How SharePoint 2016 Eases Hybrid Deployment

One of the strengths of SharePoint 2016 is the inclusion of features that improve integration between cloud-based Office 365 services and on-premises implementation of SharePoint 2016. SharePoint 2013 was built before Office 365 became widespread. Now millions of organizations have adopted Office 365. However, organizations are not yet ready to completely move away from on-premises implementations of SharePoint. Microsoft has built features into SharePoint 2016 that allow organizations to take advantage of the powerful features that are available in SharePoint Online to be accessed through the on-premises SharePoint 2016.

A good example of how SharePoint 2016 makes it easier to do hybrid setups is the new hybrid configuration wizard. Previously, one could implement a hybrid with the use of PowerShell scripts to link the on-premises and Office 365 environments. The wizard-driven process makes the task much more natural and intuitive.

The hybrid search feature has also received an upgrade in SharePoint 2016. SharePoint 2013 also allowed one to search local and cloud servers; however, the indexes for the Cloud and on-premises environments were segregated. In SharePoint 2016, there is a true hybrid index that further boosts the power of the search feature.

For those who love to use the Delve feature of Office 365 for collaboration, a hybrid deployment allows visibility of both local and SharePoint Online content.

SharePoint 2016 has blurred the lines between on-premises and cloud-based SharePoint servers, allowing organizations to progress towards the Cloud solutions while retaining their investments in on-premises implementations.