Ever since I heard a quote, reportedly during a Q&A session with Steve Ballmer in March 2007, I’ve sort of been holding my breath for something to happen.  The quote was basically this: “SharePoint is an operating system for business applications.”  Knowing a fair bit about SharePoint and a middling bit about operating systems, I thought it was really apt.  I’m holding my breath, waiting for companies to really buy into that concept and start to build applications within the SharePoint “operating system.” 

I’ve devoted a lot of thought to this subject this year (going back to my 2009 predictions) and I’m going to speak on this at the May 2nd SharePoint Saturday event in Washington.

This is my presentation’s abstract, entitled “Using the SharePoint Platform to Build Vertical Business Applications”:

“Horizontal?” “Vertical?” What do these words mean in a SharePoint context?  SharePoint, as we often hear, is a “platform” for building applications. This fact is often lost on us since the so-called horizontal platform features, such as document management and search, are so easy and useful in and of themselves.  However, SharePoint is even more powerful and will return greater value when used to create vertical applications tailored to meet your business’ day to day requirements. This session describes how to assemble platform features into a verticalized solution using a real world business example – a sales quote management process and customer gateway. The speaker’s goal is to open your eyes to the possibilities of the SharePoint platform and to leverage its horizontal platform features to create specialized business solutions for your vertical organization.

If that subject doesn’t float your boat, there are a bunch of other good topics.  And DC is a great venue in and of itself to visit.

Registration opens this Thursday, 04/16.  Keep on top of the site and grab a seat before it’s too late 🙂

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