In the context of an internal SharePoint solution I think that branding, in any more detail than basic colour and logo could be considered as a waste of investment.
I question whether an organisation can justify the investment required for awesome branding based upon the following questions:
- Does it help the organisation move towards its vision?
- What is the ROI of the branding work?
- Does the branding deliver clear and measurable business value?
- Does branding support and encourage user adoption?
Discuss….
There are definitely diminishing returns once you get into really sculpting the way sharepoint looks.
I enjoyed the Lean Startup and am wary of vanity metrics, and have today been reading about Sam Walton (of Walmart fame) – he was legendary in his dislike of spending effort on ANYTHING that didn’t directly make a difference to the customer, so on one hand he’d be in favour of the bare bones. On the other hand he was the master of merchandising so perhaps he would have picked one or two key aspects of sharepoint and made them stand out.
Great topic by the way, am enjoying the comments.
