The SharePoint ecosystem continues to grow, with Hybrid SharePoint becoming the dominant strategy for customers over the next three years.

Salt Lake City, UT -- (ReleaseWire) -- 04/17/2017 --CollabTalk LLC, an independent research and technical marketing services company, announced the publication of survey results and analysis of the Microsoft SharePoint ecosystem that details the growth of hybrid SharePoint and pure-cloud customer segments, with hybrid environments expanding from 32% of SharePoint environments in 2017, to 46% of environments by 2020.

The CollabTalk study, "Understanding the State of the Hybrid SharePoint Ecosystem," was conducted in partnership with the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University, with input from 626 experienced SharePoint professionals from 54 different countries, and over 500 companies represented. Sponsors of the research include Microsoft, PixelMill, B&R Business Solutions, and several other leading Microsoft partners.

The research provides insights into the current and future SharePoint strategies of respondents, and discusses the barriers to hybrid and pure-cloud transitions. According to the research findings, by 2020 the hybrid market will be the most common SharePoint environment, growing from 32% in 2017 to more than 46% in 2020, while companies using SharePoint in the cloud (as part of the Office 365 platform) will increase from 22% in 2017 to 28% in 2020. The growth of these two segments will come at the expense of on-premises solutions, which will drop from 46% of all SharePoint environments in 2017 to just 16% in 2020.

According to research sponsor Chris Regan, Managing Partner at B&R Business Solutions, "This is in line with what we've been seeing. In particular, when it comes to managed services, we're getting a lot more traction with smaller organizations (under 100 employees) that are, or want to be, 100% cloud based. Our largest customers are entirely on-prem, or just starting to get a feel for hybrid solutions."

The research results indicate that among those organizations currently using SharePoint on-prem, 50% plan to move to hybrid, while only 17% plan to move entirely to SharePoint Online. The research confirms that companies are looking at hybrid not only as a transition to the cloud, but a long-term strategy that fits their corporate goals better than a pure-cloud SharePoint solution. The report also highlights the barriers to both hybrid and pure-cloud transitions, providing details into the areas of hybrid SharePoint where customers are finding success, as well as difficulties in achieving their SharePoint goals.

"This report really aligns much more closely to what I see at my clients, versus the standard Microsoft messaging about the cloud vs on-prem," stated Vlad Catrinescu, SharePoint MVP and President of vNext Solutions. "From what I see in the field, a lot more companies that use SharePoint have a plan to move to hybrid or stay on-prem, rather than go fully to the cloud."

Added Eric Overfield, Microsoft Regional Director, MVP, and President of PixelMill, Inc., "This study confirms our experiences—hybrid is here to stay. The greatest opportunities lie in migrating the difficult conversation around security concerns, and in bridging the gap in customization discrepancies."

According to Bill Baer, Senior Technical Product Manager at Microsoft and one of the leading experts on the topic of hybrid SharePoint, "For many organizations, the cloud is a destination that requires a vision and strategy to make the most of it. Hybrid allows you to bring the cloud to your business while you bring your business to the cloud. Whether you are already well into your cloud journey or just getting started, this study will help us understand where you're at and what we can do to help."

The full report is available through the research sponsors, and through http://hybrid-sp.collabtalk.com

The research was made possible by Platinum sponsor Microsoft, Gold sponsors PixelMill and B&R Business Solutions, Silver sponsors AvePoint, Crow Canyon Software, Focal Point Solutions, Rencore, and tyGraph, as well as media partners 1105media, BZ Media, the Collab365 Community, fiftyfiveandfive, and the European SharePoint, Office 365 & Azure Conference.