adoption are a Partnership –The perception within the business is that IT owns and is responsible for SharePoint – even if that is not entirely the case. Therefore, IT can no longer push out this solution and expect users to pull themselves into it.  Disconnects between IT and the business can lead to the “Field of Dreams” problem.  “If you build it they will come” only works if you stop to ask what “they” need.  Uneducated guesses about user requirements turn SharePoint rollouts into social experiments instead of nimble business tools. IT must take a more active role in SharePoint governance and adoption, creating a partnership with the business to ensure they are attracting enough users to sustain a network effect of increased productivity.

1. Compliance and Security – When users don’t embrace SharePoint as their primary content collaboration and social enterprise network, they turn to unauthorized collaboration tools that are not supported by IT. The proliferation of these unsanctioned tools means IT quickly loses control over business-critical data, making the organization vulnerable to a security breach.

1. IT defines the technology experience – Innovative IT departments know that they are uniquely positioned to shape how users experience technology – and SharePoint, as a social platform, is a key part of this process. As businesses look for ways to drive social collaboration, SharePoint will continue to play a significant role. To enable social business, IT needs to seek out and deploy solutions, like AttachThis, that make SharePoint adoption and usage simple and efficient.