77 percent affected: Small businesses now without MS Office support
Support for Microsoft Office 2016 and 2019 ends today, October 14, 2025. Many small companies are now without security updates.
(Image: dennizn/Shutterstock.com)
Today marks the end of manufacturer support for Microsoft Office 2016 and 2019—posing a security risk for many small businesses in Germany. According to the latest SME study by groupware and security provider Intra2net, 77 percent of these companies will no longer receive security updates for their Office suite.
The reason for this is the slow migration to current versions. With an installation rate of 65 percent, Office 2016 and 2019 remain the dominant on-premises packages; consequently, users are now under immediate pressure to act. It is noteworthy that the market share of Office 2016 has remained stable over the past year, while another 12 percent of companies are even using older versions like Office 2010 or 2013, which have been unsupported for years. Their share has also only slightly decreased in the past year.
(Image:Â Intra2net AG)
The study shows that when switching, companies usually migrate directly to Office 2024. The latest on-premises package currently has a market share of 8 percent, mainly due to users switching from Office 2019. Office 2021, on the other hand, plays hardly any role in current migrations; the suite failed to establish itself.
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Intra2net CEO Steffen Jarosch sees an urgent need for action: “The results are alarming, but not surprising. Many small businesses have not used the last twelve months to update their Office suite in time. Together with the end of support for Windows 10, this creates massive migration pressure—especially since Microsoft does not offer a paid transitional solution with extended security updates for Office.”
In addition to MS Office and Windows 10, users are currently facing further urgent migration efforts with the end of support for Exchange 2016 and 2019. For the analysis, Intra2net evaluated data from 1,567 PC workstations in 104 German companies with 10 to 49 employees each in September 2025. Only companies without Hosted Exchange or Microsoft 365 were considered. Information about the study can be found here.
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