For the last 14 years, SharePoint has been delivering its features and functionalities extensively to mid-size and large businesses. SharePoint 2013 was released three years back, and Microsoft has changed a lot of things since then, especially in Office 365. However, the IT pros, developers, and end users are eagerly waiting for the next version — "SharePoint 2016."

Recently, Microsoft shared some updates on key enhancements and capabilities that they are bringing to SharePoint 2016, which will be available Q2 2016. Microsoft particularly focused on delivering on-premise deployments and cloud innovations through hybrid deployments of SharePoint Server with Office 365.

SharePoint Server 2016 will deliver capabilities and enhancements in three key areas:

• Improved user experience.
• Cloud-inspired infrastructure.
• Compliance and reporting.

Improved User Experience

For any organization, faster decision-making and maintaining connections are crucial capabilities to increase their business effectiveness. Accessing information on the move is a workplace necessity these days. Hence, SharePoint 2016 will deliver improved mobile access to applications, content, and people along with touch-based experiences across various devices and screen sizes.

The file storage and document collaboration will become more people-centric with SharePoint 2016, too. It will facilitate improved user experience and new capabilities that are available either through a hybrid implementation of Office 365 and SharePoint Server 2016 or as a part of the on-premises deployment.

With SharePoint 2016, you can quickly discover relevant data that is stored in both on-premise and cloud environments powered by Office Delve and Graph. In addition, it also helps streamline communications via higher integration with Yammer and Exchange and also enhancing management of new types of media by integrating with Office 365 Video.

Cloud-Inspired Infrastructure

SharePoint 2016 brings your internal investment to the data center, which improves reliability, performance, and scale. It also enables true hybrid scenarios that enhance the actual on-premises investments.

Microsoft will enable a broad ecosystem of partners and solutions through a standard set of APIs that cross over cloud and on-premises. SharePoint 2016 will simplify end-user support and training for IT by integrating products like the next release of Windows Server, Exchange Server 2016, and the next generation of SQL Server.

Compliance and Reporting

Overexposure to data and information may have legal and compliance implications. SharePoint 2016 is designed with a wide range of features and capabilities to protect your sensitive information, with the help of Data Loss Prevention (DLP), enables data encryption with new scenarios, compliance tools that cross over on-premises servers and Office 365 and also ensures content usage that adheres to corporate policy.