The SharePoint ecosystem continues to grow, with Hybrid SharePoint becoming the dominant strategy for customers over the next three years.

Salt Lake City, UT -- (ReleaseWire) -- 04/17/2017 -- CollabTalk LLC, an independent research and technical marketing services company, announced the publication of survey results and analysis of the Microsoft SharePoint ecosystem that details the growth of hybrid SharePoint and pure-cloud customer segments, with hybrid environments expanding from 32% of SharePoint environments in 2017, to 46% of environments by 2020.

The CollabTalk study, "Understanding the State of the Hybrid SharePoint Ecosystem," was conducted in partnership with the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University, with input from 626 experienced SharePoint professionals from 54 different countries, and over 500 companies represented. Sponsors of the research include Microsoft, PixelMill, B&R Business Solutions, and several other leading Microsoft partners.

The research provides insights into the current and future SharePoint strategies of respondents, and discusses the barriers to hybrid and pure-cloud transitions. According to the research findings, by 2020 the hybrid market will be the most common SharePoint environment, growing from 32% in 2017 to more than 46% in 2020, while companies using SharePoint in the cloud (as part of the Office 365 platform) will increase from 22% in 2017 to 28% in 2020. The growth of these two segments will come at the expense of on-premises solutions, which will drop from 46% of all SharePoint environments in 2017 to just 16% in 2020.

According to research sponsor Chris Regan, Managing Partner at B&R Business Solutions, "This is in line with what we've been seeing. In particular, when it comes to managed services, we're getting a lot more traction with smaller organizations (under 100 employees) that are, or want to be, 100% cloud based. Our largest customers are entirely on-prem, or just starting to get a feel for hybrid solutions."

The research results indicate that among those organizations currently using SharePoint on-prem, 50% plan to move to hybrid, while only 17% plan to move entirely to SharePoint Online. The research confirms that companies are looking at hybrid not only as a transition to the cloud, but a long-term strategy that fits their corporate goals better than a pure-cloud SharePoint solution. The report also highlights the barriers to both hybrid and pure-cloud transitions, providing details into the areas of hybrid SharePoint where customers are finding success, as well as difficulties in achieving their SharePoint goals.

"This report really aligns much more closely to what I see at my clients, versus the standard Microsoft messaging about the cloud vs on-prem," stated Vlad Catrinescu, SharePoint MVP and President of vNext Solutions. "From what I see in the field, a lot more companies that use SharePoint have a plan to move to hybrid or stay on-prem, rather than go fully to the cloud."

Added Eric Overfield, Microsoft Regional Director, MVP, and President of PixelMill, Inc., "This study confirms our experiences—hybrid is here to stay. The greatest opportunities lie in migrating the difficult conversation around security concerns, and in bridging the gap in customization discrepancies."

According to Bill Baer, Senior Technical Product Manager at Microsoft and one of the leading experts on the topic of hybrid SharePoint, "For many organizations, the cloud is a destination that requires a vision and strategy to make the most of it. Hybrid allows you to bring the cloud to your business while you bring your business to the cloud. Whether you are already well into your cloud journey or just getting started, this study will help us understand where you're at and what we can do to help."

The full report is available through the research sponsors, and through http://hybrid-sp.collabtalk.com

The research was made possible by Platinum sponsor Microsoft, Gold sponsors PixelMill and B&R Business Solutions, Silver sponsors AvePoint, Crow Canyon Software, Focal Point Solutions, Rencore, and tyGraph, as well as media partners 1105media, BZ Media, the Collab365 Community, fiftyfiveandfive, and the European SharePoint, Office 365 & Azure Conference.

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Formal research into the state of the Hybrid SharePoint ecosystem being conducted by CollabTalk LLC and the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University, showing continued support for on-premises SharePoint but with strategic use of hybrid solutions.

Salt Lake City, UT -- (ReleaseWire) -- 03/20/2017 -- Research conducted by CollabTalk LLC and a team of graduate students within the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University is providing strong data that shows hybrid SharePoint solutions as a strategic alternative to moving legacy on-premises SharePoint environments directly to the cloud. The initiative is sponsored by Microsoft, PixelMill, B&R Business Solutions, and several other leading Microsoft partners, with results available in mid-April 2017.

Microsoft's SharePoint platform supports an estimated $10 billion partner ecosystem. However, as collaboration moves from on-premises to the cloud, many organizations struggle with moving years of infrastructure, customizations, and data to the cloud. Responses have been received from 45 countries, with 61% of respondents from outside the United States. Initial data shows 31% of respondents using hybrid SharePoint environments, but of those still managing on-premises environments, almost half intend to leverage hybrid within the next 1-3 years.

"Many of our customers still have workloads that have traditionally been better suited for on-premises SharePoint environments," says Mike Oryszak, Managing Director at B&R Business Solutions. "Specifically, we see custom applications, large scale ECM and Records Management solutions including our own Records Center product. While these solutions do not always fit into a pure cloud environment, they are well supported in a hybrid environment that can fully integrate the overall experience."

Hybrid presents an option to maintain existing on-premises infrastructure and data while taking advantage of the latest cloud features and solutions, but there is little data to quantify the extent of the hybrid SharePoint ecosystem. The goal of the research project is to provide accurate data around each of these points, helping customers, independent software vendors (ISVs), and strategic integrators (SIs) to better plan their hybrid strategies for SharePoint.

According to Eric Overfield, SharePoint MVP and President of PixelMill, "Technology is always evolving, and research plays a large part in that evolvement. A survey focused on hybrid SharePoint is of particular importance. Collecting and analyzing the feedback can only help us improve hybrid SharePoint and not only adapt it to the needs of the individual, but also address the questions and concerns that come along with new technology. Research is the foundational stepping stone in understanding the possibilities, improving the functionalities and expanding the capabilities of SharePoint."

The customer survey remains open at http://hybrid-sp.collabtalk.com/ and will be available through close-of-business on March 22nd (PDT).

Sponsors of this research include Microsoft (Redmond, WA), PixelMill (Davis, CA), B&R Business Solutions (Colts Neck, NJ), Crow Canyon Systems (Benecia, CA), tyGraph (Waterloo, Ontario Canada), Rencore (Munich, Germany), and Focal Point Solutions (Cincinnati, OH), with media sponsors Redmond Magazine, BZ Media, fiftyfiveandfive, the European SharePoint, Office 365 & Azure Conference, Collab365 community, and ShareThePoint.

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Research into state of Hybrid SharePoint marketplace sponsored by Microsoft, PixelMill, B&R Business Solutions, and other leading Microsoft partners. Customer survey will be open through March 22, 2017.

Salt Lake City, UT -- (ReleaseWire) -- 02/23/2017 -- CollabTalk LLC announces the immediate availability of a SharePoint customer survey to measure the state of the Hybrid SharePoint ecosystem, in partnership with the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University. This independent research effort is being conducted by a graduate team from BYU and CollabTalk, and is sponsored by Microsoft along with leading solution providers PixelMill and B&R Business Solutions, and other partners. The survey will be open to SharePoint customers through March 22nd, with final research data and analysis made available in mid-April 2017.

The survey can be found at http://hybrid-sp.collabtalk.com/

According to Bill Baer, Senior Technical Product Manager at Microsoft and one of the leading experts on the topic of hybrid SharePoint, "Office 365 makes the journey to the cloud easy with all the features and benefits of Office: instant access to SharePoint, Exchange, and Skype for Business on any device, any platform, with endless scale. However, for many organizations the cloud is a destination that requires a vision and strategy to make the most of it. Hybrid allows you to bring the cloud to your business while you bring your business to the cloud. Whether you are already well into your cloud journey or just getting started, this study will help us understand where you're at and what we can do to help."

As collaboration moves from on-prem to the cloud, many organizations struggle with moving years of on-prem SharePoint infrastructure, customizations, and data. There is no accurate data as to how many customers are actively pursuing hybrid solutions as a strategy, versus simply displacing their on-prem environments. Additionally, there is no accurate data identifying and quantifying the gaps between existing on-prem deployments and SharePoint Online, and how many companies are impacted. Having clear data on these gaps will help organizations better understand adoption and engagement issues, and plan future SharePoint strategies.

"Many of our existing and potential clients are excited, but skeptical with making a switch from their tired-yet-trusted on-premises infrastructure straight to the cloud," states Eric Overfield, SharePoint MVP and president of PixelMill, based in Davis, CA. "A hybrid solution sounds promising but the lack of sound data hinders business decisions. This research may help us further understand how organizations are moving to the cloud, which in turn allows us to better collaborate and advise organizations on the best solution for their specific requirements."

"We expect the survey results will help us to better understand where some organizations are experiencing challenges while others are successfully leveraging hybrid deployments," says Mike Oryszak, managing director at B&R Business Solutions, located in Durham, NC. "Results will be used to help our team focus on building the right accelerators to make deployments easier. I also expect that survey feedback will generate a healthy discussion within the technical community on overcoming the obstacles to achieve a successful deployment."

In addition to research sponsors Microsoft, PixelMill, and B&R Business Solutions, other sponsorring organizations include Rencore, Crow Canyon Systems, tyGraph, Focal Point Solutions, and AvePoint, with media partners 1105media, European SharePoint Conference, BZ Media, and fiftyfiveandfive.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm