Over the past 25 years, Microsoft has released 11 major versions of Internet Explorer. In August 2020, Microsoft announced that it will be sunsetting Internet Explorer v11 (IE11). Since then, it has been slowly phasing out IE11 support in all applications. In November 2020, Microsoft Teams stopped support for IE11. By August 2021, IE11 support in all Microsoft 365 applications will stop.
Figure 1. Microsoft timeline for Internet Explorer end of life
Why UKG Ready Will No Longer Support IE11
Independent tests find that IE11 performance is three to five times slower than that of other browsers. This is reflected through our own testing done at UKG, where we found that IE11 underperforms in comparison with other browsers like Chrome or Microsoft Edge. On top of browser performance, we decided to end IE11 support in June 2021 due to testing and security reasons. When it comes to UKG Ready, continuing to support IE11 takes away from more proactive fixes on other more performant and widely used browsers.
Figure 2. UKG Ready performance comparison (January 2021)
End-of-Life Plan for IE11
In order to provide a modern and secure experience for our direct customers and partners, UKG Ready will end support for IE11 after the April (R74) release. Although the browser will continue to work, like the traffic UKG still sees from older versions of Internet Explorer, IE11 will no longer be qualified within the release readiness process, and IE11-specific defects will no longer be accepted.
UKG Ready is not alone in ending IE11 support before its official deprecation date in August. Security and performance concerns have many companies ending IE11 support well before August.
- Oracle stopped certifying IE11 across their applications in July 2020
- Intuit began deprecating IE11 back in September 2020
As a result, many companies are assessing the impact of this deprecation within their own organizations. In fact, as of December 2020, IE11 had less than 3% of browser global market share.
Figure 3. Statcounter worldwide market share
UKG Ready has also seen a downward trend in IE11 usage since the original Microsoft announcement in August 2020.
Figure 4. UKG Ready IE11 Trend August 2020 – February 2021
Recommendations
UKG Ready recommends that all customers and partners evaluate their organization’s browser support strategy. Migration to the Chromium-based version of Microsoft Edge or other browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox) is strongly encouraged. IT departments and other technical support functions should be well aware of the end-of-life status of IE11. While we understand employees can be hesitant to change, it’s essential for them to switch over to one of our recommended browsers to ensure they have a seamless user experience. Not sure what those browsers are? You can find a list of supported browsers in the cross-product release notes.
Microsoft recommends that enterprise customers who require continuing IE11 functionality switch to Edge and enable IE11 mode. For more information on IE mode and how to make the switch, review the Microsoft article explaining IE mode in depth.
Have any other questions on the IE11 lifecycle and Microsoft Edge? Make sure to check out Microsoft’s Lifecycle FAQ!