External links piece from July 1: this is how it affects your SMEs

“The link expired … it should have just stayed open.”
We hear it often. You want to quickly share a Word file or presentation with an external party. You send a link and think: nice and easy. Until you have an angry customer or supplier on the line a few weeks later:

“The link no longer works!”

Now what? Panic. Consequences for your customer relationship. And above all: hassle you don’t want.

Newsletter in the spam? Here’s how to prevent

🚨 What will happen on July 1?

Starting July 1, Microsoft is breaking all existing external share links. Meaning:

❌ No more access for external guests (even with OTP or B2B)
❌ “Sorry, something went wrong” notifications to your customers
❌ Frustration and loss of confidence
❌ Invisible risks: files you can no longer revoke or manage

🤯 Common pain points experienced by SMBs

In many SME organizations, we see the same challenges recurring:

No record of who shared what
“Who shared that document? And with whom actually?”
Expired links no one keeps track of
It seemed so convenient, but no one has a record of active links.
Panic situations when customers or suppliers cannot access important files
No clear guidelines for secure external sharing
Time spent putting out fires instead of just doing your job

📊 What do others say about this?

We recently asked business owners and IT leaders¹:

44% indicated: “Too many to count” – the number of links that will soon be unusable
28% said, “No idea actually” – no understanding of the problem
22% want to get oversight now, before it’s too late

🛠 How can you do this smarter?

At ALTA-ICT B.V., we help SME organizations with:

🔍 Understanding who shares what (and with whom)
📋 Guidelines for secure external sharing
🔑 Settings for Entra ID & governance that just work, without complicated hassle