What is a managed service provider (MSP), and is one right for you?
Somewhere between hiring your own IT person and calling someone only when things break, there is a third option a lot of UK businesses end up choosing…
Active Directory vs Entra ID: explained for business (UK 2026)
If your business runs on Microsoft, two names keep coming up and they are easy to confuse: Active Directory and Entra ID, the service Microsoft used t…
Disaster recovery explained: RTO vs RPO for non-techies (2026)
Two short acronyms decide how badly a disaster hurts your business, and most owners have never had them explained properly. RTO and RPO are the differ…
What is MDM (mobile device management) and why fleets need it (2026)
Picture trying to keep twenty, fifty or two hundred laptops and phones secure, up to date and configured the same way - by visiting each one in turn. …
What is SSO (single sign-on) and why staff will thank you (2026)
Count the number of separate logins your staff juggle in a normal week - email, the CRM, the finance system, the HR portal, half a dozen web apps - an…
How to plan an IT budget for a small business (without guessing)
For many small business owners, the IT budget is whatever last year cost plus a nervous guess - until something breaks expensively and blows the whole…
What is patch management, and why it matters more than you think?
Patch management is the unglamorous, deeply important business of keeping all your software and devices up to date with the fixes their makers release…
What is an SLA (service level agreement), and what should be in yours?
An SLA - service level agreement - is the part of a contract that puts numbers on a promise. Instead of a supplier vaguely agreeing to 'fix things qui…
What is Cyber Essentials, and should your UK business get certified?
Cyber Essentials is a UK government-backed scheme that proves your business has the basic cyber-security controls in place to fend off the vast majori…
What is BYOD (bring your own device), and is it right for your business?
BYOD - bring your own device - is the simple-sounding idea that staff use their own phones, tablets and sometimes laptops for work instead of company-…
What is shadow IT, and why it is a quiet risk to your business?
Shadow IT is the term for any technology your staff use to do their jobs that the business never approved, never bought and often does not even know e…
GDPR for small business: a plain-English guide to getting it right
GDPR has a fearsome reputation, and for a small business that can be paralysing - it sounds like a project that needs a lawyer and a six-figure budget…