The voice of the customer will be heard loudly at the Australia SharePoint Conference 2012 being held from March 20-21 at the Melbourne Hilton, which boasts a redoubled program of Case Studies and user sessions according to lead organiser Debbie Ireland.

“I often hear the question "what is it that SharePoint does?" So many organisations just don't realise the potential for simple process improvement or better communication styles, right at their fingertips. They may be using a fraction of its capability,” said Ireland.

“This can be due to timing, resources or cost. The first phase of their SharePoint deployment may have been locked down to specific deliverables and they haven't had the chance to move onto phase 2. Lots of reasons, but most often, it is because they truly don't understand what value SharePoint can provide.

That is why the Voice of a Customer or Case Study track at our events is so popular and one I like to sit in on. I get to hear of the innovative ways people are taking what they have, and getting more from it. Some of the solutions are incredibly simple,but save time, get rid of paper, and just make life a lot easier for those having to deal with systems and processes. Other applications are complex and involve integration with existing systems, replacing old work processes and improving productivity.”

At the 2012 event, the number of Case Studies has doubled, and full details are available online HERE.

The Case Study Track includes Internet Facing Public Sites, Intranets for Collaboration and Document Management and Extranets for improving communication with external parties and providing portal functionality.

Some of the industries represented at this year's event include:
* From the UK Education Sector, Microsoft MVP Alex Peace takes a comprehensive look at the use of SharePoint in schools;
* In the Construction Sector,  the Civil Contractors Federation explains how to build business transformations;
* Leading building products company CSR takes attendees on a mobile journey;
* meanwhile Komatsu will drive through a complete Internet and intranet refresh project, including 3rd party integration and the lessons learnt;
* AAT (Administrative Appeals Tribunal) will explain how it integrated cloud and mobility into their solution;
* Also of interest in the government sector is an EDRMS session by Suzette Bailey which looks at Records Management Standards and Compliance, across several organisations.
* If you are interested in the resources sector, find out how Santos Oil and Gas Company implemented FAST, Ausgrid pushed the boundaries with an Intranet that stands out from the crowd and Hancock Coal breathed life into lists and data with dashboards;
* The Not for Profit Sector has many organisations who use SharePoint. Synapse will focus on collaboration and Equestrian Australia tackles membership and event management.
* From the tourism sector, the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre discuss building an EDRMS. Automotive Sectors' RACQ mix chaos and control to achieve their intranet success.
* Finally, to get a good overview on customer, partner portals across all sectors, how to handle external contractors, engaging with multiple people, and streamline communications between everyone – Microsoft's David Ford has a session covering just that!

The full program of the Australia SharePoint Conference, from March 20-21 at the Melbourne Hilton, is online HERE.