Wow, 2013 was an interesting year and the time has come for my annual blog post to sum up the year that soon has passed us and looking a bit into the crystal ball for the next one. This is my seventh summary post and it is always fun to look back at what has happened during the last 12 months (2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2006).

For me the year has been really intensive on all levels; I don’t think I´ve ever experienced such a huge demand for my professional services as of now, there is so much new stuff to learn and it´s harder and harder to keep up, I have a hard time resisting doing tons of community stuff and at the same time we had a huge construction work at our house, and of course having two soon-to-be teenager girls takes its toll!

Writing

The number of blog posts I create every year continues to decrease, but I do hope the quality improves and that you still get some decent value out of my posts. There are so many good bloggers out there and I don´t want to repeat what everyone else is writing about. There are a couple of posts that I´m quite proud of and here´s the list of the ones you have visited the most the last 12 months:

There´s no coincidence that four of the top five posts written this year is about Office Web Apps Server 2013 (WAC) – it is my new favorite server product, and I think it is one of the core server products/services that will be a huge and integral part of the “One Microsoft” and its services.

I also had the benefit of participating in a “real” writing project – as a co-author of “Inside Microsoft SharePoint 2013”. This was my second book written together with some of the most famous SharePoint book authors. If you still haven´t ordered yourself a copy then you´re missing out on something!

Speaking

I´ve continued to do sessions at conference, perhaps not that many this year. I try to choose conferences that fits me, my family and clients and also I try to focus on creating good, new and interesting content. I´m not the kind of person that like to do the same content over and over again. I´m incredibly lucky being in this position and being able to travel and meet all the awesome people around the world. I know there are a couple of conferences that I would like to have presented at, but had to turn down due to other commitments…maybe next year. To read more about the presentations I´ve done over the last year and see the decks and some video recordings, check out my Presentations page.

MVP

I got re-awarded the MVP status once again, now my fourth time. It´s always really nice to be given this award.

MCSM

Talking about the Microsoft Certified Solutions Master, MCSM, could be a couple of posts on its own, but let´s try to crunch it down. Early January this year I attended the beta rotation of the brand new MCSM program for SharePoint. This program was totally redone to suit both on-premises SharePoint 2013 and Office 365/SharePoint Online (contrary to what some people think and say). There is/was no better training for SharePoint, in the cloud or not, than this program, and there will never be such a good program again! I was fortunate to pass both the written exam and the qualification lab “in-rotation” (that is no retakes or anything), being one of the first ones. Unfortunately the whole MCSM program was cancelled during this year. But once a Master always a Master. I´m really proud that I am one of the few who has passed MCM for SharePoint 2010, MCA for SharePoint 2010 and MCSM for SharePoint (2013) – a bit sad I didn´t get the chance to get the 2007 exam and get a full hand :-(

SharePoint…

Can´t write this post without a little section about SharePoint. What will happen to SharePoint, will it cease to exist? To some degree I do think so. But SharePoint as a product has played out its role in my opinion. SharePoint is just a piece in the puzzle of future collaboration software. Take a look at how Workflow has been moved out of SharePoint, how Office Web Apps is a separate product, how applications now are Apps outside SharePoint, how Enterprise Social now is a service (in Yammer). SharePoint will be there in the form of building sites and acting like a glue between all the other services. Will it be known as SharePoint? I don´t really know, but in a few years, I don´t think so. It sounds like judgment day for some, and it might be, unless you are prepared. I think this “brave new world” will for the ones who can accept the change be full of opportunities…and I´m looking forward to it! On the other hand the recent messages from Redmond that SharePoint on-premises ensures the current on-premises customers that SharePoint as a product will be here for another couple of years, which is good, it gives you good options to slowly move from a product to a service. But the innovation will be in the services, Office 365 and Azure, not in the products.

Predictions

Last year’s predictions was not that off the chart. The Cloud message is ever increasing, and there´s no end to it. I also predicted a “collapse” of the SharePoint community, to some degree I think that has started to happen. The community is still thriving but there is not a single community as it used to be. There has been several new community sites and community conferences started this year. Not that it is a totally bad thing, but in my opinion it does not help the community moving forward. We´re also seeing many of the old community celebs and influencers moving away from SharePoint as a specialty and instead focusing on the new set of services.

So what about 2014 – what do you think Wictor?

SharePoint is dead, long live SharePoint. I wrote it above; SharePoint as a product is slowly going away, instead “SharePoint as a service” is where the focus should be. If anyone of you watched the PDC08 keynote, when Azure was announced – do you remember the slide where “SharePoint Services” was one of the listed services. I think this is where we´re going, six years later.

Azure domination! The Azure team at Microsoft is really impressive right now, look at all the different services they announce and improve. Being a bit late to the game, but now being captain of the Cloud movement. If it was something I would bet my career on now, it would be Azure.

Services, services, services! Everything will be services. Combine the things I said about SharePoint, with the things about Azure and add the recent announcements of the killed ForeFront products (and others). Microsoft is all in on the Devices and Services thing and you should be too. This changes the way we design, build and sell our professional services.

The future does look a bit cloudy, doesn´t it.

Happy New Year

That was it! I do have a lot more to say, but you all should be on vacation right now stocking up on energy for 2014 so I keep it short. Next year will be an intensive year for me, I know it. I´m already excited about the new engagements I have planned for early 2014, about the SharePoint Conference in Las Vegas (last SP conference?) where I will be a presenter for the first time, and also the big change at Microsoft with a new CEO – how will that affect me!?

So, to all of you I wish a Happy New Year and I´m looking forward to seeing a lot of you out there next year!