The team here at ITSB are extremely proud to announce that we’ve officially been recognised by Microsoft with Microsoft Certified Partner Gold status for offering best-in-class solutions, skills and expertise delivering Cloud Solutions and Services to our new and existing clients. With this announcement we join a very small number of fellow IT Solutions providers in the UK who have reached the achievement of becoming Microsoft Gold Cloud Partners!

Becoming a Microsoft Gold Partner is no simple task and is only awarded to those who can prove their competency. This is achieved in various ways, firstly our team had to undertake a number of complex exams provided by Microsoft (and obviously pass!) We were also required to pass sales and technology assessments as well as provide a host of high-quality client references to provide a real-world insight into our services.

It’s no secret that our world has been forced to switch to a virtual way of life during the COVID-19 pandemic and many organisations are now utilising the Cloud to enhance their working infrastructure. As a Microsoft Gold Partner we’ll be able to continue offering our clients industry leading knowledge with our best-in-class technological expertise and team alongside our unrivalled awareness of Microsoft products, continuous online technical training, support and tools from Microsoft themselves.

Obviously this is a huge accomplishment for us, so we wanted to celebrate in style! For five days starting February 22nd and ending February 26th we’ll be celebrating our Microsoft Gold Partner status with a Gold Takeover week! You’ll notice some changes across our website, signatures and social media of the gold variety. We’ll also be offering a VERY exciting promotion to help you join in on the celebration…

This is your chance to get in on the celebration! For the next 5 days, anyone who takes Microsoft 365 Security Monitoring as well as Microsoft 365 backup from us will receive a free license to Exclaimer Signatures for their entire team! Already take Security Monitoring & 365 Backups from us? Fear not as you’ll also receive this offer! Email is now one of the most important forms of communication across the globe due to the COVID-19 pandemic, therefore it is imperative you are making the most of it and putting your personal brand across in a professional way. This is where email signatures come into play, in a time where standing out is everything Exclaimer is here to take your organisations emails to the next level!

Interested in receiving our Gold Takeover Week promotion or need to speak to us about working with a Microsoft Gold Partner then please get in touch by calling, emailing or using the form below to chat.

The cloud provides businesses with the opportunity to improve operations, agility, security, cost efficiency and flexibility. It is important, however, to remember that unless you can successfully migrate to the cloud and then leverage the benefits, the opportunity may remain untapped.

A cloud migration that is performed inefficiently or incorrectly won’t net the return on interest that organisations are looking for. Ultimately, an unsuccessful cloud migration attempt can see businesses forced to shift back to a rigid on-premises solution.

It’s crucial, then, that organisations engage with experts to manage their cloud migration, as well as help them get the most out of the transformation. Getting access to cloud migration experts can be a challenge for smaller businesses without an IT department or healthy budget, but fear not – a managed service provider makes expert support accessible to everyone for a reasonable cost.

A common reason why cloud migrations can fail is because the project manager has failed to obtain stakeholder buy-in, whether internal or external. Cloud technology has been making headlines for a few years now but is still a new concept across many industries and many businesses fear that change will disrupt their operations. It’s a project in itself to get all employees supporting change and if key stakeholders oppose or don’t see the value in a migration, then the project can’t move forward successfully.

Pressure to migrate quickly can also lead to failure. Sometimes key stakeholders are eager to reap the benefits of migration as soon as possible. Pressure on the project manager or migration manager can lead to a rushed or poorly thought-out migration. Without research and planning, businesses may lack clarity on what they should and shouldn’t migrate and end up migrating inappropriate applications. This can quickly lead the migration adrift and increase costs.

Cost analysis is also a key failure trigger. There can be multiple different costs factors associated with a cloud migration that aren’t always realised by businesses. Cloud providers draw customers in with low up-front costs and a seemingly affordable monthly fee. These prices, however, don’t include hidden costs such as data transfer allowances, fees, training, and support.

This is exacerbated further when a company misunderstands the performance requirements of applications. Certain workloads have specific technical requirements that make them poorly suited to the cloud. In a bid to solve performance issues, the first point of call is commonly to upgrade the plan, which may heavily impact ROI. This can be a particular problem for non-profits, who experience a high level of budgetary scrutiny and limited capital. The additional challenge of protecting sensitive information with often no IT staff can make it very difficult to succeed without support – the challenges mentioned above can easily be addressed with a managed service provider, who will be able to ensure cost alignment.

Cloud migration can also present business challenges surrounding security. If a business undergoes migration without the proper guidance and control, there are security risks. A user might unknowingly modify security controls in a way that doesn’t follow best practices.

In the education sector, we’ve seen this cause particular damage. The amount of student information and research stored electronically means the stakes are high and the pickings rich for attackers. The fact that educational institutions must also worry about increased bandwidth, pre-existing licensing deals, and cultural shifts only complicates matters further.

So, how do you avoid these pitfalls? Just being aware of the reasons why migrations fail is a good start. Many of the failure reasons are linked; over-eager stakeholders lead to rushed deployments, and those, in turn, can lead to weaknesses in security or improper assessment of applications.

In nearly all cases, then, the keys to success are the same: communicate with clarity, take things at a steady pace, and obtain expert support. Usually, a phased approach to migration makes the most sense. Carefully planning which applications to include in each stage and their potential complications will allow you to meet deadlines and set clear expectations.

Working with a reputable MSP to support or even manage your migration can be invaluable. A good managed service provider will lend weight during stakeholder discussions while providing accurate assessments and an achievable migration timeline.

Managed cloud migration may not 100% guarantee success, but it will greatly reduce the risk while helping you to achieve your desired goals. Get in touch with us today to learn how we can help you remain competitive in a secure, cost-effective way.

As organisations are increasingly adopting flexible working methods, their technology must also adapt to suit. Beyond just adopting solutions for communication, modern businesses need to keep their data secure and their employees safe from threat in a way that suits their budget and resources.

Microsoft’s Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) has proven uniquely placed to cater to new methods of working. By providing employees with a cloud-based virtual machine, they can benefit from the same experience regardless of the device they are using. WVD enables IT teams to provide a secure desktop with sanctioned apps while ensuring data never travels outside of the business-controlled environment.

In the financial and healthcare sectors, WVD offers particular value. It allows business-critical applications and services to continue running regardless of the situation or environment. An Azure-hosted machine can run 24/7, 365 days a year without the on-site support required to prevent damaging downtime.

Businesses that subscribe to Microsoft 365 or Windows 10 can also greatly simplify and optimise licensing through WVD. Desktops for new or existing hires can be created at no extra charge and scale to meet hardware demands at the drop of a hat. A single virtual machine can host multiple sessions, further increasing cost efficiency.

During this uncertain business climate, the above advantages can be vital. That said, many organisations are intimidated by the setup process, regardless of their size or sector. Thankfully, a recent update to the software has made implementation of virtual desktops easier than before.

In April 2020, Microsoft announced a new deployment and management experience that sits directly within the Azure Portal, where all of your virtual desktops are managed. With the new experience, admins can deploy and manage desktops, apps, users, and diagnostics much more efficiently. While knowledge of Azure is still required to be able to run the system, the bar has lowered from expert level to intermediate knowledge.

Microsoft has also added capability to WVD to better suit flexible work environments. WVD now seamlessly incorporates Microsoft Teams, a huge draw for many businesses that use Teams and have considered virtual desktops. The camera and audio functionality on personal devices can now be easily linked to the cloud-based desktop without the traditional latency pitfalls.

While enabling app access through WVD is important, so is ensuring those apps stay secure and compliant. Recent WVD developments mean that admin users can now store metadata within a specific Azure region or reduce attack surface through reverse connect technology. Additional features include support for static or dynamic conditional access policies and the ability to mandate multi-factor authentication.

Unfortunately, while the new Windows Virtual Desktop portal makes it faster to get to a usable state, there’s no denying that WVD set-up takes time and effort. Getting virtual desktops running smoothly with unique combinations of collaboration and industry software can be tedious. We can provide a helping hand with the set-up and relieve you of the ‘heavy lifting’ so that you can focus on what you do best. Contact us here to get some initial advice.

We can provide a helping hand with the set-up and relieve you of the ‘heavy lifting’ so that you can focus on what you do best. Contact us here to get some initial advice.

Businesses have been seeking to transition to agile operating practises effectively since Covid-19 first rocked the world early last year. Remote working is not a foreign concept, but because of the social distancing requirements, adoption has increased immensely ever since.

Remote working has been increasingly painless for many workers due to innovations such as Windows Virtual Desktop and Microsoft Teams; some organisations have also thrived in a new agile working climate. There are several firms that rely on their office set-ups, though, and the possibility of returning to them was ripped away many times at the end of 2020.

It is clear that remote working has gained a permanent place within modern working methods due to the continuing effects of the pandemic, in spite of the mass implementation of vaccines. The working environment will shift into a hybrid era as organisations are able to return to their office spaces again, merging office and remote working to create a fluid hybrid paradigm.

Because of this it is important to know the clear advantages as well as consider the downsides in order to proceed in hybrid work:

The benefits that more flexible working can offer have been embraced by millions of organisations around the globe. A 2020 Finder study showed that two thirds of the companies surveyed saw improved productivity of remote staff over office employees. A primary advantage for home workers is improved efficiency, resulting from less disruptions.

Being able to offer a preference to staff and teams helps them to choose the place in which they work best and ultimately concentrate better.

A hybrid working model gives the whole company flexibility to be where they need, when they need to be there. Employees who can walk their dogs on their lunchbreaks whilst working from home or get an extra hour in bed on the days they don’t have to commute, will be happier and more motivated.

Gone are the days of specific office desks for every employee. Hot-desking in a smaller office or coworking in shared spaces can reduce the cost and responsibility of a large physical workspace, while still enabling teams to collaborate in person and on-site customer meetings to take place. With a hybrid working style, businesses can rethink their existing office set-ups and reduce building, utilities and staff costs without disrupting working patterns or revenue.

Hybrid working can’t, and won’t, work for every business. For many sectors, such as hospitality and healthcare, location is integral to staff being able to do their jobs. For businesses that could combine home and office working, downsides might include:

Things can change quickly for businesses within certain industries; the stock market fluctuates rapidly and new software’s and technologies are developed overnight. With a hybrid working model, it’s rare that the majority of employees will be in the same place at the same time, which makes urgent changes or announcements hard to communicate with impact and severity.

If you’re using Teams, you can get the workforce together quickly by hosting a live event and gathering those in the office together, with remote workers dialling in. Not yet using Teams? Talk to us about the collaboration benefits.

It’s likely that workforces might be divided in preference when given the choice to work at home vs work in the office. While these preferences can work harmoniously together, a divide might begin to develop if there’s no clear strategy in place. Remote workers could get a sense of isolation or a feeling of being left out, and productivity might begin to diminish. Working from home, when part of a structured plan that leverages the right remote working tools, can offer a focused environment and leave workers feeling far from isolated.

Just as hybrid working might lead to a divided workforce, the model could also dilute your company culture. Without the unity of all being in one place (even if that place is alone at home), employees can lose touch with the ethics and values that underpin a brand, and lose sight of what makes a healthy working culture.

Although the cons can be avoided with simple effort, it’s important to consider them in order to stay humble and keep the business strategy on track. Are you ready for a hybrid model? Does it sound like the right long-term direction for your business?

We can offer advice to help you maximise on the hybrid working opportunity or manage your IT and technology strategy if you’re too busy – whatever works best for you.