If your organisation is using SharePoint 2010, 2013, 2016, or 2019, the clock is ticking.
Microsoft’s lifecycle policies mean these versions are or soon will be unsupported, exposing your business to security and compliance risks.
Migrating to SharePoint Online isn’t just a technical upgrade—it’s a strategic move toward a modern, AI-ready workplace.
In this article, we will explore the risks of staying on an outdated version of SharePoint, the benefits of migrating to SharePoint Online, some tips for creating a SharePoint Migration checklist, common pitfalls of migrations, and the benefits of working with a partner to streamline the process.
Risks of Staying on Legacy SharePoint
Operating on unsupported versions of SharePoint can come with a number of risks. Ranging from security vulnerabilities to inflated maintenance costs.
Below is a list of some of the major risks:
- Security gaps: When a system is no longer supported, you are no longer guaranteed patches or updates, creating a vulnerable environment that leaves you exposed to data breaches and data loss.
- Compliance challenges: Meeting GDPR and other key regulatory requirements becomes considerably harder without modern governance tools.
- Limited functionality: Legacy systems lack integration with Microsoft 365 and AI-driven features like Copilot, reducing productivity, collaboration, and imposing limits on your team's creativity.
- Higher costs: Maintaining on-premises infrastructure is expensive compared to cloud solutions, not to mention the risk of human error when maintaining your own potentially outdated servers.
Benefits of SharePoint Online
Migrating to SharePoint Online not only helps to mitigate these risks but can unlock a suite of transformative benefits, including but not limited to:
- Modern intranet experiences: SharePoint Online gives you the tools you need to build engaging, mobile-friendly hubs for communication and collaboration. Perfect for streamlining your employees' workflows, surfacing vital company information and documents, and improving employee satisfaction.
- Microsoft 365 integration: Seamlessly connect with Teams, OneDrive, and Copilot for smarter workflows. Empowering you to get more out of your Microsoft licenses.
- Scalability and cost efficiency: Reduce infrastructure overhead and simplify management, freeing your IT team to focus on more transformational projects.
- Enhanced security and compliance: Advanced features make it easier for your organisation to comply with industry regulations and ensure a safe environment for your most valuable assets.
Migration Planning Checklist
A successful migration requires careful planning. For our clients, we host a number of workshops and review sessions to create a list of bespoke requirements that fits their organisational needs. If you are looking to embark on a migration, with or without a partner, the below provides a good starting point:
- Inventory and assessment: Before embarking on a migration project, it's key to understand how much data you actually have, where it’s stored, how it’s stored, and how you would like it to be stored and accessed in the future.
To do this, we suggest thoroughly auditing any existing content to identify what to migrate, archive, or retire. This process is key to ensuring you don’t waste time migrating outdated data and set clear rules for data management going forward.
- Select the right tools: At ThinkShare, we have partnered with ShareGate. ShareGate Migrate is widely recognised in the industry as the go-to migration tool for IT professionals as it’s fast, secure, and intuitive. It simplifies complex migrations with automated reporting, bulk operations, and error handling. Trusted by thousands of organisations globally for nearly two decades, ShareGate Migrate ensures smooth transitions to SharePoint Online with minimal downtime and maximum data integrity.
- Governance and compliance: When moving to a new platform, it’s a perfect time to define policies for permissions, data retention, and access control. It allows you to rectify any bad habits your users may have picked up and train them on the best way to manage data going forward.
- User adoption strategy: One of the best ways we have found to prepare and encourage your users to become excited about a migration is to involve them! Host workshops to find out what information is important to your users, any frustrations they may have with the current data management strategy, and if they have any suggestions on how to improve current policies and procedures.
For managers and team leaders, they should play a role in the preparation of data at the initial inventory and audit stage, as these individuals will have a better understanding of what’s important and what needs to be archived or retired.
For general SharePoint users, we recommend hosting training sessions and providing clear communication to inform them of any expected downtime and keep them up to date on key dates such as go-live. All of these steps are key to ensuring a smooth onboarding.
You can learn more about our full migration process here.
Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them
With any technical project, you are likely to run into unforeseeable challenges, yet there are a few common challenges that often present in this type of project, for example:
- Data loss: Validate migration tools and run test migrations to identify any potential issues or errors before attempting a full rollout. At ThinkShare, we perform test migrations on multiple data sets before running full migrations and finally, incremental migrations for any recently updated documents or resources. Helping to minimise data loss.
- Downtime: To minimise downtime, we recommend scheduling your migrations during off-peak hours, we will work with you to plan your migration, minimising errors and disruption, clearly communicating timelines to the teams affected.
- Resistance to change: Engage stakeholders early, involve them throughout the process, and provide clear and frequent updates on the project's progress. Be sure to also provide hands-on training to boost adoption, not just for those involved in the project but for users who will be working on the new platform.
Ready to get started?
Migrating from legacy SharePoint versions is more than a technical necessity—it’s an opportunity to modernise your digital workplace and leverage AI-powered tools like Microsoft Copilot.
Start planning now to avoid last-minute challenges and unlock the full potential of Microsoft 365.
Ready to begin? Book an introductrory call with a member of our Migration team to explore how your business could seamlessly, and securely transition to the cloud.