Top 5 Reasons Teams Choose (are told to use) Sharepoint

Software companies spend an exorbitant amount of time and money trying to convince you that their solution perfectly suits your needs.

Wouldn't it be appropriate if they also took the time to describe the circumstances in which they lost to the competition?

Even in a record year like 2009, there are as many people who trial and don't buy Smartsheet as there are those who subscribe.  The convenience of no-obligation trial periods has made that a reality. 

In reaching out to some people who don't select Smartsheet, we keep a tally of our win rates versus the other popular online work management, project management, and CRM SaaS solutions. 

Who are the folks for whom I feel badly?  Those who are not able to choose a solution that works for them because of IT policy or preference.  Just this week I spoke with a prospective customer who was informed by 'his IT gatekeepers' to go with Sharepoint over Smartsheet. Read the five attributes below to see if your team should accept IT's recommendation or push for a Sharepoint alternative. 

5 Common Attributes of Teams that Choose Sharepoint 

• They would rather be queued in an IT deployment schedule than get started straight away 
• Their budget surplus is vast and they wish to spend thousands on customization services
• Users have an affinity for logging into multiple sites (versus one) to find their information
• They are inwardly focused and believe extending work management benefits to those outside of their organization is overrated 
• They are enamoured with the notion of deploying a platform, forgetting that 'platform deployment' is inextricably tied to 'change management challenge' and 'hours of end-user training sessions'    

Simplify how you and your team organizes, shares, and tracks information and focus on the fundamentals of what you will actually use and what delivers value. 

Whether you choose Smartsheet or another service...don't let corporate preferences wholly influence your decision process.  At the end of the day, you are accountable for results...and you should have say in the solution that best suits your needs.