The fast-approaching end of life dates for SharePoint 2016 and 2019 demand your attention.
If your company still uses SharePoint 2016 or 2019, you might expose your sensitive information to security vulnerabilities that won't get fixes/get fixed/be addressed. The reason is these two versions are fast nearing their end-of-life dates.
How do you avoid cybersecurity and compliance risks as Microsoft ceases releasing software updates or security patches for SharePoint Server?
Switch to newer versions.
Some providers say they can help with switching to newer versions. However, switching to SharePoint Online may be more challenging than it sounds, as it requires a complete migration project. And SharePoint Online does not support all the features the on-premises versions provide.
So moving to the latest versions is really just kicking the can down the road. New end-of-support dates will keep resurfacing and continue to slow you down.
There is a better way forward: a seamless migration to AODocs, the faster, easier and more powerful alternative. Benefit from automatic updates and upgrades and unleash true SaaS business-critical document management. With an agile cloud platform and trusted AI, your team can easily control, collaborate and extract information from hundreds of millions of documents.
SharePoint End of Life
What’s happening
Microsoft has announced its Fixed Lifecycle Policy for the various versions of its SharePoint platforms. End-of-life doesn't mean the service stops working right when it reaches a specific deadline. But it does entail a series of growing limitations on what you could expect from the provider regarding technical support, new updates and features, security solutions, and bug fixes. When the products under this policy reach the limit of their life cycle, the only option left is paid support.
So, where do things stand right now?
- SharePoint Server 2013, Microsoft's collaboration platform, went end-of-life in 2023. This version no longer gets security solutions, patches, and technical support from Microsoft.
- SharePoint Server 2016 reached its extended support in 2021, and SharePoint 2019 hit this milestone in 2021. Both versions now only offer paid support and some security updates. They will reach their full end-of-life in July 2026.
- All versions of SharePoint Server will be taken off the support lifeline as of July 2026.
What's next
The problems businesses are facing
Organizations that fail to upgrade their document control and management systems before the end-of-life date and use unsupported platforms risk multiple major issues. These could include:
- No security updates > Security breaches
- Outdated features > Reduced functionality
- Out-of-date compliance > Legal complications
- Data loss > Financial losses
Some limited options
Some alternative migration options within the SharePoint ecosystem exist, such as the SharePoint Server subscription edition and SharePoint Online. However, such complicated and lengthy procedures require in-depth knowledge of your data, admin-level expertise and sometimes a full re-development of your customizations.
- Switching to SharePoint Online may be more challenging than it sounds, as you will need to embark on a full migration project.
- Also, this version of the product does not support all the features the legacy on-premises versions could provide.
These might not offer the best solutions for your accelerating business environment and needs.
A better alternative
The transition path should and can be easier and faster.
Fortune 500 companies and large international organizations have replaced SharePoint with AODocs, which has a team with years of migration project experience.
Our scalable and seamless migration tools can handle tens of millions of documents, bringing along their metadata, permissions, version history, and more. AODocs not only supports all the native SharePoint features but can also replace SharePoint plugins like Nintex.
From this moment on, you can focus on your business and clients thanks to automatic updates and upgrades.
Point and Click
AODocs has tools to migrate all of your content and configuration from Sharepoint to AODocs all with just a couple of clicks in our Migrate for AODocs cloud based migration tool. Whether it is Sharepoint on premise or in the cloud, all AODocs needs is to authenticate into your Sharepoint Environment and the M4A takes care of the rest. Start the migration, grab a coffee, and enjoy the next generation of document management in the cloud.
Tags: News, Document Management
