SharePoint 2013

In case you haven’t heard, Microsoft release the public preview for SharePoint 2013.

One feature that I am very excited about is the new ability to create apps in SharePoint … yes, you read that correctly “apps” … just like the ones we are now familar with on our mobile devices.

Apps for SharePoint

I believe the introduction of “apps” has been a boon to helping people better use technology. These small, focused applications are easy to use,  intuitive (if developed correctly), quickly deployed and updated.

These benefits will also translate into the out SharePoint deployments.

SharePoint apps, will leverage the new cloud app model from Microsoft and can be cloud based or on-site only for in-house intranets.

Benefits of Apps

Being able to create target apps for specific purposes will help speed deliver of features and value, in a way that is people friendly.  It will also benefit the end user, in that removal of an app when that task is no longer needed is simply and straight-forward.  I see benefits for the IT department as well, in that needed business functions can be developed and deployed much faster, delivering greater value to the business.

Security of Developed Apps

An area of concern, whenever moving into a cloud-base model is security. Especially for SharePoint, in that it is built for collaboration, and strives to be “connectable” out of the box. But in my opinion from reviewing the Microsoft information, this looks to have been well addressed. In particular,the IT department has the built-in ability to control access to the public SharePoint store and also set the store for access only, behind the firewall.

An exciting time for those working with SharePoint!

Further Research

Below are useful sites and details about the new release of SharePoint 2013

• The New SharePoint – announcement on the Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog
  (good, in-depth article with nice explanation on cloud service)
• SharePoint 2013: 5 Reasons Why the New App Model Will Make Everyone Happy
  from CMS Wire
• Microsoft’s next SharePoint gets new features, including SkyDrive Pro
  from ZDNet