Is Your Business Still Running Old Microsoft Office? Here’s Why That’s a Problem.

If your business is still running Microsoft Office 2016 or 2019, I’ve got some news for you — and it’s not great.

As of October 2025, both of those versions have reached what Microsoft calls “end of extended support.” In plain English: Microsoft has stopped releasing security patches for them. Any vulnerability discovered in Office 2016 or 2019 from that point on will never be fixed. Ever.

For a business that handles customer data, financial records, or confidential emails — that’s a real problem.

So What’s the Alternative?

Microsoft 365 (previously called Office 365) is the subscription-based version of Microsoft’s software suite. Instead of buying a boxed copy of Office and running it until it falls over, you pay an annual fee per user and get access to the full suite — always up to date, always supported, always patched.

Think of it like this: the old model was buying a car and driving it until the wheels fell off. The new model is a lease — you’re always in a current model with the latest safety features, and someone else worries about the maintenance.

Here’s what every Microsoft 365 Business subscription includes:

• Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint — the classics, but always current and fully supported
• Microsoft Teams — video calls, group chat, and file sharing all in one place (your team will wonder how they managed without it)
• 1TB of OneDrive storage per user — more on this in a moment
• Business-grade email with your own domain
• Multi-factor authentication and advanced security features built in, not bolted on as an afterthought

Let’s Talk About “The Cloud” for a Second

I know some people hear “the cloud” and picture their files floating around somewhere up in the sky, vaguely out of reach and somehow not quite safe.

Here’s the reality: the cloud isn’t the white fluffy stuff in the sky. It’s a full-blown data centre — a purpose-built facility with redundant power supplies, fault-tolerant storage systems, physical security guards, biometric access controls, fire suppression systems, and industrial air-conditioning units running 24/7. Microsoft spends billions of dollars every year building and maintaining these facilities around the world.

Your data sitting in OneDrive is significantly safer than it is on a single hard drive sitting under someone’s desk. That hard drive can fail. It can be stolen. It can be destroyed in a fire or a flood. The data centre has multiple copies of your data, spread across multiple physical locations, with automatic failover if something goes wrong.

That 1TB of OneDrive storage per user isn’t just a nice bonus — it’s a proper business continuity strategy for the price of a cup of coffee a day.

“But Won’t Migrating Be a Nightmare?”

This is the question I hear most often, and I understand why. The idea of moving years of emails, files, and settings from one system to another sounds like a recipe for a lost weekend and a lot of stress.

In my experience, it doesn’t have to be. I’ve moved plenty of small businesses across to Microsoft 365 — typically with no downtime and minimal disruption to the team. The key is doing it in the right order, with the right tools, and making sure everyone knows what’s happening before it happens.

Here’s the general process:

1. Assess what you’ve got — what version of Office, how many users, what data needs to move
2. Set up the Microsoft 365 tenancy — this is your business’s account in the Microsoft ecosystem
3. Migrate email — usually the most important step; done properly, your history, contacts and calendar come across intact
4. Move files to OneDrive — can be done gradually so nobody’s work is interrupted
5. Install the apps — Microsoft 365 lets each user install Office on up to 5 devices
6. Train the team — even 30 minutes showing people where things are makes a huge difference to adoption

Most small businesses are surprised by how straightforward it is when someone who knows what they’re doing handles it.

What Does It Actually Cost?

Microsoft 365 Business Basic starts at around $8–10 AUD per user per month on an annual subscription — so roughly $96–120 per user per year. Business Standard, which includes the desktop apps (Word, Excel, etc. installed on your computer rather than just online), is around $180–200 per user per year.

Compare that to buying Office 2021 outright at around $400+ per user, with no cloud storage, no Teams, no security features, and a shelf life of a few years before it goes end-of-life again.

The maths tends to work in Microsoft 365’s favour pretty quickly — especially once you factor in the productivity tools and the peace of mind on security.

How Craig Can Help

I supply Microsoft 365 licences on annual subscriptions and handle the full migration — setup, data transfer, email migration, and training for your team. Or if you’ve already got licences sorted and just need the technical side done properly, I can help with that too.

No jargon. No surprises on the bill. Just a straightforward conversation about what your business needs and a migration that actually goes smoothly.

If you’re still running Office 2016 or 2019, don’t wait until something goes wrong. Give me a call and we can work out the best path forward for your business.

0411 147 909craigthecomputergeek.com.au

Craig the Computer Geek — helping small businesses across Canberra and Queanbeyan since 2012.