For business users with no prior SharePoint experience, using SharePoint for the first time has it’s advantages. You don’t carry any baggage of previous versions with you; it’s a clean slate. But there are 150 million business users out there that don’t have this luxury and are set in their ways. They have been on a previous version and sooner or later get moved to a new version; from SharePoint 2003 or 2007 to SharePoint 2010 or 2013.
This is no easy task, even when your content is migrated by IT. The new look and feel can be extremely confusing plus you need to unlearn and relearn a ton of new functionality and ways in thinking and working. If your content has not yet been migrated and you can get access to a new version, start by trying to replicate a team site and content you currently have. You could ask your IT department for a test site. Most big companies have access to new versions.
One of these days I’m going to be forced to use our intranet on SharePoint 2013 because it’s hosted and will be upgraded whether I like it or not. It will go from this :
I’m not finding it easy. There is very little content available to business users on using the new version as yet. (SharePoint 2010 new users are lucky, it is very well documented now). Google searches are not helping much. It’s going to be a couple of years before there’s enough online business and community help, but it will come. In the meantime, I’m glad I’m going on leave! 😉 Future blogs will cover the (slow) journey to a new version.