Valorem's 3N3 vlog series covers all things Cloud, Digital Security, Modern Workplace, Modern Devices and Business Process Automation. Our Digital Transformation experts share quick tips and details on transformative technologies that could have a big impact on the future of business. In our 10th episode Modern Workplace VP Steve Cummings and Solutions Consultant Bill Feldker discuss Microsoft SharePoint Framework (SPFx), what it is, why you should care and what you can do about it.
Transcript
Steve: Hey everybody, welcome back to 3in3. The topic for this episode is going to be SPFx and with me again, I’ve got Bill Feldker, our Cloud Architect and expert on all things Office 365. So Bill, let’s jump right in on this and talk about it.
What is SPFx?
Bill: So, SPFx is a framework and it actually helps you build modern solutions in SharePoint.
Steve: So, what does that mean really? So, if we talk about building modern solutions in SharePoint, I guess the next question would be, what is so exciting and cool about [SPFx] that our viewers should care about it?
Bill: So, in the good old days, a SharePoint Developer never said, “Hey, I want to grow up and be a SharePoint developer”. You know, think about modern JavaScript libraries like React. That’s what we’re building these web parts in if you want to think of it that way. So, we can build web parts for SharePoint. We can even build web parts that can be used inside of Teams on a tab, so it’s a great experience now for developers.
Steve: That’s interesting that you touched on Teams. Because when you think about SharePoint and SPFx and building web parts, you typically think about it landing inside of a SharePoint site in and of itself, but what you’re saying is that we can actually land this inside of Teams, which I know is important for a lot of our viewers out there?
Bill: Correct.
Steve: Excellent. So, now that we know a little bit about what it is and why it’s important, the final question around SPFx is what can or what our viewers should be doing about [SPFx] today?
Bill: So, it’s a great tool. It’s actually great because you can build anything you want. It’s a development platform that you can build upon. So, you know, think about things that you could build that you couldn’t build before. Now I need a custom web part to do a really complex business solution that we have today. Not business automation, but a business solution, so, interconnection to some different devices or tools that we have. We can actually build that all within SharePoint or Teams and get it out there today. So, for developers, this tool is the new thing to be using.
Steve: Okay, excellent. So if you’re a developer and if you’re a SharePoint developer especially, you should be looking at SPFx today and, like we said, it’s not just for SharePoint. You can load these solutions in other Office 365 apps like Teams, which makes it even that much more powerful. So, thanks a lot Bill for that. If you have more questions about SPFx, we’ve got a lot of experience with it. You can reach out to us at www.valoremreply.com, but certainly get out there and read about it and start playing with today. Again, thanks a lot Bill for your time and we’ll see everybody next time!