Considering past conferences, Microsoft clearly supported its cloud-first strategy. Microsoft articulated that cloud will pave the way for innovation, therefore their upcoming products will become cloud-only. In Ignite 2015 conference Microsoft stated, they will primarily focus on hybrid environment as the unique combination of SharePoint Server on-premises and Office 365 SharePoint Online. This rare hybrid combination proposed by Microsoft was to help enterprises in achieving their business goals.
So before moving ahead with the benefits, let us have a close look on what is SharePoint hybrid?
By opting the hybrid environment, enterprises can stay connected with their users from any geographical location and can provide them access to the resources and content. A hybrid environment can enable enterprises to leverage cloud services and offerings by outspreading the on-premise investment to cloud. Enterprises can also relocate their resources to cloud in order to comply the organizational strategies with the help of hybrid functionality.
Below are 4 reasons on why hybrid SharePoint is best for your business:
- Hybrid search feature – The search is an amazing feature offered by hybrid functionality. Hybrid search enables you to search for files through SharePoint server and SharePoint online. With hybrid search, you can search and access content from both the systems using single search box with quantified results. Instead of having two separate search box, this feature provides a great experience with single search option.
- Hybrid OneDrive – Using OneDrive for storing files and content can be an easy process. If it is SharePoint 2016 or SharePoint online, users can click OneDrive link on the navigation bar where they will be redirected to Office 365. Office 365 is a great tool which can help you to reduce your on-premise storage cost by moving your content to cloud.
- Hybrid extranet sites – With Office 365 you can create partner facing extranet sites. This extranet sites enables you to collaborate with your partners and share relevant files and content securely, without accessing the corporate on-premise environment.
- Hybrid app launcher – It allows administrators to improve the user experience. Once this feature is enabled, users can flawlessly navigate between on-premise SharePoint Server and Office 365 by accessing the video apps, Office 365 Delve including Office 365 tiles that appear in the SharePoint server app launcher.
There are other offerings of hybrid such as SharePoint hybrid auditing and hybrid taxonomy which are still in the preview mode. Hybrid with SharePoint 2016 provides us with a great combination of innovation and different cloud experiences. So, are you ready to leverage the benefits offered by hybrid SharePoint 2016?