SharePoint is a curiously democratic application; it can be used by a very small business who have to deal with a lot of files to a global conglomerate with a major communications problem. Similarly the types of organisation who find SharePoint useful range from manufacturing to advertising, legal to construction. There is no simple criteria to determine whether SharePoint is the right solution for your organisation, but it may be useful to outline the problems that it has solved for our customers

• Access to data - whether in single or multiple locations around the building or around the world. See how Belron's SharePoint system allows their windscreen fitters around Europe to use best fitting practice on every car based on other users experience.
• Finding data - using powerful, phrase-based search techniques you can find where your colleague has filed his data.
• Working on projects together - SharePoint can manage document lifecycles and allow relevant - and secure access to all the organisation's files.
• Intranets - Sharepoint allows your staff to input data into a corporate intranet easily and seemlessly - there is no need to have a single manager of the site - it becomes alive and much more relevant to staff.
• Document repository - scanning documents and adding directly to the systems allows organisations to get rid of their reliance on paper - all documents are stored immediately and become accessible to relevant staff.
• Data Management - if your organisations data is held in multiple locations on a variety of databases, SharePoint's Data Catalogue features helps you gather it together and present it to staff in readable and personalised screens.

SharePoint is part of a major shift in the management of files - we already have the applications to produce documents, projects, spreadsheets and a whole host of other files - SharePoint allows you to regain control over this mass of data. It is no longer acceptible for staff to hold 80% of their files on a local hard drive - data which is effectively lost if they leave - now you can retain all your intellectual property in a single place - where it can be found easily and used effectively. With its tight integration to Microsoft's new Office suite it will become part and parcel of the new way of working using applications that we are already familar.