SharePoint & Office 365 Usage:
An Industry Study

In order to better understand the SharePoint landscape, we collected key information on SharePoint and Office 365 usage and deployment worldwide.

The following results uncover the details of exactly why and how IT professionals use Microsoft's powerful content management platform, what versions are most popular, and provides a glimpse into what they're looking for in the future.

SharePoint & Office 365 Industry Study
A Collaboration Between:
  • Sharegate
  • Hyperfish
  • Nintex

The Cloud vs. On-Premises: Office 365 Is on the Rise

On-Premises or Office 365? Cloud collaboration has clearly become more popular, 61% of companies are running either full cloud or Hybrid SharePoint Environments, but there are still friction points keeping organizations from making the switch.

How SharePoint is Deployed in Organizations

61% are running hybrid
or full cloud
environments
  • On-Premises
    & Office 365
  • On-Premises
  • Office 365
  • Hosted
  • Not deployed
61% are running hybrid
or full cloud
environments

Annual Spend of Organizations on Office 365 and SharePoint

42% said their
budget is
increasing
  • Increasing
  • Staying
    the same
  • Unknown
  • Decreasing
42% said their
budget is
increasing

What Is Keeping Organizations From Moving Their On-Premises SharePoint to the Cloud?

36% of organizations
have security
concerns
  • Security
    concerns
  • In the process
    of a migration
  • Planning a
    migration
  • Control
    concerns
  • No business
    justification
  • Other
  • No budget
  • No time
36% of organizations
have security
concerns

Despite the cloud’s popularity, it seems that SharePoint Online and Office 365 adoption is hindered most by security concerns.

Frequency of Potential Security Breach Checks by Organizations

  • Daily - 36%
  • Monthly - 23%
  • Other - 15%
  • Weekly - 14%
  • Never - 12%

12% of organizations using SharePoint never check for  security breaches.

SharePoint: A Collaboration Tool for Businesses of Every Size

Who said SharePoint On-Premises was dead? As of July 2016, 82% of surveyed organizations are using SharePoint 2013.

Size of Companies Using SharePoint

27% have 5,000+
employees
  • 5,000+
  • 1,001-5,000
  • 501-1,000
  • 251-500
  • 101-250
  • 50-100
  • 1-20
27% have 5,000+
employees

SharePoint Versions Deployed in Organizations

82% are using
SharePoint 2013
  • 2016
  • 2013
  • 2010
  • 2007
  • 2003
  • 2001
  • Other
82% are using
SharePoint 2013

SharePoint Customization Reflects Focus on End User Experience

Main Customizations Implemented Within Organizations

82% personalize
their SharePoint
  • Look & feel /
    site design
  • Workflow
  • Search
  • Site provisioning
  • Reporting
  • Mobile
82% personalize
their SharePoint

82% of surveyed organizations are personalizing their SharePoint environments. Proof that they understand the importance of effectively displaying their content to the end users!

SharePoint & Office 365 Workloads

Workloads That Are Currently Being Used

79% are using
Team/Intranet
Sites
  • Team /
    Intranet Sites
  • Email
  • Office Apps
  • OneDrive for
    Business
  • Sharepoint
    Designer
79% are using
Team/Intranet
Sites
Other Workloads
  • InfoPath
  • Yammer
  • Task
  • Video
  • Delve
  • Project Online
  • Sway
  • Other

Plans for Future Use of Workloads

44% plan on using
OneDrive
for Business
  • Team
    Intranet Sites
  • Office Apps
  • OneDrive for
    Business
  • Email
  • Mobile
    Intranet
44% plan on using
OneDrive
for Business
Other Workloads
  • Skype for Business
  • Video
  • Sharepoint Designer
  • Tasks
  • Delve
  • Yammer
  • Project Online
  • Sway
  • InfoPath
  • Other

Team & Intranet sites seem to be used almost as much as email, which hints that SharePoint is really becoming an essential tool for businesses. Also, among one of the fastest growing workloads is OneDrive for Business. In fact, 44% of organizations plan on using OneDrive for Business in the future!

Active Directories : Hybrid, On-Premises or Azure?

With the rise of the cloud, it’s not surprising that 31% of organizations are running Hybrid Active Directories.

Active Directories Being Run in Organizations

31% using Hybrid
AD
  • On-Premises
    Active Directory
  • On-Premises & Azure
    Active Directories
  • Azure Active Directory
  • Unknown
31% using Hybrid
AD

Frequency of Evaluations by Organizations for Accuracy and Completeness of User Profiles in Active Directories

23% never check
accuracy
  • Never
  • Monthly
  • Other
  • Daily
  • Yearly
  • Weekly
23% never check
accuracy

An interesting fact, 23% of organizations never evaluate the accuracy or completeness of user profiles in their Active Directories.

Updates to Active Directories in Organizations

67% use Microsoft
administration
tools
  • IT, using standard Microsoft
    administration tools
  • Unknown
  • IT, using third party tools
  • Integration with
    another system
  • End users, using SharePoint
  • End users, using third
    party tools
  • Other
67% use Microsoft
administration
tools

Directory Synchronization Tools Used

50% use Azure AD
Connect Directory
Synchronization
  • Azure AD Connect Directory Synchronization
  • Unknown
  • DirSync Directory Synchronization
50% use Azure AD
Connect Directory
Synchronization

Use of Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS)

73% use ADFS
  • Organizations using ADFS
  • Organizations not using ADFS
73% use ADFS

Methodology and Participant Profile

A total of 495 randomly drawn IT Professionals and SharePoint Administrators were surveyed from the Hyperfish, Nintex and Sharegate client pool in order to gain insight into SharePoint and Office 365 usage and deployment worldwide.

Download the PDF version of the Global SharePoint Study!
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