If your organization is still running SharePoint Server 2016 or 2019, the next 18–24 months matter more than they might seem.
Microsoft has announced two critical changes:
- Classic SharePoint add-ins and workflows are retired on April 2, 2026
- SharePoint Server 2016 and 2019 reach the end of support on July 14, 2026
On paper, these are just dates. In practice, they represent a shift in risk, responsibility, and readiness.
Many organizations assume they can deal with this later because “everything still works.” The problem is that once support and classic components disappear, the safety net goes with them. What follows is often rushed decision-making, unexpected outages, and reactive migrations.
This blog is meant to help you pause, understand what’s really at stake, and plan before urgency is forced on you.
Why SharePoint End of Support is an Organization-Wide Issue
While SharePoint end-of-support often gets labelled as an IT concern, the reality is broader:
- IT and technology leaders are responsible for keeping unsupported platforms secure, stable, and defensible, often without vendor backing.
- Business and operational teams rely on SharePoint every day for approvals, document management, and process coordination. When workflows slow down or fail, productivity and service delivery suffer.
- Risk, governance, and leadership teams feel the impact when platforms can no longer confidently support audits, regulatory obligations, or remediate security vulnerabilities once Microsoft security updates and patches stop.
- End users experience the effects most directly, through inconsistent processes, manual workarounds, and tools that no longer align with how people actually work.
In short, SharePoint 2016 and 2019 end-of-support is not about one role or department. It affects how the entire organization manages risk, delivers services, and adapts to change.
Why “It Still Works” Is a Risky Place to Stand
Most SharePoint 2016 and 2019 environments didn’t become fragile overnight.
Over years of use, organizations added custom workflows, forms, scripts, and integrations, often built with classic tools that are now being retired. These solutions became deeply embedded in how work actually gets done.
The challenge is that once Microsoft support ends, the environment doesn’t just freeze in time. Security threats continue to evolve. Compliance expectations increase. Integration with modern tools becomes harder.
What once felt stable becomes increasingly brittle and expensive to maintain.
What the 2026 Deadlines Really Change
First, security exposure increases. Unsupported platforms no longer receive patches or fixes, making them more vulnerable to known exploits and increasing scrutiny from auditors and insurers.
Second, business-critical workflows are at risk. The retirement of classic SharePoint add-ins and workflows means many long-standing approval, routing, and automation processes may fail or become unsupported. When that happens, the disruption isn’t technical; it’s operational.
Third, compliance becomes harder to defend. Older SharePoint environments often lack the governance, retention controls, and auditability required today. As regulations evolve, unsupported platforms create gaps that are difficult to justify.
This is a planning moment, not a fire drill. An end-of-support announcement doesn’t mean everything must move tomorrow. But it does mean now is the right time to step back and get clarity. Organizations that skip this understanding often rush into migrations that simply recreate legacy problems in a new platform.
Practical Actions You Can Take Now
Below is a practical, non-technical set of actions you can use to guide internal discussions and avoid last-minute scrambling.
1. Get a Clear Picture of Your SharePoint Reality
Start by understanding how SharePoint is actually being used today, not how it was intended to be used.
Key questions to ask:
• Which SharePoint sites are still actively used?
• Which ones support business-critical processes?
• Are you running SharePoint Server 2016, 2019, or a mix?
• Where does sensitive, personal, or regulated information live?
• Do we have owners for our most critical sites and processes?
This step alone often surfaces risks that most organizations didn’t realize they had.
2. Identify Workflow and Add-In Dependencies. With classic workflows and add-ins retiring in 2026, this step is critical.
Discuss with your team:
• Which approval, routing, or automation processes rely on classic SharePoint workflows?
• Are there custom add-ins or third-party components in use?
• What breaks if these workflows stop working tomorrow?
• Are there manual workarounds already in place?
If a workflow supports finance, HR, permitting, records, or service delivery, it should be treated as a high priority.
3. Assess Governance and Compliance Gaps
Older SharePoint environments often evolved without consistent governance.
This is a good moment to review:
• Are retention and disposition rules clearly defined and enforced?
• Do you have audit trails that would stand up to scrutiny?
• Are permissions controlled, or inherited and unmanaged?
• Can you confidently place content on legal hold or respond to FOI requests?
These gaps become harder to justify once platforms are unsupported.
4. Align IT and Business on What “Modern” Actually Means
One common mistake is modernizing technology without modernizing processes.
Bring IT, records, compliance, and business leaders together to discuss:
• Which processes should be simplified or automated?
• What user experience problems exist today?
• Where does email or manual work fill system gaps?
• What outcomes matter most: speed, compliance, visibility, or scalability?
This alignment prevents recreating legacy complexity in new tools.
5. Define a Phased, Realistic Path Forward
Not everything needs to move at once.
A practical roadmap often includes:
• Stabilizing or replacing high-risk workflows first
• Migrating low complexity sites early
• Redesigning critical processes using Power Platform
• Establishing Microsoft 365 governance before large-scale rollout
Phasing reduces disruption and builds confidence across teams.
Use this Moment as a Turning Point
We see many organizations wait until an end of support deadline becomes urgent before taking action. By then, options are limited, and decisions are rushed. When approached thoughtfully, this transition creates momentum.
Microsoft 365 offers modern alternatives to legacy SharePoint patterns, modern content management, workflow automation with Power Platform, collaboration through Teams, and governance through Microsoft Purview.
The goal isn’t just to move content. It’s to simplify processes, reduce risk, and prepare the organization for what comes next, including AI and automation.
Don’t wait until risk forces action. If you’re unsure what these changes mean for your organization, our Microsoft 365 Migration Assessment is designed to give you a clear picture of where you are today and where you may need to go next. Book your assessment now!
