• A DIY solution enabling users to make their own customizations is crucial to driving SharePoint adoption and strategic project success
  • Survey results show SharePoint is used fully when business users can self-serve
  • 65 percent of respondents say SharePoint would be used more if non-technical users could make their own changes[FN]
  • Best practices provide tips for IT on how to empower business users to make their own customizations that, in turn, reduce the burden on developers and drive strategic project success


Dell Software recognizes that SharePoint adoption increases when business users can build their own code-free, custom solutions that streamline business processes and enable them to be more productive. This belief is supported by the results of a recent survey of SharePoint users and IT professionals, sponsored by Dell and conducted by Dimensional Research, in which 61 percent of respondents said SharePoint is fully used in their organizations when business users are able to customize their experience, compared to just 21 percent of those who do not allow self-service customization. Additional eye-opening survey findings include:

  • IT staff often can't keep up with the overwhelming demand for customization and 83 percent of respondents said their organizations depend heavily on developers for SharePoint customizations.
  • The majority of customization requests are for common requirements such as list views and reporting; charts, dashboards and key performance indicators (KPIs); workflow; and forms.
  • Only 12 percent of respondents find that customization requests are delivered quickly .
  • 98 percent of respondents said it would be useful if business users could perform common customizations themselves. When these non-technical users try to make their own SharePoint customizations without the proper tools, training or custom development experience, however, the subsequent problems can hurt SharePoint performance, disrupt productivity, or result in solutions that are not easily supported and upgraded long term.
  • 71 percent of respondents say a solution that empowers users to safely implement customizations without risk would reduce the burden on IT and free up technical resources for more strategic projects. Further, 65 percent say that SharePoint would be used more if non-technical users could make the changes they want.

SharePoint is an excellent platform for enabling self-service, do-it-yourself (DIY) customization that will help drive SharePoint adoption to a level that meets business needs, and free up developers for more strategic tasks. To that end, Dell offers both technology and the following best practices that empower all SharePoint users - both technical and non-technical - to make their own customizations confidently, without posing risk to the environment:

  1. Discover where user adoption stalls