May 27, 2014

The traditional corporate culture is based on the workforce working from and interacting face-to-face in the office. People arrive at the office, use their pre-allocated desk, engage in face-to-face meetings, and perform traditional desk-based jobs. But that’s all changing and Microsoft SharePoint is no exception. SharePoint now offers a collaborative work environment anytime and from anywhere. In this blog post, I will discuss the various mobility features of SharePoint 2013.

You can access your SharePoint site online from any mobile device and enjoy the same functionality even if you are away from your desk.

If you open your SharePoint 2013 site on a non-Windows phone, you will see a scaled down version of your site. You will be able to see lists, libraries, the search feature, and My Site. The user interface is simple and intuitive enough for you to start using your site.

If you spend a lot of time in mobile Microsoft Outlook, you can connect your SharePoint content with Outlook.

You can also connect your calendar, tasks, various lists and libraries to your Outlook. Once you have linked such items to your Outlook, you will be able to work with them from your mobile Microsoft Outlook client. Every time you open Microsoft Outlook or every time you perform a send and receive, the SharePoint items will be synchronised with your Outlook. If you link the SharePoint calendar to your mobile Outlook, the meetings or events defined in SharePoint are synchronised with your mobile Outlook client, and you can get notifications without browsing to your intranet SharePoint site from your workstation at work.

The picture above shows the synchronisation of marketing team site calendar with the mobile Outlook client. Synchronised events also receive notifications. In my opinion, mobilising your SharePoint environment will lead to long-term benefits such as reduced travel costs as more and more people will be able to complete their work wherever they are. The synchronisation features of mobilising SharePoint will also lead to greater productivity and efficiency within the workplace.