Internet Explorer end of life – take positive action now to fix legacy applications

Support for Internet Explorer 11 ends in June – is your organisation ready?

Many organisations still have applications or group policies that rely on Internet Explorer. From June 15th 2022, Microsoft is no longer supporting this legacy browser, in what is called ‘Internet Explorer end of life’. There are several paths your organisation can take to overcome this challenge.

Internet explorer end of life solution 1 – Pay up

One option to deal with Internet Explorer 11 end-of-life is to contact Microsoft and ask for extended support. However, this means paying through the nose – for most organisations, this option will be too expensive to stomach – and is little more than effectively keeping your IE apps on life support.

Internet explorer end of life solution 1 – Do nothing

Another path is to rely on something called “IE Mode”. This is a new feature provided by Microsoft Edge, the browser which comes with Windows 10 and has replaced Internet Explorer. IE Mode integrates some legacy functionality into the new Edge browser, so your users can browse the internet securely, with the browser opening apps designed for Internet Explorer in a special IE view.

But this is less a ‘get out of jail free’ card and more a sticking plaster. Legacy line-of-business applications delivered via IE Mode will continue to look old and will grow increasingly out-of-date, leading to dissatisfaction among your employees. The apps’ functionality will gradually break down, and they will become an additional burden to maintain for your IT team. And IE Mode will eventually be discontinued, too, after a grace period of 7 years.

Internet explorer end of life solution 2 – Embrace Edge

The final option is to embrace the new Edge. Take this opportunity to bring your line-of-business apps (hopefully not kicking and screaming) into the 2020s by engaging with a Microsoft expert partner like CompanyNet. We have worked on several major app discovery and remediation projects for organisations such as the Student Loans Company. We can work with your IT team and employees to understand your legacy applications, and perform app remediation, modernisation and packaging to ensure you’re on the right track for the future.

Thanks to Edge’s IE Mode, the transition away from Internet Explorer will be less sudden and less painful for most, but it is still one that needs to be made. The longer you put off modernising your legacy Internet Explorer applications, the more it will cost, in terms of both capital and employee satisfaction.

With less than a month to go until support and security updates for IE are discontinued, it’s time for your organisation to decide which path you’ll take.  If you’d like to speak to our subject matter experts with no obligation, get in touch.