This article is part of the June 2011 issue of SharePoint-BI integration: BI data for everyone

In many companies, employees are often left to their own devices to learn a new software platform when it's first implemented. If there’s any training at all, it’s usually hurried and incomplete. And when it comes to steadily evolving platforms with lots of collaborative functionality and multiple ways of managing information and projects like Microsoft’s SharePoint 2010, that’s exactly the wrong way to go about educating users and getting them to make the best use of the platform, according to experts. It’s also a mistake to be heavy handed in training, said Richard Harbridge, senior SharePoint evangelist for Allin Corp., a Boston-based consulting and IT services firm. Imposing a new tool or imposing a new set of rules and expectations when rolling out a new enterprise-wide content management strategy, especially in a traditional classroom setting, can backfire. Instead, Harbridge said, you get much better buy-in by demonstrating how the software will make users' lives easier and their business practices more efficient. Read more about SharePoint 2010 Best ... Access >>>