What does an Application Product Manager – SharePoint Online & OneDrive do?

An Application Product Manager specializing in SharePoint Online and OneDrive is a strategic role responsible for the entire lifecycle of these Microsoft 365 products within an organization. This includes defining and communicating the product strategy and roadmap, ensuring the applications align with business goals, and managing their implementation and adoption.

The specific duties of this role often include:

Strategy and Roadmap: Developing a long-term vision and plan for how the organization will use and evolve SharePoint and OneDrive. This includes staying up-to-date on new features from Microsoft and determining how to best leverage them.

Governance and Compliance: Establishing and enforcing policies for how SharePoint sites and OneDrive content are managed, including data classification, retention, and security.

User Adoption and Training: Creating and implementing strategies to encourage employees to use the products effectively. This involves providing training, communication, and support.

Stakeholder Management: Working with various teams, from business leaders to technical architects and end-users, to ensure the products meet everyone's needs.

Vendor and Licensing Management: Managing relationships with third-party providers and overseeing Microsoft licensing to ensure cost-efficiency and proper allocation.

Technical and Operational Oversight: Providing technical direction, supporting complex issues, and collaborating with IT teams on everything from architecture to disaster recovery planning.

Salary in Gabon and Across Africa

Information on specific salaries for this role in Gabon is not readily available. However, salaries for product managers in Africa can vary significantly based on the country, city, company size, and the individual's experience and specific skills.

Based on data from South Africa, which is often a benchmark for salaries in the region, a Product Manager, Software can earn an average annual salary ranging from R279,000 to R944,000, with an average of approximately R556,165 (South African Rand).

Keep in mind that these figures are for general product manager roles, and a specialization in a specific technology like SharePoint Online and OneDrive, along with extensive experience, could influence the salary at the higher end of the range. Additionally, salaries in other African countries will differ based on their local economies and cost of living.

Where do we find this skill in Africa?

The availability of specialized skills like an "Application Product Manager – SharePoint Online & OneDrive" varies significantly across Africa. This role is highly specific, requiring a blend of strategic product management expertise and deep technical knowledge of a particular set of enterprise-level software.

Where This Skill is More Likely to Exist

You are more likely to find this type of specialized role in countries with more developed and mature digital economies. These are typically nations that have a strong corporate presence, a robust IT infrastructure, and a significant number of companies that have invested in a full-scale digital transformation using Microsoft 365.

South Africa: As one of Africa's most technologically advanced nations, South Africa has a mature and diverse corporate landscape, including large enterprises in finance, telecommunications, and other sectors. These companies are more likely to have a complex IT environment and the resources to employ a dedicated product manager for a specific platform like SharePoint and OneDrive to ensure strategic value and governance. Job listings for roles with similar responsibilities are common on South African job boards.

Nigeria: With a large population and a rapidly growing tech sector, particularly in its hub of Lagos, Nigeria is a major player in the African digital economy. The presence of numerous startups and multinational companies means there is a growing demand for IT professionals, including those who can manage enterprise software.

Kenya: Often cited as a leader in mobile technology and digital innovation, Kenya has a thriving tech ecosystem. The government's push for a "knowledge-based economy" and the presence of initiatives like Konza Technopolis create an environment where specialized tech skills are in demand.

Egypt and Morocco: These countries serve as strategic gateways to the Middle East and Europe, respectively, attracting significant foreign investment and hosting numerous multinational corporations. Their well-established business sectors create a need for professionals who can manage and optimize complex digital tools.

Where This Skill is Less Likely to Exist

In many other African countries, this specific role is much less common, and for a few key reasons:

Smaller Digital Ecosystems: In many nations, the corporate environment may not be large enough or technologically mature enough to require a highly specialized role for a single application suite. Instead, the responsibilities of managing SharePoint and OneDrive would likely be part of a broader IT or systems administrator's job.

Skills Gap and Education: While there is a growing number of talented IT professionals across the continent, there can be a mismatch between the skills demanded by employers and the skills available in the workforce. Educational and training programs may focus on broader IT skills rather than deep specializations in specific enterprise platforms.

Economic Factors and Investment: The adoption of expensive, enterprise-wide solutions like Microsoft 365, which would justify a dedicated product manager, is often tied to a country's economic development, foreign direct investment, and the overall maturity of its businesses. In economies with more nascent business sectors, companies may not have the budget or the need for such a specialized role.

Focus on Different Technologies: In some regions, the focus of the digital economy might be on different technologies, such as mobile payment solutions (like M-Pesa in Kenya) or other open-source technologies, which are often more accessible and scalable for the local context.

How do we become a an Application Product Manager – SharePoint Online & OneDrive?

Becoming an Application Product Manager for SharePoint Online and OneDrive is a career path that combines strategic business thinking with in-depth technical knowledge. It's a role that typically requires a blend of skills and experiences that go beyond a single job title.

Here's a breakdown of the key steps and skills needed to pursue this career:

1. Build a Strong Technical Foundation

You can't manage a product without understanding its core functions and capabilities. Start by developing a deep expertise in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem.

Become an M365 Power User: Begin by mastering SharePoint Online and OneDrive from an end-user and administrator perspective. Understand how to create and manage sites, use lists and libraries, configure permissions, and leverage collaboration features.

Study the Technical Architecture: Dive into the technical side of things. This means understanding concepts like SharePoint's architecture, its integration with other Microsoft 365 services (like Teams, Power Platform, and Exchange), and the role of Azure Active Directory (now Microsoft Entra ID) for identity and access management.

Learn about Governance and Compliance: A product manager's role is to ensure the product is used securely and effectively. You'll need to understand how to implement governance strategies, data retention policies, and compliance features. This is a critical area for enterprise-level applications.

Pursue Certifications: Earning certifications from Microsoft is a great way to validate your skills and demonstrate your commitment. Relevant certifications could include:

Microsoft 365 Fundamentals

Microsoft 365 Certified: Teamwork Administrator Associate

Microsoft Certified: SharePoint Administrator Associate

Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate

2. Develop Core Product Management Skills

While technical expertise is a must, the "product manager" part of the title is equally important. This is where you transition from a technical specialist to a strategic leader.

Master the Product Lifecycle: Learn the fundamental concepts of product management, which include defining a product vision, creating a roadmap, gathering user requirements, and managing the entire lifecycle from ideation to end-of-life.

Focus on Stakeholder Management: A key part of the job is working with people. You'll need excellent communication and negotiation skills to work with business leaders to understand their needs, technical teams to guide development, and end-users to drive adoption.

Learn to Think Strategically: A product manager's role is not just to fix problems but to identify opportunities. This means analyzing business processes, understanding user pain points, and translating them into a strategic plan for how SharePoint and OneDrive can add value to the organization.

Embrace Agile and DevOps Methodologies: Most modern tech companies use agile methodologies to develop and manage products. Familiarity with frameworks like Scrum or Kanban, as well as tools like Azure DevOps, is highly beneficial.

3. Gain Relevant Experience

It's difficult to jump directly into a senior product manager role. The most common career path involves a progression through related roles.

Start in a Technical Role: Many SharePoint product managers begin their careers as SharePoint Administrators, developers, or consultants. These roles provide the hands-on experience and technical depth needed to understand the product intimately.

Move into a Project or Program Management Role: A natural next step is to manage projects related to SharePoint or Microsoft 365. This provides experience in managing timelines, budgets, and cross-functional teams.

Seek Opportunities to Lead: Even in a non-PM role, look for chances to take ownership of a feature or a business process. Volunteer to lead a project, create a new governance policy, or run a user adoption initiative. This demonstrates your ability to think beyond your day-to-day tasks.

In summary, becoming a SharePoint Online and OneDrive Application Product Manager is a journey that requires a blend of technical mastery, strategic business acumen, and leadership skills. It's a role you grow into by gaining experience, continuous learning, and a passion for making technology work for people.