Why You Should Upgrade SharePoint 2013 On Premise to SharePoint 2019?
Now that the SharePoint 2019 has been released, and the first question that is wandering in the mind of SharePoint users is that whether they should upgrade to the latest SharePoint version or not. This question comes up to surface every time Microsoft announces a SharePoint upgrade. Migration used to be scary earlier back when we had SharePoint 2007 and SharePoint 2010, when there were plenty of farms that were unable to be migrated; however, the SharePoint migration process has now been made really smooth and organized; and no matter what we always recommend our clients to update to the latest version to avoid any discrepancy of features in future.
To know why you should upgrade to SharePoint 2019, fil out the questionnaire here.
Why Should You Upgrade to SharePoint 2019?
SharePoint 2019 has come up with an advanced template with modern templates, as a part of predefined communication sites. With SharePoint 2019, the creation of new communication sites has become fasters and creative. You can now add documents, videos, maps and much more. Additionally, other new features like libraries, pages and new sires are also there to enhance the overall user experience, while making SharePoint an uncluttered and simple interface.
Why You Should Upgrade SharePoint 2013 On-Premise to SharePoint 2019?
As soon as the SharePoint 2019 got released, most of the SharePoint users starts wondering, if this is the right time they should stay on their existing on-premise platform, or move to cloud, or embrace a hybrid approach. Before learning about the new features of SharePoint 2019 that are compelling the whole world to migrate to it, let’s have a quick recall of SharePoint 2013 salient features, so that it becomes easier for you to decide whether you should migrate to SharePoint 2019 or not.
SharePoint 2013
SharePoint 2013 was mainly focused on two main things. In 2013, Office 365 was actually born, and hence there were major improvements for the on-premise version, that were less pronounced between 2007-2010. In terms of user experience, SharePoint 2013 offered features like FAST search embedded, community template, eDiscovery, Share, Apps for SharePoint, Social Newsfeed and Sync with OneDrive; whereas for Administration, it offered Hybrid Support, Office Web Application Server and PowerShell.
SharePoint 2019
As compared to SharePoint 2013, SharePoint 2019 offers a wide range of modern features that are appealing enough to convince SharePoint uses to migrate to the latest version. The new and improved features of SharePoint Online 2019 include the following;
Communication Sites
One the most refined feature that SharePoint 2019 offers to its on-premise users is Communication Sites. Being one of the most awaited feature, its offers intelligent and responsive way to share documents, news and important information among users. It allows users to autonomously and quickly create new communication sites using any one of the three latest templates available at the SharePoint homepage.
Modern Team Sites
SharePoint 2019 supports new, modern team sites along with the classic ones. Some of the important features of modern team sites include a redesigned SharePoint homepage which maintain the most relevant team news center and front; modern libraries and lists; and a modern experience for searching that also suggest relevant content as soon as you start typing. Just like Communication Sites, users are also allowed to create new team sites, simply by using the homepage of their SharePoint, and without bearing any hassle of going to IT.
Modern Web Parts & Site Pages
SharePoint 2019 offers its user a new selection of modern web parts that can be used to customize site pages. These modern web parts do not any coding to be done in advance. Also, the developers can also use the SharePoint framework to build customize sites pages as per their requirements. For instance, the ‘People’ web part is designed to help users to connect people with each other, so that they get into effective and faster communication with each other and get the work complete at a faster pace. Unlike SharePoint 2013 and SharePoint 2016, modern sites pages and web parts are less complicated and easier to create, which offers quick learning and easy adaptation as well.
Modern Libraries & Web Pages
With SharePoint 2019, the on-premise users can now finally add rows and columns to their SharePoint lists. Another new feature offers is the capability to format these columns by using JSON markup, which is very much similar to the Excel’s conditional formatting, which offer a powerful yet simple experience for filtration. The new libraries in SharePoint 219 combines the powers of both OneDrive and SharePoint, which enable it to offer modern experience of sharing, along with an intuitive user interface. This also resolve numerous integration and synchronization issues that existed in previous versions of SharePoint. Task like uploading files, creating new folders and saving document in OneDrive and/or SharePoint can now be done anywhere, anytime, without any hassle.
Fewer Restrictions for Folders & Files
Another foremost reason to migrate to SharePoint 2019 is that it removed a large number of annoying limitations and restrictions related to folders and files. Now, folder and file names are fully supported by all special characters including % and # symbols that were missing in older versions. Additionally, the limit of the file path has now been increased to 400 characters and it now also supports % and #. And this is not it, because the SharePoint document libraries now also support files for up to 15GB (as compared to 10GB in SharePoint 2016). This has enabled SharePoint to be on part with OneDrive for Business and SharePoint Online.
Hybrid First Features
Microsoft has been constantly working to improve the overall support of SharePoint for hybrid environment, especially after the release of SharePoint 2013. However, SharePoint 2019 is also often mentioned as ‘cloud-powered server’ which provides users and admins with the similar benefits and powers of cloud. Before SharePoint 2019, setting up, deploying and managing hybrid environment has never been such easier – but thanks to special ‘Hybrid Configuration Wizard’ tools, that is available from CAC (Central Administration Center) directly’ along with the extensible hybrid app launcher.
Additionally, the hybrid content types and taxonomies allows admins to create and managed shared sets of metadata that will sync automatically with the SharePoint Online and SharePoint Server. Also, the new OneDrive Sync Client provides users with the on-demand access to the documents and files that are stored in the cloud or locally, without requiring any downloading. It also enables push notifications to provide improved and real-time collaboration on data and documents.
Should I Upgrade to SharePoint 2019?
As, you have read about the plenty of new features offered by SharePoint 2019, but trust us, this is not enough and there are a lot better things that we have not covered; but you will surely experience it when you will get updated to SharePoint 2019. In conclusion, SharePoint 2019 is doing great in bringing the cloud and on-premise users closer while making the hybrid implementation as easy and refreshing as a breeze. SharePoint 2019 is undoubtedly the truly modern version of SharePoint that we have got till date, and it will surely digitally push the organizations in their transformations to cloud, while keeping up the core aspects of their on-premise environment.
So, if you will ask about our recommendation, we will say that SharePoint 2019 has come with all modern functionalities needed in SharePoint Online, and you should definitely consider upgrading to the latest version, if you really want to achieve and explore better levels of collaboration, capabilities and user experience.
