Regardless of the sector you operate in or the size of your business, when your operations rely on technology and access to data, it is crucial that your systems are always available and performing as required. If you have a system failure, the impact on your business can be catastrophic and can extend beyond financial consequences.

What causes downtime?

A common cause of downtime is ransomware attacks, which utilise encryption to hold the victims’ data at ransom, for a sum decided by the attacker. In the first four months of 2021, the National Cyber Security Centre handled the same number of ransomware incidents as they did in the entirety of 2020, with as many as one in three businesses being subject to cyber breaches.

A large number of businesses believe they are unlikely to be a victim of these, however a recent article from IT Pro warns that small businesses are more likely to be a victim of ransomware attacks in 2022 as cyber criminals begin utilising campaigns less likely to draw direct action from law enforcement.

Another leading cause of downtime, and one not always considered by businesses, is human error. Tech Radar details a famous example of this with the outage at British Airways in 2017. This was caused by an IT technician switching off an uninterruptable power supply, grounding 200 flights and leaving 75,000 customers stranded (Financial Times). The risk of human error causing business disruption and outages can be mitigated with proper training, but this does not eliminate the chance of it happening.

With ransomware attacks and the possibility of human error, as well as other common causes of downtime such as outdated hardware and bugs in a server’s OS, it makes sense to consider investing in solutions.

The true cost of downtime

From halting production or business operations to financial losses, data breaches and reputational damage – the true cost of downtime can be extensive.

In 2021 a study from the Phonemon Institute found the average cost of a data breach in the UK was £3.5million. However, it is important to note that it’s not just the cost of not being operational for hours or days that impact a business. One of the biggest consequences and cost factors in downtime is data loss which can cause ongoing problems for businesses.

The loss of customer and employee data can erode trust in a business and raise questions around security and GDPR. This can lead to people being less likely to use the business in the future and may make prospective employees wary of joining the company. This can affect customer loyalty and the business’s reputation in the long-term.

There are a wide range of factors that affect how much an outage will cost your business, from the amount of data on critical business systems and how regularly the data is backed up to the number of employees and business turnover.

We used a downtime calculator to estimate the cost of downtime to a business with no disaster recovery and backup solutions in place. In addition, the business has:

Data on business-critical systems: 2,500 GB

Cloud back up frequency: 12 hours

Employees: 40

Average employee salary: £25,000 pa

Average employee overhead: £10,000

Annual turnover: £500,000

It is anticipated that this business would experience more than 81 hours of downtime, costing £59,284. If the recovery process failed, it would cost the business an additional £8,700 per recovery attempt.

If the business had a disaster recovery and backup solution in place, they could have saved approximately £58,848. Recovery costs could be reduced to £1,734, and the business could be operational within 36 minutes.

Disaster recovery and backup solutions

Investing in disaster recovery and backup solutions can protect your business against substantial losses because of downtime. We provide a wide range of disaster recovery and backup solutions which can help protect your business from the impact of downtime and facilitate a speedy recovery. This includes software such as Datto SaaS Protection for Office 365 and Datto Siris.

We also offer preventative solutions such as training and cyber security software as well as ongoing IT support. Our professional IT support aims to prevent any issues before they occur, by utilising proactive monitoring software to spot faults and fix them before they escalate.

In many instances a small monthly fee for a back up and recovery solution can save a business thousands of pounds and minimise time offline. The cost of getting the right solutions and policies, far outweighs the cost in downtime – making these solutions an investment for the long term.

Find out more about the solutions we offer here.

Microsoft has announced that it will be increasing its prices for Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365 and Power Platform SKUs from 1st of March 2022, as well as introducing a New Commerce Experience (NCE).

The changes to the commercial pricing for Microsoft 365, which are the first substantive pricing updates since Office 365 launched a decade ago, reflect the shift towards hybrid working and support the advances in Office 365 and Microsoft 365.

The New Commerce Experience, the NCE ‘Per Seat’ model, is a licensing model which is based on the number of ‘seats’/people who use the software. The aim of this approach is to reduce licensing complexity and provide flexibility for future growth. NCE per Seat will be available for Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, and Power Platform SKUs with terms of 1 month, 1 year or 3 years.

1 month subscription

  • Benefits – Useful for seasonal businesses or those with uncertain workforce patterns, the 1-month commitment offers flexibility.
  • Term – One full month with no pro-rata refunds.
  • Price – 20% higher than the 12 month subscription.
  • Seat changes – Seats can be increased at any time. You cannot decrease the number of licenses/reduce your seat count during the subscription term.

12 month subscription

  • Benefits – The 12-month term commitment allows you to secure a fixed cost for one year.
  • Term – Twelve months with no pro-rata refunds.
  • Price – In line with current pricing.
  • Seat changes – Seats can be increased at any time. You cannot decrease the number of licenses/reduce your seat count during the subscription term.

36 month subscription

  • Benefits – The 36-month term commitment allows you to secure a fixed cost for three years.
  • Term – Thirty-six months with no pro-rata refunds.
  • Price – In line with current pricing.
  • Seat changes – Seats can be increased at any time. You cannot decrease the number of licenses/reduce your seat count during the subscription term.

Please note, Microsoft will not provide pro-rata refunds for the early termination of any subscription in NCE Per Seat outside of an initial 72-hour cancellation window.

What does this mean for you?

If you are a Microsoft 365 customer of Bowe Digital, a member of our team will be in touch with you to discuss the changes in more detail. In the meantime, if you have any concerns or questions about the changes, please contact us.

Our mission is to enable our customers to realise their ambitions through the provision and application of advanced technology. We offer a wide range of innovative and transformative IT solutions across the North-East to help your business increase productivity, improve performance, enhance connectivity, and reinforce security. This includes IT support, cyber security solutions, software, cloud systems and more.

Below are just some of the many services and software we offer.

IT Solutions

We understand IT systems are crucial to the running of your business, so we offer two IT support packages based on your needs. Both our IT Support Standard and IT Support Professional offer an audit of your network and infrastructure, phone and remote dial in support, webinar and seminar invitations, managed updates for servers and computers and more. Our Professional IT Support package offers onsite support, as well as Webroot antivirus protection, quarterly reports and proactive IT monitoring, to keep your systems running smoothly.

Microsoft 365 Installation and Migration

We offer Microsoft 365 Installation and Migration, which allows you to share and create anywhere, on any device, by combining best-in-class apps like Excel and Outlook with powerful cloud services like OneDrive and Microsoft Teams.

Cyber Security

We can help you to protect the data you entrust to the cloud with Datto SaaS Protection for Office 365, a leading cloud-to-cloud backup product offering an all-in-one backup, restore and export solution that covers Exchange Online, OneDrive and SharePoint Online. We work in partnership with Datto to provide business continuity and disaster recovery solutions at a price affordable to SMEs, so you can protect your business whatever the size.

We also offer antivirus protection with Webroot, which provides endpoint protection that secures your business by harnessing machine learning, classifying, and scoring 95% of the internet three times a day, to keep your information safe.

Certifications

Protect your organisation against cyber-attacks and demonstrate your commitment to cyber security with advice and certification from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), part of Government Communications Head Quarters (GCHQ). We can support you in achieving your certification.

VoIP

Also known as Hosted Telephony, VoIP refers to the idea of making calls over the internet as data rather than a traditional analogue phone system, which can significantly reduce call costs particularly when making international calls.

VoIP allows users to make international calls without the expensive rates non-VoIP users receive. With calls moving as data, a business using Packnet would be able to get free calls between employees in different countries. Calling VoIP-to-VoIP is becoming the more cost-effective option with straightforward charges as VoIP users do not have to rely on a fixed monthly fee.

Training

Training is an integral part of the service which we offer. We include training in all new business proposals to ensure that the end user feels comfortable using their chosen product to its full potential. We also provide expert training on all our software products including BaPS and Microsoft.

Hardware

We have extensive knowledge and a breadth of experience to draw on when choosing the best hardware for your business. We can also advise you on which new hardware will work best with your current equipment, saving you time and money.

To find out more about how we can help your business with our extensive IT solutions and services, contact us here.

Due to the current Covid-19 pandemic, many of us are adjusting to a new normal of working from home. Whilst there are benefits to this, it can present a unique set of new challenges. One such challenge is how to effectively communicate and collaborate with our colleagues without being in the same office.

The good news is there is a huge range of software designed for this purpose to choose from. In this article, we will cover the four most prominent on the market today and examine the advantages and limitations of these.

1. Microsoft Teams

Part of the Microsoft 365 suite, Microsoft Teams is a communication and collaboration platform which replaces Skype for Business. Microsoft Teams combines workplace chat, video meetings, file storage and collaboration on files.

Advantages:

  • Comes with Office 365 at no additional cost (depending on license)
  • Instant messaging eliminates the need for long email chains
  • Video calls with multiple colleagues at once
  • Easy to implement and use
  • File sharing and collaboration
  • App integration

Limitations/Issues:

  • Requires an Office 365 subscription
  • Team set up and permissions can be complex

2. Zoom

Zoom is a cloud-based online meetings platform which has recently gained a lot of attention due to its ease of use and media coverage. Video conferencing, chat and business telephony services are their main offerings.

Advantages:

  • Use of the video conferencing platform is completely free for up to 40 minutes with a maximum of 100 participants
  • Sign up is not required for participants by default
  • Easy to use and works on most devices
  • Up to 1000 video participants on business plans with 49 video feeds on screen
  • Screen sharing and annotation
  • File sharing

Limitations/Issues:

  • Information security professionals have raised concerns about Zoom’s data security and privacy practises
  • “Zoom-bombing” – where unwanted users can enter a meeting and disrupt it if they find the meeting link
  • Audio and video quality can deteriorate when large numbers of participants join a meeting

3. Slack

Slack is an instant messaging application to which has been around since 2013. It is relatively similar to Microsoft Teams in terms of its offerings.

Advantages:

  • Ability to create channels to divide your teams and dedicate people to focused discussions and work
  • Channels allow you to host video calls, chat separately within your own team and host virtual meetings
  •  File sharing between teams for collaboration
  • Easy to use, simple design
  • Automated actions and reminders

Limitations/issues:

  • High volume of “urgent” messages
  • Can be difficult to retrieve important information from a Slack chat
  • Private channels cannot be changed to public if needed
  • Can become expensive for larger companies

4. Google Meet

Available as a part of G Suite, Google Meet is Google’s enterprise video conferencing software. You can have a maximum of 250 participants on the enterprise license.

Advantages:

  • Comes with G-suite at no extra cost
  • Works in-browser on Google Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge and Safari without installing any additional software or plugins
  • Integrates with other meeting solutions
  • Guests can join using a dial-in phone number in case of not having internet access

Limitations/Issues:

  • Dashboard is not as clean as in some other meeting software
  • No free option (you must have a G suite subscription to host meetings)
  • No end-to-end encryption of video meetings

 

What is Office 365?

Office 365 is a cloud based subscription service from Microsoft which gives users access to a suite of productivity software including (but not limited to) Word, Excel, Outlook, Powerpoint, Access, Teams and Skype. There are a number of subscription options available depending on your needs, from plans which include only the online version of office applications to plans which include desktop office applications plus additional services like OneDrive and Sharepoint.

So why should you switch?

Here are 10 reasons to switch to Office 365.

1. Access your Office products from any location at any time

Office 365 is cloud based, so you can securely access your office products from anywhere that has an internet connection as long as you have a compatible device. You just need to browse to https://portal.office.com and log in.

2. No servers or maintenance required

Because Office 365 is cloud-based, there is no requirement to have your own local server (although Office 365 can integrate with an existing on-premise solution if desired). This means you can make big savings on maintenance costs associated with having an on-premise server.

3. Scaleability

Office 365 subscriptions are designed to be scalable and flexible. Licensing works on a pay-as-you-go basis so you can add and remove users and licenses as required. Because there are no minimum license requirements, you can buy as many or as few licenses as you need at the time, meaning you will never over pay or be forced to buy licenses that you do not need.

4. No downtime for updates

With Office 365, you will always have access to the latest version of your Office products. Because you are using Microsoft’s servers, there is no local server downtime required for updates. Office will download and install these updates in the background automatically – this means no disruption to your business critical services.

5. 10 Installs per user licence

With Office 365, every user is given up to 10 Office installs. 5 of these can be on a desktop and 5 on a mobile device. This means you can have Office installed on every device you are likely to use at no extra cost other than your monthly subscription.

6. Security

Office 365 has some of the best security measures in the industry. Office 365 complies with ISO 27001, HIPAA and FISMA. Data Loss Prevention Policies, message encryption, Advanced Threat Analytics (ATA) and Mobile Device Management (MDM) are all built in as standard to help keep your corporate data secure.

7. Cloud storage

OneDrive for Business provides each licensed user with 1TB of cloud storage. This is great because it enables users to securely store and access their important data from anywhere.

8. Moves IT costs from large one off costs to smaller monthly payments

Because Office 365 is subscription based, this eliminates large annual costs for Office products and replaces them with a smaller monthly cost. This monthly cost can be really helpful from a cash flow perspective and it also gives you the flexibility to add and remove services as required to help manage costs.

9. Support

Microsoft provide full support for all Office 365 products. Support for critical issues is available within 1 hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

10. Easy migration

Microsoft provide many different ways to migrate from your existing service over to Office 365. They provide step-by-step guidance on how to do this for each scenario on their website and detailed information on the potential impact of each method. If you choose to migrate over to Office 365 with us, we will take care of every step of the process and work to ensure minimal disruption to your business.

For more information on Office 365 and how it can benefit your business, click here to contact us today!

 

Already this year Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system and the patches thus far released have received much media attention, both March and April have seen new patches made available to consumers, each aimed at resolving flaws discovered in the earlier releases.   

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