Not that long ago, countless businesses were hotly debating whether to adopt Microsoft’s cloud productivity suite – Office 365 – thereby shifting their on-premise solutions to the cloud.

Today, cloud productivity suites are essentially the accepted route unless a business has very specific reasons to host its data locally – compliance or regulatory obstacles, for example. But Microsoft Office 365 is still a hot topic simply because the cloud productivity solution changes so rapidly.

It’s worth keeping an eye on what’s changed in Microsoft Office 365 because businesses can easily get caught out by features that are mothballed while missing out on new benefits. In this article, we take a look at the most recent updates to Office 365.

Cloud computing, the delivery of on-demand computing services over the internet, has revolutionised the way businesses operate across many industries. Cloud storage is one of its most commonly-used applications. This storage method offers many benefits that can prove to be very advantageous for every company that uses it.

Numerous organisations have already switched to the cloud for their storage needs, and it’s only a matter of time before the majority of all data of most enterprises will be stored in the cloud.

In this Information Age, businesses have been inundated with all types of data from various sources—social, machine, and transactional data. Despite the rapidly growing flood of big data however, access to information primarily remains with those who have the technical capability to analyse the data.

Now, as more organisations realise the power of data to transform a business, many have recognised the need to make data more accessible to others. Hence, the conversation on data democratisation. In this post, we discuss what it is and why it could be beneficial to your business, why access to data was previously limited to a select few, and what you can do to implement a data democratisation strategy that equally addresses both risks and benefits.

IT managers never want technology solutions that are more complex than they need to be. At the same time, we also want technology solutions that are easy to scale. Of course, complexity gets in the way of scalability.

The trend towards hyperconvergence solves both issues: complexity and scalability. For many workloads, a hyperconverged approach can make life much easier and save costs at the same time. Read on to find out what exactly hyperconvergence is and how can it benefit your technology environment.

Globally, more and more SMEs are now integrating mobile payments into their payment options because of the ease of acceptance, and are improving sales and offering convenience to customers. This does not mean, however, that there are no downsides to adopting this technology into your business.

In this post, we go over the various factors that should help you evaluate the suitability of using the mobile payment system. But first, let’s have a clear understanding of what it is.

In a tech-first world, even small businesses are highly reliant upon technology to get through the typical business day. Make the wrong decisions around technology, or skimp on IT support services, and it could cost your growing business dearly.

However, with so many things to focus on, growing businesses often leave IT on the backburner – and that leads to mistakes. Here, we list the ten most common IT mistakes growing businesses make – and what they can do about it.

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.

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.

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.

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.