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Why your SharePoint on-premises intranet is at risk: Migrate before July 2026
SharePoint 2016 and 2019 have been good to us, but all good things come to an end. The clock is ticking on both SharePoint 2016 and 2019 as Microsoft has announced the end of support by July 2026.
A deadline of next July may feel far away, but planning an intranet migration takes time. And importantly, waiting too long could put your organization at serious risk.
In this blog, we’ll explain what’s happening, why it matters and how you can prepare your intranet for a smooth transition to a modern, secure alternative.
End of support for SharePoint 2016 and 2019: What and when?
What exactly is happening to SharePoint 2016 and 2019? Their “end of life” has been announced. That means no further security updates, bug fixes or technical support from Microsoft. Those products can no longer be bought. Specifically:
- SharePoint 2016: extended support ends on 14th July 2026 (mainstream support already ended in 2021).
- SharePoint 2019: likewise, extended support ends on 14th July 2026 (mainstream support ended in 2024).
Without patches, updates or support, your intranet becomes increasingly vulnerable and costly to maintain. And Microsoft won’t be there to help you if something goes wrong.
What happens if you do nothing?
If you decide to stick with the unsupported versions of SharePoint, be warned. You’re leaving your systems vulnerable to risks.
Firstly, you become hugely attractive to cyber-attackers. An unsupported system is easier for the attackers to infiltrate. This isn’t just a theoretical risk. In recent months, SharePoint on-premises servers have been a prime target for cybercriminals, with thousands of attacks being reported. And after the end of support, Microsoft will no longer provide patches to fix security vulnerabilities.
Secondly, you may have compliance gaps. Unsupported systems may fail to meet regulatory or industry standards. That puts your organization at risk of penalties, along with damage to your brand’s reputation.
Should technical issues arise, your IT team will be on their own to resolve them. Microsoft will no longer be there to help you out with issues like data corruption, crashes or integration failures. That often translates to downtime and inflated operational costs.
Whilst sticking with your current platform may feel like the cheaper option, it can be a false economy. Security breaches, downtime and system failures often cost far more to fix reactively than to prevent proactively.
What to do next
We highly recommend that you act now. You don’t want to be left unsupported in the coming months. Staying on SharePoint 2016 or 2019 means increasing risks and diminishing returns. The smarter move? Prepare now for a structured, low-risk migration.
Start by auditing your current environment.
- Scope your intranet – how many sites and users?
- Customizations – what workflows, integrations or features are in use?
- Relevant content – what needs to be migrated and what can be archived?
Understanding your current state will make planning your migration smoother and faster.
Why Fresh + Microsoft 365 is your best alternative option
If your organization already has (or plans to adopt) Microsoft 365, the best path forward is to move your intranet to SharePoint Online. It’s the cloud-based version included with Microsoft 365. This is the direction Microsoft encourages.
To be truly future-ready, the combination of Microsoft SharePoint with Fresh is the ideal intranet platform. Here’s why it can benefit your business:
- AI-ready and future-proof
- Unified across devices
- Fast, metadata-driven search
- Multi-channel reach: newsletters, announcements, push notifications
- Engagement features: kudos, communities, celebrations
- Secure by design: enterprise-grade protection from Microsoft 365 stack
Migrations can be time-consuming, tricky projects. But with Fresh, you can move over your existing sites, documents, lists and pages in SharePoint online. That’s all your relevant content easily transferred from your legacy platform to your new one. Your teams keep access to the content they need, without starting from scratch.
Fresh projects are designed to move fast. You’ll launch within weeks. Our project team will work closely with yours to map requirements, migrate data and design the best future-proof intranet platform for your organization.
Fresh is developed continuously. You’ll benefit from these ongoing product enhancements, whilst staying in control of upgrades and features.
Act now to secure your intranet’s future
July 2026 will come faster than you think. That’s when support ends and you have no more patches, no more safety net. It’s a risk you can’t afford. If you’re running SharePoint 2016 or 2019, it’s time to act now.
Contact us today to see how Fresh can help you transition to SharePoint Online. We’ll assess your intranet requirements and define the best intranet solution for your organization.
