Microsoft has recently announced the release of Windows 11, its first major operating system (OS) in six years. On October 5, 2021, the modern OS will officially launch, allowing millions of end-users to upgrade to the modern system. While many of us are eager to upgrade and explore the latest technologies, being an early adopter comes with risks.

Prepare your 2022 IT budgets! Microsoft has announced it will increase rates on its Microsoft 365 (M365) service, March 1, 2022. More than 300 million users will see a 10-25% increase in subscription rates. These price changes mark “the first substantive pricing update since we launched Office 365 a decade ago,” stated Jared Spataro, Corporate Vice President for Microsoft 365.

The office role as a place to work has come under critical analysis in our current environment, focusing less on where work happens and more on worker productivity. Despite a largely dispersed workforce, many companies have found success with a remote work strategy and are capitalizing on change.

When calling in for IT help desk support, there are some days you may be faced with waiting on hold. Instead of holding, what if you could use that time to be productive?  At Systems Engineering, we recognize your time is valuable. Our latest enhancement offers you the choice to save your place in line, giving you some time back in your day. This provides you with  flexibility when calling help desk during peak times.

One of the most important documents your organization can create is a Business Continuity Plan (BCP). This plan is a comprehensive review of how your organization will continue to operate when responding to unplanned disasters that impact business processes, applications, and IT infrastructure. We are all familiar with the burdens that the COVID-19 pandemic placed on businesses throughout the world. Companies that had a BCP in place were much better positioned to transition to a remote work scenario than those without. The level of response this pandemic required highlighted the importance of business continuity planning and raised some unforeseeable questions that all companies should now ask themselves.

Every year, business leaders sit down to create annual IT budgets to define how much their organization will spend on technology in the coming year. As technology now permeates almost all aspects of our businesses, your IT budget should be approached strategically to allocate and spend IT dollars on investments that drive the most business value.

Office 2010 will reach end-of-support on October 13, 2020. After this date, Microsoft will no longer provide technical support, bug fixes, or security updates for Office 2010. You will be able to continue using this version of Office, but by upgrading before any product falls out of support your business minimizes risks, including reducing exposure to security threats, remaining in compliance, and continuing to receive the latest product updates and support.