Shelf is a new cloud based service that aims to provide a central location to store, organize, and share information. Anyone familiar with SharePoint will immediately see some similarities between other cloud services such as Google Docs, DropBox, and SharePoint Online. This article will explore the key similarities and differences between Shelf and SharePoint, specifically. Since Shelf is a cloud based service we’ll focus on SharePoint Online/O365 which is Microsoft’s cloud based version of SharePoint.
Both tools have a number of similarities that might lead to confusion when deciding which is a better fit. Both products provide features for storing content such as documents, videos, images, etc. They both provide advanced search capabilities such as deep content indexing. They both provide tools for organizing content via tags, groups, folders, etc. and they both provide content sharing capabilities. The important thing to know is that Shelf shouldn’t be viewed as a competitor to SharePoint but rather as a complement to SharePoint.
SharePoint is a much larger product that has been around for a long time and targets a very broad set of business needs. SharePoint goes far beyond document storage and content management. Some key features that SharePoint provides that Shelf does not are:
- Intranet Sites — SharePoint provides intranet capabilities with features such as web page authoring, content approval, wiki sites, blog sites, etc.
- Content Authoring and Collaboration — SharePoint is focused not just on content storage but on collaboration and authoring by allowing file check-in/check-out, versioning, co-authoring where multiple people can edit files simultaneously.
- Business process automation — SharePoint provides capabilities such as workflows, alerts, custom application development capabilities, etc. to allow the automation of business process within an organization.
- E-Discovery — SharePoint has tools for advanced business scenarios and supports features like enterprise records management, E-Discovery and Legal Holds with Exchange integration, compliance and auditing tools, etc.
- O365 — SharePoint Online is part of a larger O365 ecosystem that includes tools for project management, Exchange e-mail, social and graph capabilities, advanced security features such as Information Rights Management, etc.
This breadth of capabilities is also one of SharePoint’s major disadvantages. It’s often difficult for users to figure out how to use it effectively because it has so many options available.
Shelf on the other hand is very specifically focused on knowledge management and making that content easy to capture, navigate, and find. Shelf doesn’t provide intranet tools, e-discovery tools, etc.
What it does provide is a very clean and easy to use tool for capturing content from various sources including OneDrive, Dropbox, Websites, etc. Shelf really shines in three very specific areas.
- Content Capture — Shelf is very well suited to quickly and easily capture content that already exists in various places. You can clip content such as articles, videos and images from web pages. You can import content from various cloud accounts such as Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive. Shelf also makes it easy to organize your content during capture using tags, groups, and folders, primarily.
- Content Discovery — Content capture is useless if you can’t find the information when you need it. Shelf automatically indexes your content as it’s captured and then provides advanced search tools for retrieving or browsing that content. You can browse, filter, and search content by tags, content author, content source, etc. The search engine can even index the contents of documents so you can search for content contained within a document.
- Setup and Usability — SharePoint and Office 365 typically require significant up-front planning and IT resources to configure things such as active directory synchronization, site structure and content organization, access controls, corporate domain configuration, etc. Shelf on the other hand can be setup for an individual, a team, or an entire organization in just a few minutes. From a usability perspective, Shelf really shines as well. Shelf allows you to load documents, capture web page content, etc., while at the same categorizing that content via tags, badges, etc. The content you add is almost immediately accessible via simple and easy to use search tools. Everything is intuitive and easy to understand which allows you to begin using it quickly without a lot of up front planning and training.
Shelf’s more narrow focus is one of its greatest assets. It does what it does and it does it extremely well without requiring a lot of effort to setup and use.
Which should you choose? It really depends on your needs but the important thing to remember is that they are not mutually exclusive. Many organizations would benefit from having both. For organizations that don’t have Office 365/SharePoint online and don’t need the features that it provides, Shelf is an excellent option. For organizations that do have Office 365/SharePoint online there is likely a place for Shelf as a complement to SharePoint. I only see this scenario improving as Shelf expands its integration capabilities. I look forward to seeing how that integration story evolves.
Brian Fraser
Independent Software Consultant
Fraser Technical Solutions, LLC
