What the CrowdStrike outage teaches us about the cost of downtime

What a month July has been for the IT world. This month we're covering everything from this recent IT outage to the integration of PowerApps in your business. We give you a guide on how to deal with ex-employee licenses in M365, recent tech news in the King's Speech, what to look for when finding an IT provider and a reminder to us all when it comes to cyber attack news.

1. What the CrowdStrike outage teaches us about the cost of downtime

The recent CrowdStrike incident has had a global impact, emphasising the significant effects that system disruptions can cause for businesses everywhere. While this event resulted from an error and not a cyber-attack, it clearly demonstrates the consequences of system unavailability.

Keir Nolan, our Head of Managed Services, has provided insights into the actual costs of downtime and the increased risks, particularly for SMBs.

“Many organisations operate under the false assumption that 'it won't happen to us' until it does. The CrowdStrike outage is a powerful reminder that downtime can strike any business, at any time.”

You can read Keir's full insights in our latest blog post here →

2. Transforming business processes: PowerApps ??

Complicated leave requests? Difficult expense approval systems? Inadequate customer portals?

Sometimes, the solutions out there just don't fit with your business needs, and so finding a bespoke business process solution that fits seamlessly within your Microsoft 365 tech stack is the only option.

Join our webinar next month with Dougie Wood (MVP) to discover how PowerApps can revolutionise your business, with the rapid deployment of custom-built applications to boost efficiency in your business operations and enhance customer experience.

Your space is waiting for you! →

3. A reminder to us all

For those who missed it, cyber attackers managed to gain unauthorised access to TikTok profiles simply through the opening of a direct message, without any URLs or downloadable content involved. It's quite alarming, isn't it? We've given a quick overview of it with some thoughts here ↓

https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/cobweb-solutions_cybersecurity-emailsecurity-data-activity-7218578969284018176-CI9V?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

4. Best practice: Managing your Microsoft licensing when employees leave ?

A growing business often equates to fluctuating staff turnover. And that means keeping on top of Microsoft licenses, making sure they are for the correct person, and that ex-employees can no longer have access.

Do you know the best way to do this? It can be time-consuming and complex, but we've created a guide for you in case you need some extra help: Best practices for handling Microsoft licensing when employees leave - Cobweb

5. Monthly tech tip ??

Pressing Alt + (number) is often a shortcut for an icon you may want to use. For example, if you're a director and write newsletters (??), sometimes having an arrow icon can be handy to point your readers in the right direction. For example, Alt +25 = ↓

6. Recent tech news in the King's Speech

In the recent King’s Speech, many were anticipating new rules for AI, but the focus shifted more towards protecting workers' rights rather than introducing specific AI laws. However, the government did announce plans to strengthen cyber security and resilience across the UK with a new bill aimed at ensuring firms increase their defences against cyber threats.

While there wasn’t a full AI Bill, discussions about laying the groundwork for future rules on advanced AI development were had. To read more, take a look at this article by The Independent → Labour announces host of new tech rules –?but does not reveal much-hyped ‘AI bill’ | The Independent

7. Top things to look for when finding an IT provider ??

There are so many IT providers out there, that when it comes to choosing one, it can get a little tricky and perhaps overwhelming at times! No one wants to let the business down and you certainly don't want to be giving your IT to a company you don't know if you can trust.

We've created a checklist guide on how to help you condense potential contenders. Download it here → https://cobweb.com/content-hub/guides/5-things-to-look-for-when-finding-an-it-provider/

8. IT is no longer just the IT department's responsibility

Finance manager, receptionist, graphic designer, event assistant, director, project manager, credit controller - doesn't matter what job title you have, you will receive emails, meaning anyone could become victim to a cyber attack.

The responsibility of IT and the security behind it used to solely be on one department's shoulders. Yet now, with the escalation of technology touching every aspect in every job, it's up to every single employee to keep their business protected.

New ISO certifications and certain audits are now making cyber security training mandatory. You need to know which of your employees are more at risk of clicking on a malicious link and so to help, we've just partnered with leading vendor, KnowBe4 ! To celebrate, you can sign up for a free security awareness training demo here.

We hope you got some valuable information in here from this month.

Just a heads-up before the holiday season kicks in and out-of-office replies become more common: be mindful of what you share on social media. Cyber attackers may take advantage of employees being on holiday!

Stay secure,

The Cobweb Team ??