Why MOSS is a must-have for businesses?

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/032608-microsoft-sharepoint.html?t51hb

Here's a couple of excerpts:

• Microsoft's SharePoint Server is ...the next must-have technology, offering companies tools for building everything from collaborative applications to Internet sites
• corporate users were enamored with a shiny new technology that seemed to have infinite uses
• Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 is the fastest growing product in the company's history and seems to have as many uses as a Swiss Army knife. Its six focus areas are collaboration, portal, search, enterprise content management (ECM), business process management and business intelligence.
• The attention is a wake up call for competitors, especially IBM/Lotus, as SharePoint could pull customers  to other Microsoft software because it is closely integrated with Microsoft's unified communications stack, its e-mail server, Office and Office applications including back-end file sharing repositories for Excel, Word and PowerPoint.
• In 2008, SharePoint has evolved into the prototypical Microsoft tool – good enough for small-to-midsize businesses, adaptable to large enterprises, and, most important, plenty of financial opportunities for third-party independent software vendors and systems integrators.
• Partners involved in everything from directory management to archiving to single sign-on are reporting that SharePoint is improving their own revenue.
• Late last year, an IDC survey of 300 users found 61% were deploying SharePoint enterprise-wide, and that 28% of those using SharePoint in departments now are expected to expand usage to the enterprise within the next 12 months.
• "If it was just regular, out-of-the-box SharePoint we might not be using it today to be honest," he says...What's also becoming important are add-ons from partners.
• "The beauty of SharePoint is that it hits a number of sweet spots".

Of course, to be fair, the article also points out some of the limitations and less than optimal aspects of the technology as well.  But, the key point here is that Sharepoint, for any/all of it's limitations, is still a product with an amazing amount of potential for businesses large and small and really needs a "partner" to bring this potential to fruition.  Hopefully, all of you know that the Windows Sharepoint Services is essentially free and is now included in Windows Server 2008.  And, hopefully, you are already taking advantage of it to add value to your solution arsenal, but if not, perhaps this can provide some motivation.

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