SharePoint Consulting – SharePoint Communities and Partner Extranets 

Workshop

SharePointHQ can provide a detailed workshop where we teach, train, mentor and implement the base essentials for an Extranet facing site. At the end of the workshop your staff will have the basics of your Extranet site implemented and your staff will be trained on how to complete the implementation. A brief Workshop Agenda includes:

 Find out more on how to work with us, or contact us for details.

Mentoring

SharePointHQ can provide mentoring and advice from our Senior Consultants, Architects or Trainers on any aspect of planning, designing or implementing an Internet site on SharePoint. Find out more on how to work with us, or contact us for details.

Turnkey Implementations

SharepointHQ can implement an Extranet site from start to finish including design, implementation, training and copywriting that is professionally managed. Find out more on how to work with us, or contact us for details.

Today's Extranet sites need to connect with your targeted users and customers and ideally should create a sense of community.

This community approach provides a deeper interaction with your customers and will lead to greater customer loyalty.  To become a community Internet the following should be considered:

• Use the appropriate Social Media and Netowrking sites and tools
• Provide a 'personalized' experience tailored to the end-user. (NOTE: this will require a login ability similar to an Extranet)  The personalized experience can be as simple as a member area with extra premium content, or it can be more deeply integrated into the site content at every page.
• Should provide some ability for the end users and customers to contribute back to the community and connect with other members.  This can take the shape of user ratings, blog posts, social tagging and ranking.

A special community group for your Organization are your partners and collaborators. This special group is often referred to as 'Extranet users' as they often have a special web site dedicated to them.

An Extranet site can be used to share information, collaborate and communicate to your partners or key customers. This Website offers protected and/or sensitive information that must be 'password' protected and requires a user login.

The security and authentication requirements for an Extranet are more detailed than for typical Internet site and must be carefully considered. Special 'login' screens must be created, permission assigned and appropriate approvals (or SharePoint workflows) put in place to manage this.

The Extranet brand is an important consideration to ensure a 'pixel-perfect' user experience that enhances your Organization's brand.

Social Media is an important new consideration when developing and extending your Extranet site. Some of the main considerations include:

• Creating micro-sites to reinforce your sub-brands. These small sites can be used to highlight your brands or provide more detailed information on a product or industry topic. Often Rich Media presentations (i.e. Flash or SilverLight) are used to more richly engage the user in describing the product (i.e. what your car looks like) or the problems that your product solves (i.e. the challenges with fertilizers).
• Utilize the Social Media sites (Facebook and others) to provide another communication mechanism.  Facebook Connect can be used to provide a more integrated and enhanced experience for your users which will add greater community 'respect' for your site, organization and brand.
• Utilize a micro-blogging site such as Twitter to enhance and communicate with your users.