An IT Support Blog from London

Cloud services have gone a long way since their inception, with more organisations making the monumental decision to shift to a cloud environment. Over the last few years, however, the hybrid version of cloud computing has emerged as the default choice of companies for their ever-changing business requirements.

According to the Flexera 2020 State of the Cloud Report, 87 percent of the enterprises surveyed are adopting a hybrid cloud strategy. In this blog post, we explore what the hybrid cloud is, and more importantly, what is driving its growing widespread adoption among business organisations.

Unless you’re on G Suite, chances are that your company’s staff uses Office 365 apps such as Word, Excel, and Outlook on a daily basis. Office 365 remains the go-to cloud service simply because most office workers are accustomed to Microsoft’s long-standing productivity suite.

Though Office 365 packs in plenty of functions, there is also a wide range of productivity plug-ins that can help you get even more out of your everyday Office apps. We list seven top examples below, and chances are that at least one of these apps will make your working day just that bit more productive.

Few can dispute the importance of data in the success of any enterprise. As we enter a data-driven environment in the modern workplace, data has become a key factor in practically every aspect of business operations, including manufacturing and production, sales and marketing, human resources and the decision making of business leaders.

We know that remote working is increasingly becoming the norm. A 2019 survey by IWG found that more than 50% of employees around the world are working off-site for more than 2.5 days in any given week. However, the scale of remote working we’re seeing right now is unprecedented – government-imposed lock-down is pushing businesses to adopt remote working like never before.

One could argue that most companies are reasonably well prepared for remote working and will by consequence have the right security measures in place. While that is true for many companies, other organisations might find the sudden and involuntary push to remote working a bit of a shock and will rightly be concerned about the security implications.

In this article, we cover key remote working security tips for those companies which are suddenly adopting remote working. Even if your organisation has embraced remote working in the past, consider reviewing the tips below to make sure your security practices are watertight.

Enterprises are well aware of threat attacks which pose a huge challenge to IT security, perpetrated by technical hackers who infiltrate computer systems to steal protected data. The truth is, however, that many of the most effective cyber attacks are not directly inflicted upon hardware or software, but instead, are targeted on people.

IT outsourcing often wins the debate between in-house IT or outsourcing technology requirements to an IT support company, businesses commonly opt for the latter because outsourcing reduces costs, draws in more expertise and allows businesses to focus on core competencies.

Sometimes, however, companies decide to take IT back in-house or do not consider outsourcing. A few horror stories or a bad outsourcing experience can often sour the mood around outsourced IT. Like a lot of things in business and technology, getting the most out of IT outsourcing – and avoiding the horror stories – just involves a degree of awareness and the right steps.

When evaluating cybersecurity risk, we tend to focus on technological factors: patches and upgrades, vulnerabilities, attack vectors, and so forth. Yes – technology solutions are vulnerable, and cybersecurity breaches are usually facilitated by advanced hacking technology.

However, the perpetrators behind cyber-attacks are human. These human actors have human motivations: greed, or a political agenda. Furthermore, cyberattacks often rely on human weaknesses – socially engineered cyberattacks, for example.

Artificial Intelligence (AI), the creation of intelligent machines that emulate human thinking and decision making, has long been touted as one of the most disruptive technologies of this decade—and for good reason too. From healthcare to finance to manufacturing and even in our homes (think Alexa, Roomba, etc.), AI has permeated almost every aspect of daily living.

A common misconception among SMBs is that only an IT company or big corporations can leverage AI. But the truth is, many businesses are already using AI solutions, especially in customer service, where it is making a significant impact.

London-based companies whose business processes depend greatly on IT systems need to have an IT support team (or, for small businesses, a one-man team) which can keep those systems in excellent condition. With the right IT support, London companies can maintain a smooth business flow.

Employing an IT team is one option, but businesses can also hire an IT support company to manage and maintain those IT systems on their behalf. This second option will actually improve overall business flow. Allow us to explain why.

Technology is so central to the operations of any organisation of size that, irrespective of field of business, technology has the ability to either drive or impede growth.

For this reason, a continued close match between your business and your IT support company is essential to growing your business. Your support provider must grow, scale and respond with your organisation.

But how do you know whether the IT outsourcing provider you are currently using can grow alongside your business? We think these are the seven key capabilities you should identify.