We strive to take a deeper look into our clients' businesses to enable us to understand the inner workings and processes that drive them forward, along with getting to know the team and any challenges they face.
So,
that's why we've decided to offer the same insight into our own business by introducing members of the Chalkline team and what their roles entail. First up is Jacob Myner, our SharePoint consultant.
Tell us little bit about yourself
My name is Jacob, I’m 22 and from North Hertfordshire. Outside of work I spend my time listening to music, going to music events and travelling when I can.
When and why did you join Chalkline?
I joined in April 2017. I worked with most of the team here previously at other IT services and cloud computing firms and knew they were a good bunch with a great work ethic, who really knew their stuff when it comes to this industry.
Tell us about your role and what it entails?
I’m a SharePoint consultant so I spend my time advising on, developing and deploying SharePoint Online solutions. Whether you want to digitise the data at your business or want to make use of an enterprise document management solution, SharePoint Online is ideal.
How were the initial days – what struck you most?
Since day one, there has been a lot of creative freedom. When I joined Chalkline, I was the only dedicated member of staff in the business focusing on SharePoint, so there was a lot of work to do setting up a SharePoint practice for the business, which we now pride ourselves in.
What were you doing before you joined Chalkline?
Before I joined the team at Chalkline, I was working as a SharePoint consultant at another SharePoint consultancy.
What makes Chalkline different?
Our SharePoint deployments make use of all the latest technologies, ensuring that we keep up with the steep curve and that the cloud technology solutions we provide are always up to date.
What do you like best about Chalkline?
The atmosphere here - it’s a great place to work with a real focus on customer service, and a friendly environment.
What does a usual day look like?
I start my day by reading through my emails, before making a start on a piece of work that I sink my teeth into, at this point its time to stick my headphones on, get a good playlist going and begin writing a piece of documentation or code for SharePoint.
When I’ve reached a point where I feel a break is necessary, I’ll grab some lunch, maybe fit in a couple of games of Rocket League, before heading back to my desk and starting on my next piece of work.
I might have some calls with customers in the afternoon to discuss progress on on-going projects and even potential new customers. We use Skype for all of calls externally so no phones on desks, we just use headsets here.
Before leaving for the day, I make sure that everything has been recorded in our CRM software and commented/committed any changes I've made to any code solutions that day.
What are your top tips for migrating to SharePoint?
Migrating to SharePoint can be a bumpy journey if it's not executed correctly. It's important to:
- Organise your information and understand the data you currently have. If you’re moving a messy, disorganised file structure into SharePoint Online, the resulting solution will also be the same.
- Create an achievable plan for how information will look once migration is completed.
- Involve users from the start and understand what they'll need. We believe the best way to create the ideal solution for a business is to connect with the people who will be using it the most.
- Train users on how to use SharePoint online. You could create a perfect solution but without training, all the hard work can be undone within weeks of the migration if users don’t know how to use it effectively.
- Split your migration into small chunks that make sense. Starting small will make things easier for the business.
You can check out our 30-minute recorded webinar on how to build a great intranet with Microsoft SharePoint here:
Why is working for Chalkline so different from other companies you have worked for?
I have much more freedom here to explore new technologies.
There’s a real focus within the business on finding out about all of the cool new technologies and finding out how these can benefit us and our customers.
What does your future at Chalkline look like and what do you want to achieve in your career?
Hopefully, we'll be looking to expand the SharePoint and the development practice here at Chalkline and continue delivering solutions for customers.
I’d like to keep doing what I’m doing but expand out into some of the new technologies out there. I’ve already started to dabble in Microsoft Dynamics so maybe I could pursue that.
If you want to discuss your SharePoint Online migration path, please get in touch - we'd be more than happy to help!
[Editor's note: This blog post has been updated with new content as of 31/08/2020]).