As Microsoft Exchange 2016 and 2019 reach their end-of-support milestone in October 2025, privacy-conscious organisations worldwide face a pivotal decision about the future of their email infrastructure. The retirement of these long-standing Microsoft staples isn’t simply a technical update—it's a watershed moment for IT strategy, cost management, compliance, and the ongoing debate over cloud versus on-premises solutions. With plan options shrinking and the cost of software subscriptions rising, it’s never been more critical for enterprises—especially in sectors with strict regulatory obligations—to make informed and forward-thinking choices.
When a platform as established as Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 or 2019 reaches end-of-support, organisations lose access to security patches, vendor support, and critical compatibility features with other Microsoft applications. This loss does not just increase the risk of cyberattacks; it could render essential workflows unstable and non-compliant overnight. Continuing to operate unsupported infrastructure may seem like a temporary cost-saving measure but introduces liabilities—from data breaches to regulatory penalties—few can afford to ignore.
With the countdown clock ticking, IT teams find themselves at a strategic crossroads. Migrating to Microsoft’s fully managed cloud services such as Exchange Online or Microsoft 365 appeals for its ease of deployment and ecosystem integration. However, that’s not the only path forward—and it’s not always the right one for privacy-conscious organisations, especially in jurisdictions like Australia where data sovereignty and regulatory compliance dictate that data remain firmly under local control.
While subscription models theoretically promise access to immediate updates and new features, the practical reality is that organisations with static email requirements often end up shouldering costs for functionality they do not need. Managing subscriptions, renewals, and compliance across a hybrid workforce also demands new skills and oversight. For teams already stretched thin, the cumulative effect means more time spent on administration and less on strategic innovation.
SaaS costs are surging: research indicates a 27% increase in average software-as-a-service expenditures over just two years, reaching an eye-watering $7,900 per user annually according to Invesp (2025). For heavily regulated sectors or cash-strapped public institutions, this is unsustainable in the long term. Furthermore, technical outages, vendor lock-in, and a lack of transparency over where and how data is stored remain persistent concerns.
Cloud adoption also brings legal and ethical questions surrounding the sovereignty of sensitive data. Privacy reforms—such as Australia’s anticipated amendments to the Privacy Act in late 2025—will likely impose stricter controls on cross-border data transfer. High-profile breaches at major telcos and airlines (Qantas included) have underscored the risks of placing mission-critical communications in the hands of external providers whose data residences may be subject to foreign governments or less rigorous regulatory protections.
Control over infrastructure and data handling is now mission-critical. On-premise email solutions stand out by allowing IT teams to retain full ownership—mitigating the risks associated with vendor dependency and ensuring continuity even in a rapidly shifting legal landscape. If history is a guide, Australian regulators tend to favour systems where organisations can demonstrate end-to-end transparency and traceability for every communication, especially when defending against regulatory investigation or legal challenge.
Solutions such as Synology MailPlus epitomize this pivot. Offered as a native application for Synology NAS devices, MailPlus eliminates ongoing subscription fees, instead leveraging a lifetime license model that scales to organisational needs. This not only slashes ongoing expenditure but provides cost predictability at a time when budgets are under unprecedented scrutiny.
Beyond price, modern on-premises email solutions typically offer:
Moreover, with hardware and licensing acquired as capital expenditures and amortized over several years, organisations regain the ability to forecast IT costs—a key advantage in sectors exposed to volatile funding cycles.
For privacy-conscious organisations, this transparency stands as a key differentiator. By managing their own mail servers, they can:
Administrative automation further reduces the IT burden, with features like self-service user restoration, scheduled backups, and one-click disaster recovery. As cyberattacks become increasingly sophisticated and outages more common, this resilience is non-negotiable for mission-critical communications.
Yet, these risks should be weighed against not only the ongoing costs of SaaS but the strategic exposure created by loss of direct control. The cloud’s central promise—simplicity—can quickly erode under the weight of hidden costs, regulatory shortfalls, and loss of sovereignty. The right approach may even be a hybrid one, combining local sovereign storage for sensitive personnel or executive emails with cloud services for less regulated data.
Ultimately, future-proofing enterprise email is not a matter of blindly following the cloud or subscribing to the latest vendor model. It’s about thoughtfully balancing privacy, compliance, cost, and operational resilience in a way that aligns with each organisation’s unique risk profile and strategic vision.
For regulated sectors and privacy-focused teams, on-premises solutions like Synology MailPlus increasingly present a compelling case: predictable costs, unmatched control, and robust compliance—without vendor lock-in or overseas data exposure. As compliance requirements tighten and cloud costs climb, smart organisations are re-evaluating what they really need from their messaging systems: not just connectivity, but confidence, continuity, and true ownership.
Organisations determined to future-proof their email should seize this moment to review their risk landscapes, audit their data flows, and consult with trusted IT partners. By looking beyond the hype and examining both the business and regulatory imperatives, privacy-conscious enterprises can chart a course for email hosting that delivers security, stability, and peace of mind in the years ahead.
Source: Australian Business Journal As Microsoft Exchange 2016 and 2019 Sunset, How Can Privacy-Conscious Organisations Future-Proof their Email?
The Urgency of the Exchange Server Sunset
When a platform as established as Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 or 2019 reaches end-of-support, organisations lose access to security patches, vendor support, and critical compatibility features with other Microsoft applications. This loss does not just increase the risk of cyberattacks; it could render essential workflows unstable and non-compliant overnight. Continuing to operate unsupported infrastructure may seem like a temporary cost-saving measure but introduces liabilities—from data breaches to regulatory penalties—few can afford to ignore.With the countdown clock ticking, IT teams find themselves at a strategic crossroads. Migrating to Microsoft’s fully managed cloud services such as Exchange Online or Microsoft 365 appeals for its ease of deployment and ecosystem integration. However, that’s not the only path forward—and it’s not always the right one for privacy-conscious organisations, especially in jurisdictions like Australia where data sovereignty and regulatory compliance dictate that data remain firmly under local control.
Decoding Microsoft’s New Subscription Model: Complexity or Opportunity?
Microsoft’s new Exchange Server Subscription Edition—designed to replace the 2016 and 2019 on-premises editions—conforms to a recurring payment model. Unlike the perpetual licenses of old, it now demands ongoing Software Assurance payments on top of the standard server licenses and client access licenses (CALs). This additional financial overhead introduces complexity and uncertainty—particularly for resource-limited teams and small-to-midsize businesses, many of whom already struggle with ballooning software costs.While subscription models theoretically promise access to immediate updates and new features, the practical reality is that organisations with static email requirements often end up shouldering costs for functionality they do not need. Managing subscriptions, renewals, and compliance across a hybrid workforce also demands new skills and oversight. For teams already stretched thin, the cumulative effect means more time spent on administration and less on strategic innovation.
The Cloud Dilemma: Flexibility Versus Ownership
On the surface, migrating to Microsoft 365 or other SaaS email platforms seems like an obvious evolution. Cloud-based services offer scalability, frictionless updates, and predictable operating expenses. Yet, a closer examination reveals critical weaknesses—especially for sectors like government, healthcare, and education where compliance and privacy are non-negotiable.SaaS costs are surging: research indicates a 27% increase in average software-as-a-service expenditures over just two years, reaching an eye-watering $7,900 per user annually according to Invesp (2025). For heavily regulated sectors or cash-strapped public institutions, this is unsustainable in the long term. Furthermore, technical outages, vendor lock-in, and a lack of transparency over where and how data is stored remain persistent concerns.
Cloud adoption also brings legal and ethical questions surrounding the sovereignty of sensitive data. Privacy reforms—such as Australia’s anticipated amendments to the Privacy Act in late 2025—will likely impose stricter controls on cross-border data transfer. High-profile breaches at major telcos and airlines (Qantas included) have underscored the risks of placing mission-critical communications in the hands of external providers whose data residences may be subject to foreign governments or less rigorous regulatory protections.
Data Sovereignty and Digital Resilience: Top Priorities for Australian Organisations
Australia’s public sector and industries operating under APRA, healthcare, education, and legal frameworks are facing mounting pressure to enforce digital sovereignty. These organisations are seeking alternatives that guarantee local storage, auditability, and compliance with both national and international standards such as the GDPR, HIPAA, or ISO 27001.Control over infrastructure and data handling is now mission-critical. On-premise email solutions stand out by allowing IT teams to retain full ownership—mitigating the risks associated with vendor dependency and ensuring continuity even in a rapidly shifting legal landscape. If history is a guide, Australian regulators tend to favour systems where organisations can demonstrate end-to-end transparency and traceability for every communication, especially when defending against regulatory investigation or legal challenge.
Modern On-Prem Email: Breaking the Cycle of Legacy Complexity
Legacy on-premises mail systems introduced their own challenges: convoluted licensing, heavy maintenance workloads, and fragmented security postures. However, current-generation platforms are reversing these trends by combining best-in-class security, simplified licensing, and outstanding integration with adjacent IT systems.Solutions such as Synology MailPlus epitomize this pivot. Offered as a native application for Synology NAS devices, MailPlus eliminates ongoing subscription fees, instead leveraging a lifetime license model that scales to organisational needs. This not only slashes ongoing expenditure but provides cost predictability at a time when budgets are under unprecedented scrutiny.
Beyond price, modern on-premises email solutions typically offer:
- Integrated security: Advanced spam, phishing, and ransomware filtering come standard, reducing the burden on IT to maintain standalone security gateways.
- Centralised management: Email, storage, auditing, and backup are all accessible within a unified interface, streamlining oversight and reducing administrative complexity.
- Rich compliance features: Audit trails, policy enforcement, and legal hold capabilities empower organisations to demonstrate compliance with sector-specific data retention laws.
Cost Control and Licensing Predictability
For large enterprises and fast-growing SMEs, the operational costs of managing hundreds—or thousands—of cloud email accounts can spiral quickly, exacerbated by the unpredictability of vendor price hikes and the complexity of user-based billing models. By contrast, a self-hosted solution like Synology MailPlus allows for precise budgeting: organizations purchase the number of client licenses they need with no recurring fee, then scale storage according to demand using modular, on-premise hardware.Moreover, with hardware and licensing acquired as capital expenditures and amortized over several years, organisations regain the ability to forecast IT costs—a key advantage in sectors exposed to volatile funding cycles.
Strengthening Compliance and Data Governance
Tighter privacy regulations and recent headline-grabbing breaches have reinforced the imperative for robust, auditable controls over email. With on-premises infrastructure, administrators gain unparalleled visibility into every aspect of their data environment. This encompasses not only who accessed what and when but how policies are enforced, how data is backed up, and how audit records are maintained.For privacy-conscious organisations, this transparency stands as a key differentiator. By managing their own mail servers, they can:
- Ensure all communication remains within Australian borders, in compliance with local regulatory requirements.
- Customise security policies and retention schedules per department or project.
- Conduct rapid, internal eDiscovery in the event of a compliance inquiry or data breach investigation.
Simplified Integration and IT Resilience
Modern on-premises email appliances are designed to dovetail seamlessly with established IT workflows, not disrupt them. Synology MailPlus, for example, natively connects with Active Directory for user provisioning, integrates with existing backup solutions, and supports open standards like IMAP and SMTP, ensuring interoperability with third-party tools and mobile devices. This makes the shift away from Exchange less of an upheaval and more of an evolution.Administrative automation further reduces the IT burden, with features like self-service user restoration, scheduled backups, and one-click disaster recovery. As cyberattacks become increasingly sophisticated and outages more common, this resilience is non-negotiable for mission-critical communications.
Critical Analysis: Risks and Rewards in Email Migration
Despite its many virtues, the on-premises model is not without risks. Hardware failure, physical security, and the responsibility for patching and upgrading lie squarely with the organisation—not a third-party host. For small IT teams, this could mean higher upfront investment in skills and infrastructure. Disaster recovery and high availability also require careful planning, especially for geographically distributed teams.Yet, these risks should be weighed against not only the ongoing costs of SaaS but the strategic exposure created by loss of direct control. The cloud’s central promise—simplicity—can quickly erode under the weight of hidden costs, regulatory shortfalls, and loss of sovereignty. The right approach may even be a hybrid one, combining local sovereign storage for sensitive personnel or executive emails with cloud services for less regulated data.
Ultimately, future-proofing enterprise email is not a matter of blindly following the cloud or subscribing to the latest vendor model. It’s about thoughtfully balancing privacy, compliance, cost, and operational resilience in a way that aligns with each organisation’s unique risk profile and strategic vision.
Conclusion: Email as a Strategic Asset, Not Just an Application
As the era of Microsoft Exchange 2016 and 2019 closes, the next chapter in enterprise email is all about reclaiming control—over data, budgets, and strategic direction. Australian organisations, in particular, stand at a crossroads that will define not just how they email, but how they safeguard sensitive communications for years to come.For regulated sectors and privacy-focused teams, on-premises solutions like Synology MailPlus increasingly present a compelling case: predictable costs, unmatched control, and robust compliance—without vendor lock-in or overseas data exposure. As compliance requirements tighten and cloud costs climb, smart organisations are re-evaluating what they really need from their messaging systems: not just connectivity, but confidence, continuity, and true ownership.
Organisations determined to future-proof their email should seize this moment to review their risk landscapes, audit their data flows, and consult with trusted IT partners. By looking beyond the hype and examining both the business and regulatory imperatives, privacy-conscious enterprises can chart a course for email hosting that delivers security, stability, and peace of mind in the years ahead.
Source: Australian Business Journal As Microsoft Exchange 2016 and 2019 Sunset, How Can Privacy-Conscious Organisations Future-Proof their Email?
