It’s understandable how organizations can get to the point of shutting a system down, whether it is SharePoint or any system for that matter.
Working as a consultant for a well-known Contact Management software company during the 1990’s, I saw many 
businesses that purchased the software then walked away in frustration – blaming the product for not delivering.
The cause for failure to gain value from such an investment could be that there is just not a fit, but most times it’s due to unrealistic expectations and the objectives of the business being out of alignment with the technology itself.
This can come about from not fully evaluating the product’s offerings and “buying into the hype.” It’s easy to fall prey to this given the level of psychology-based sophistication that software marketers have these days.
To me, SharePoint is primarily a platform in which to launch applications from. Without applications, it can be like gallivanting down a freeway in the middle of the night wondering where the heck you are going. With SharePoint there is definitely some thinking and planning required, but is that a bad thing? Of course not.
Our company has developed SharePoint CRM applications that operate on SharePoint. These products enable our clients to leverage their SharePoint infrastructures already in place. This translates into a much more cost-effective solution because we deliver high value at extremely low cost compared to competing software products.
We work closely with other small development companies around the globe (feels like the creative space of the 1980’s all over again!) who are creating highly valuable components for SharePoint. These add-ons provide efficiency improvements, business intelligence, and automation of processes which are driving business operational costs down through numerous mechanisms.
SharePoint offers an alternative way for organizations to securely manage their intellectual property (as opposed to SaaS) and to evolve their technology in support of their business needs. We call this “Organically Grown Technology” – now how can that be a bad place to start?