The Business Case for Leaving SharePoint 2013
SharePoint 2013 served well in its time but is facing obsolescence in various important aspects when compared with modern SharePoint Online.
1. Security and Compliance Risks
SharePoint 2013 receives minimal to no security patches from Microsoft. This means:
- Vulnerability Exposure: Your on-premise SharePoint environment remains vulnerable to modern hacking threats that target outdated software. You expose sensitive company data to known exploits.
- Compliance Burden: You carry the full burden of managing updates, patching servers, and securing the infrastructure. SharePoint Online does all security and compliance updates automatically, which frees the IT staff.
2. Lack of Modern Integration
The fluidity of the cloud is unmatched by any legacy platform.
- Teams and Power Platform: SharePoint 2013 does not offer native, deep integrations with critical cloud tools like Microsoft Teams, Power Automate, and Power BI, leaving users to work in isolated, manual processes.
- Mobile Access: It is a big hassle to access SharePoint 2013 on mobile devices; normally, it requires complex VPNs. SharePoint Online has native mobile apps and a responsive design, enabling work from anywhere.
3. High Cost of Ownership
You absorb all the hidden costs of maintaining SharePoint 2013.
- Hardware and Infrastructure: You pay for server hardware, space in a data center, power, and cooling. SharePoint Online shifts this cost to a predictable operational expense (OPEX).
- Administrative Overhead: Your IT team spends time patching, troubleshooting, and maintaining outdated servers. It is a resource drain that the cloud removes.
Key Benefits of SharePoint Online (The Why)
The move to (SharePoint Online vs. on premise) revolutionizes collaboration and provides a dramatically enhanced user experience.
1. Modern collaboration and site design
SharePoint Online introduces modern sites, lists, and pages that look better and load much faster than their legacy interfaces.
- Hub Sites: It enables the creation of Hub Sites, and you can finally organize your content in a flat and flexible structure instead of the rigid nested sub-site model of yore.
- Team Integration: With every modern SharePoint site, there is the ability to connect it seamlessly to a Microsoft Team. This way, users can directly access documents, lists, and pages within their collaboration hub.
2. Built-in Intelligence and Search
The cloud version infuses AI into the platform.
- Microsoft Search: This release unifies Search across SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, and Office apps. This release delivers highly relevant, personalized results instantly.
- OneDrive Sync: Users sync document libraries directly to their desktops using the OneDrive client. This facilitates seamless offline access and makes file management easy.
3. Administration and Governance Simplified
Management of the cloud environment is far easier with the SharePoint Online Admin Center.
- Centralized Control: The Admin Center gives administrators a single web interface to manage sites, storage, external sharing, and governance policies.
- PowerShell Management: IT teams take advantage of powerful scripting opportunities, including SharePoint Online PowerShell, to automate tasks, manage permissions, and apply configurations in bulk. You first download the necessary modules, such as downloading the SharePoint Online management shell, to connect securely.
Planning Your SharePoint Online Migration (The How)
Migration to SharePoint Online requires the right planning and execution.
1. Initial Assessment and Cleanup
Before moving data, you need to clean up the source environment.
- Audit Customizations: Identify all unsupported custom code, including InfoPath forms and legacy workflows. Decide whether to replace these features with Power Platform solutions – Power Apps or Power Automate.
- Content Cleanup: Identify and delete old or unused documents. You will have to shorten the names of very long file paths and correct any issues in file names that may show incompatibility with SharePoint Online.
2. Identity and Authentication
You must prepare user identities for the cloud.
- Implement Entra Connect: You will be using Microsoft Entra Connect (Azure AD Connect) in order to synchronize your on-premise Active Directory users and groups with Microsoft 365 so that users use the same credentials – known as Single Sign-On.
3. Migration Execution
You perform the actual data transfer by using appropriate tools.
- Choose the Tool: There are several tools for migrating to Microsoft 365, differentiated by the level of complexity. Simple file transfers are well-covered by SPMT, but complex permission mapping will be better handled by third-party tools.
- Run a Pilot: You will want to conduct a pilot migration on a small, non-critical site collection. You test the entire process from authentication to site functionality before you move the larger sites.
4. Governance Post-Migration
Once the content has moved, you apply cloud-specific governance.
- Configure Sharing: Change the settings in the SharePoint Online Admin Center for external sharing. Set proper access controls.
- Administer Automation: Configure site templates through its PowerShell, apply bulk permissions, and automate reporting. Connecting to SharePoint Online PowerShell requires specific commands in order to establish a secure session.
Conclusion
Migrating from SharePoint 2013 to SharePoint Online is no longer optional, rather, it is about security, compliance, and business agility. The cloud has a number of functionalities that SharePoint 2013 just can’t compete with. By being active in the planning of the SharePoint Online migration, cleaning up source data, and using the powerful tools within its Admin Center and SharePoint Online PowerShell, organizations can successfully make this transition, fully realize the value of Microsoft 365, and secure a future-proof collaboration platform.
If you are looking for dedicated team of experts to handle the entire migration process, feel free to contact SharePointDesignWorks, offering no data-loss migration for small business to enterprises.
