Did you know you can import your Access database into SharePoint (sort of)? Well, this isn’t an article about that. SharePoint has a host of great features that will help you solve your business needs, but this isn’t an article about that either. This is an article that only begins to explore the role of SharePoint in the business and IT community by comparing and contrasting it with a tool seemingly more familiar to all of us … Microsoft Access.

In my 17 years in the field of Information Technology, I have encountered countless ad-hoc business systems built on Microsoft Access. As an IT ‘professional’, I naively looked down on these unsophisticated ‘applications’. However, many of the Access applications I encountered were legitimate line-of-business systems that solved real business needs. So why does IT love to hate Access? Well, I suspect there is an element of territorialism, but there are also legitimate reasons. Access can be a governance nightmare. Inevitably the non-IT person who created the system moves on, leaving a wake of performance problems, stability issues, and gaping security holes along with a list of unfinished enhancements in his or her absence. This is usually when the IT request gets submitted and the ‘professionals’ start to cringe or thumb their noses.

The business reality is that Microsoft Access serves a real business purpose. Access is a low-end, flexible development tool that can be picked up by savvy business users to meet evolving business needs. It puts capability with flexibility in the hands of the business community. These solutions often evolve with the business need, and as they both mature, the business need often outgrows the capability and scalability of Access. This is when IT gets the call.

So what does all this have to do with SharePoint? SharePoint is all about empowering the user community. But is SharePoint the next Access? Answer: yes … and no.

If you're in the business, the answer is YES - SharePoint is the next Access. Used properly, it can serve the same business purpose, putting capability with flexibility that evolves with the business needs in the hands of the business community. Those savvy business users who created the Access applications of the past are great candidates for early SharePoint adoption in your business. Send them to some training. Reach out to IT to understand their governance model around SharePoint (roles and responsibilities, dos and don'ts). And build your next ad-hoc business 'application' in SharePoint.

If you're in IT, SharePoint is NOT your next Access nightmare and addresses many of the governance challenges with Access. With a more centralized, server-based implementation, SharePoint enables IT to have more visibility and control over what the business can create. When properly architected, it is also much more scalable than an Access-based solution. Further, the extensible nature of SharePoint means that IT can help expand capabilities without needing to completely replace the application with updated technology as was the case in so many Access applications. The rapid organic growth that occurs when a business begins to grasp SharePoint’s capabilities can be a scary thing, but a good governance model will help you plan for growth.

The next time your business has an evolving need that is looking for an enabling ad-hoc technology solution, consider using SharePoint instead of Access (or Excel for that matter). And IT… when the business comes to you with a SharePoint solution (or Access for that matter) that has reached the limits of their ability or out-of-the-box capabilities, embrace it as an opportunity to partner with your business and deliver a new level of business value.