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What are the real benefits of Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus to my business?

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Cyber Essentials can bring several practical benefits to a UK business, but what are the real benefits of getting the Cyber Essentials and the Cyber Essentials Plus certifications for your business?

Win more work (especially public sector)

An up-to-date Cyber Essentials certificate can enable you to bid for UK government contracts (particularly where you’ll handle personal or financial data).

This could open up new markets and opportunities that are otherwise inaccessible, giving your business a competitive edge and demonstrating your commitment to robust security practices.

Prove you meet a recognised baseline

It shows customers and suppliers you’ve implemented key cyber security controls (useful for due diligence and supply-chain requirements). This assurance builds trust and confidence among stakeholders, helping to establish your reputation as a reliable and security-conscious partner.

Reduce risk of common attacks

The required controls target the most frequent “commodity” threats (e.g., phishing-driven malware, basic hacking of poorly configured systems). By addressing these threats, your business can minimise costly downtime, data breaches, and reputational harm, keeping day-to-day operations running smoothly.

Potential cyber insurance benefit for some SMEs

The NCSC notes that some organisations under £20m turnover may be automatically entitled to cyber liability insurance when certified (subject to scheme conditions).

This can provide valuable financial protection and peace of mind should an incident occur.

Support compliance and governance

Helps demonstrate “reasonable” security steps for frameworks and expectations around data protection and risk management (often helpful for audits and client questionnaires). This proactive stance can simplify regulatory compliance and reduce the risk of penalties related to data breaches.

Clear, structured improvement plan

The process gives you an actionable checklist for tightening basics like patching, secure configuration, access control, malware protection, and firewall settings. This ongoing improvement fosters a culture of security awareness and resilience throughout the organisation.

Cyber Essentials Plus: Independent verification and higher assurance

Cyber Essentials Plus offers all the benefits of Cyber Essentials, but with the added reassurance of an independent technical assessment. This hands-on verification provides greater confidence to clients and stakeholders that controls are not just documented but are actually effective in practice.

Enhanced reputation and trust

Achieving Cyber Essentials Plus demonstrates your organisation’s commitment to the highest level of cyber security. This can differentiate your business in the marketplace, helping to win new contracts and reassure existing clients of your robust security posture.

Identifies hidden vulnerabilities

The independent assessment can uncover overlooked weaknesses or misconfigurations that may have been missed internally, allowing you to remediate issues before they can be exploited by attackers.

Stronger defence against targeted attacks

With Cyber Essentials Plus, your security is tested against more sophisticated attack scenarios, providing an extra layer of defence and demonstrating your readiness to tackle not just common threats but also more determined adversaries.

What are the next steps?

If you are interested in your business attaining either Cyber Essentials or Cyber Essentials Plus certifications, give us a call on 01722 411 999, we can talk you through the process, how we can help your business get certified, just like we do with many other customers. It could open up a whole new path of opportunities for your business.

The Silver Cloud Business Achieves ISO Certifications

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Silver Cloud Business has recently received ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certifications, these sit alongside with the business renewing our Cyber Essentials certification and Cyber Essentials Plus certification again, showing that we meet rigorous standards for quality and security.

What Are ISO 9001 and ISO 27001?

ISO 9001 is an internationally recognised standard for quality management. It means we have proven systems in place to ensure our services are consistently high-quality, reliable, and focused on customer satisfaction.

ISO 27001, on the other hand, is all about information security. This certification shows we have strict procedures to protect your data and keep it safe from threats such as hacking or leaks.

What are Cyber Essentials & Cyber Essentials Plus?

Cyber Essentials is a UK government-backed scheme that helps businesses guard against common online threats. Achieving this means we follow best practices to secure our IT systems, making it harder for cyber criminals to access sensitive information.

Cyber Essentials Plus takes this a step further – it’s a more in-depth assessment, where independent experts test our security measures to confirm everything is up to scratch.

Why does this matter and why should it be important to you?

To put it simply, these certifications mean you can trust us. We are committed to delivering excellent service whilst simultaneously keeping your information safe and secure. We are continuously improving how we work, backed up by independent auditors monitoring our processes and procedures to prove we meet and maintain these standards.

Whether you are a customer, a partner, or just browsing our website, you can be confident that The Silver Cloud Business meets high standards for quality and security.

We are proud to have achieved these certifications, and we’ll keep working hard to maintain them.

If you have any questions about what this means or how it benefits you, call us on 01722 411 999 – we are always happy to help.

How to deal with the unexpected

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Unless you have been living under a rock recently, you can't help but notice there has been a bit of a conflict going on in the middle east, with the USA and Israel attacking Iran and the unfolding conflicts erupting in other countries as a fall out as the conflict widens.

The USA-Israel-Iran Conflict overview

The ongoing conflict involving the USA, Israel, and Iran has escalated tensions across the globe. While the primary focus remains on military and diplomatic manoeuvres, the ripple effects extend far beyond the immediate region. The situation is fluid, and its outcome remains uncertain, but the global ramifications are already being felt in various sectors.

But it's on the other side of the world, it won't affect me or my business

This is the thing though, it's already having an impact.

The cost of fuel at the pumps instantly jumped by, the garage local to us put its price up by 5p per litre.
Energy costs on the wholesale gas market are predicted to increase by 40% which gets passed onto the consumer.
Supply is being impacted, 20% of the worlds oil production is in statis driving the cost of a barrel of oil skywards, oil is used in the manufacture of:
- Fuels
- Plastics
- Polyester
- Pharmaceuticals
- Cleaning agents
- Cosmetics and personal care
- Paints
- Fertilizers
- in fact the list of things derived from oil is over 6000 items long

So no matter how much you hope, your business will be impacted by this conflict in one way or another.

Then there is the disruption to supply chains and the impact that is having, some regions are now no fly zones, some regions have shipping under direct attack from various threats.

So let's look at how this affect the UK - International Markets and Supply Chains

One of the unexpected consequences of the conflict is the disruption to international markets and supply chains. Volatility in oil prices, currency fluctuations, and shifts in investor confidence have impacted industries worldwide. Even businesses with no direct ties to the affected region are experiencing delays, shortages, and increased costs as global networks adjust to new realities. Norway has said it is running at maximum natural gas production that will not make up for the shortfall as Qatar ceases supply due to the regional conflict and risk to their production plants.

Energy Prices, Supply Disruptions, and Regulatory Changes

For UK businesses, the fallout is particularly pronounced in several areas. Surges in energy prices have raised operational costs across the board, putting pressure on margins and forcing organisations to reassess budgets. Supply disruptions, especially for goods sourced from or routed through affected areas, have led to unpredictable delivery schedules and inventory challenges. In addition, regulatory changes aimed at tightening security and compliance add further complexity, requiring businesses to stay agile and informed.

What can you do?

Diversifying Supply Chains: Businesses should seek alternative suppliers and build redundancy into procurement processes to mitigate risks from single points of failure.
Monitoring Market Developments: Staying informed about geopolitical events and market trends enables proactive responses to sudden changes. Try to get information from multiple sources to get a balanced view, the world is a lot more partisan and multiple news sources will provide a more realistic and balanced viewpoint.
Energy Efficiency Measures: Investing in energy-saving technologies and practices can help reduce exposure to fluctuating prices as well as building in resilience to combat any brown outs or black outs. Adding something like a UPS to business critical infrastructure will help smooth out any temporary power issues.
Scenario Planning: Developing contingency plans for various scenarios ensures that organisations are prepared to respond swiftly to unexpected challenges.
Engaging with Industry Networks: Sharing information and best practices with peers can provide insights and support during turbulent times and multiple businesses coming together can share experience and solutions, helping each over overcome problems they are experiencing. You might be experiencing a problem someone else has already overcome, they might be experiencing a problem you have overcome, by collaborating and sharing you are pooling knowledge and generating results a lot faster than you could alone.

How to achieve resilience in uncertain times

While it is impossible to predict every outcome of the USA & Israel vs the Iran conflict and its wider regional fallout, your business can benefit from adopting a mindset focused on resilience and adaptability. By expecting the unexpected, organisations not only safeguard their operations but can position themselves to thrive amid uncertain times. In a world where global events can redefine the business landscape overnight, preparedness and redundancy is the best defence that your business can adopt.

If you would like to find out more about adding resilience to your business, such as fail over internet, or divergent communications, the ability to work from anywhere, data resilience, business continuity planning and disaster recovery, call us on 01722 411 999 for more information.

These are uncertain times, in the wise words of Franz Kafka:

"it is better to have, and not need, than to need, and not have".

Why Businesses MUST Budget for Hardware and Software Refresh Cycles

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Risks of Relying on Outdated Technology and the Need for Regular Refreshes

In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, businesses rely heavily on technology to maintain productivity, efficiency, and competitiveness, even if they don't realise it.

I was once told by a builder he had no use for IT as he couldn't hammer in nails with a laptop. I asked how he did his invoicing which was the light bulb moment when he realised that whilst his perception was that he didn't use IT, perhaps it was actually one of the most crucial components of his business. Without computers, he couldn't invoice, without invoicing, he wouldn't get paid.

But, many organisations fall into the trap of over stretching their hardware and software way beyond their intended lifecycles, often due to perceived budget constraints or a reluctance to change. I say perceived budget constraints for the following point, if you could increase the productivity of your staff by 20%, wouldn't that be worth the investment? If you have 5 staff working flat out, on slow equipment and you thought you needed an extra member of staff staff to help, what if each of the 5 increased productivity by 20%, you'd get the same output of six people on the old kit, that five are now producing.

The old adage "if it ain't broke, why fix it" has been used often when in discussion around hardware and software upgrades but it is a foolish position because even if something does work, it may be slow and having a huge negative impact on your business. A horse and cart works, but you wouldn't necessarily use it for deliveries because it is slower than a van, the same goes for older computing tech.

Running older technology can also have far-reaching negative consequences — especially when it comes to cyber security and the overall productivity of the business.

More organisations want businesses to be Cyber Essentials or Cyber Essentials Plus certified, which you can't do on older hardware or software, it needs to be in manufacturer support life cycles.

The Importance of Managing Technology Lifecycles

Every bit of hardware and piece of software has a built-in finite lifespan by the manufacturer. IT is an ever moving feast of change and updates. Faster hardware, additional functionality in software, removal of out of date functions or features that are no longer used because something else done it better and faster.

Manufacturers regularly release updates, patches, and new versions to address emerging threats and improve performance.

By having a hardware and software lifecycle plan, businesses can ensure that their systems remain reliable, secure, and capable of meeting current demands. Regular refreshes — planned upgrades or replacements — are more than just an IT best practice; they’re essential for risk mitigation and business continuity as well as getting the most out of your staff through improved productivity.

Risks of Using Outdated Hardware and Software

Running a business on old, slow equipment and obsolete software can dramatically reduce productivity. Employees may face frequent system crashes, long loading times, and compatibility issues, all of which hamper efficiency.

More critically, outdated systems are a magnet for cyber threats. Unsupported software no longer receives security updates, leaving vulnerabilities exposed and open for exploitation by cybercriminals. Similarly, ageing hardware may not support the latest security features, putting sensitive business data at risk.

Think about it, why pay someone to do their job slowly when with a little investment you can increase their productivity with faster hardware and software, meaning they can do more in the time they have.

Security Implications: A Clear and Present Danger

Cyber security is a top concern for businesses of all sizes. Hacker are using more sophisticated tools to identify threats so why would you make their lives easier by running out of date hardware and software?

Hackers actively target businesses using legacy technology, as these systems often have well-known weaknesses which are often published by the manufacturer to encourage people to upgrade, so they don't even have to do the leg work to find the flaws, there is a catalogue published regularly by the manufacturers.

Ransomware, data breaches, and malware infections are far more likely when security patches are no longer applied, and endpoint protections are outdated, which is what happens when software or an operating system go out of support with the manufacturer. They will only support a product for a finite time, encouraging you to upgrade regularly to plug those security holes, but once the software gets over a certain age, it is not financially viable for the manufacturer to keep supporting and fixing it, meaning people still running old, out of date software, will be vulnerable to attack.

The financial and reputational damage from a successful cyber attack can be devastating, far outweighing the cost of regular technology refreshes.

Upgrade Issues: Why Regular Updates are Essentials

Software manufacturers expect users to only be one or two versions behind the current in support edition of their product, if you leave it too long to upgrade your systems, there may not be an easy path to getting to the latest version. Another risk is that a large revision change, going from something several revisions behind to the current version, could corrupt the data. There are often processes that alter the data held in software when upgrading, it will prepare the data to a new format for the latest version, but if the step change is too big, the alterations to the data may be too great resulting in corruption. It is common to find that if you upgrade a bit of software that you have to upgrade to each version in between the old version the business is on, to the latest version of the application. The risk here is what if the versions between the old one and the latest version are not available to carry out the stepped upgrades?

Budgeting for Regular Refreshes: A Strategic Investment

While it may seem cost-effective to delay hardware and software upgrades, the reality is quite the opposite. Unplanned downtime, emergency repairs, and the fallout from security incidents can be far more expensive than a proactive refresh strategy. By budgeting for regular technology updates, businesses can spread costs predictably, reduce risk, and empower their teams with the tools they need to succeed. A well-managed lifecycle ensures compliance with industry standards and demonstrates a commitment to data protection — vital in today’s regulatory environment.

What does this mean for your business

Prioritising hardware and software lifecycles is not just about keeping up with the latest trends; it’s about safeguarding your business from avoidable risks and ensuring long-term success.

Planning and budgeting for regular refreshes means that organisations can avoid the pitfalls of outdated technology, maintain that enhanced security that comes with current software and hardware, and allows the organisation to maintain a competitive edge in an ever-evolving marketplace.

If you would like to find out more about asset management and lifecycle budgets, call us on 01722 411 999 and we can discuss what options are available for your business to keep your environment up to date and secure.

Why is the Microsoft Copilot Edge Essential for UK Small Businesses?

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Empowering Non-Technical Teams with AI-Powered Support.

In the competitive world of small business, especially across the UK, working smarter makes all the difference. Meet Microsoft Copilot – an AI assistant designed to help business owners and their teams do more, even if technology isn’t their strong suit.

From simplifying daily tasks to offering clever insights, Microsoft Copilot is quickly becoming a trusted partner for small businesses that want to boost productivity without needing an IT department.

Making Everyday Communication Easier

For many small businesses, time spent on emails, reports, and proposals can quickly add up. Microsoft Copilot can draft professional emails, create clear business documents, and help prepare invoices or quotes.

For example - a local catering firm might use Copilot to reply to customer enquiries and generate event proposals, ensuring their messages are timely and polished without needing a marketing expert.

Simplifying Social Media and Marketing

Many UK small businesses rely on word-of-mouth and online presence to attract customers. Microsoft Copilot can help by suggesting catchy headlines, editing website copy, and scheduling social media posts.

Imagine a family-run shop in Manchester using Copilot to plan their weekly promotions and post about new products on Facebook or Instagram—it’s like having a marketing assistant at your fingertips.

Supporting Financial and Administrative Tasks

Bookkeeping and admin can be daunting for business owners who’d rather focus on what they are good at, running their business, so unless your business is book keeping, doing the accounts can be a challenge. Copilot can summarise receipts, flag missing payments, and help draft expense reports.

For instance, an independent tradesperson might use Copilot to organise receipts and generate simple reports for their accountant, saving time and reducing stress around tax deadlines.

Helping with Research and Decision-Making

Not every small business owner has the time for deep market research or data analysis. This is where Microsoft Copilot can give you the edge. Microsoft Copilot can scan articles, summarise industry trends, and even suggest potential suppliers or partners.

A small London florist, for example, might use Copilot to quickly compare prices for wholesale flowers or find tips on managing seasonal inventory.

Should you use Microsoft Copilot?

In summary, YES! Microsoft Copilot proves you don’t need to be tech-savvy to harness the power of AI.

For the majority of small businesses in the UK, it’s a practical tool for saving time, improving communication and productivity, accelerating staff output and making day-to-day operations run smoother. By simplifying routine tasks and offering useful support, Copilot frees business owners to focus on what they do best—serving their customers and growing their business.

Think of it like having the cheapest PA you ever employed, the cost of Microsoft Copilot is a fraction of the cost of a new member of staff, but it can perform so many tasks and duties that it feels like a member of the team.

If you would like to see Microsoft Copilot in action, call us on 01722 411 999 for a demonstration, after all, Microsoft Copilot wrote this article in seconds meaning we haven't had to spend much time creating and proof reading this content.

Where should I store my data in Microsoft 365

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

People often ask "where should we put our data when we move to the cloud" and often get it wrong by either putting everything in one big pot or by putting data in the wrong locations for sharing and collaboration. Here are some simple steps and best practices from Microsoft.

First figure out where your data is stored

What we mean by this is not "is my data in OneDrive, SharePoint or Teams", what we mean is where is your data stored as in which country. The thing with Microsoft 365 is that it is a global product, operating from data centres all over the world, with there always being a primary, secondary and tertiary copy of the data. It will be stored in three data centres, which is controllable by the settings in Microsoft 365 and it is important to know which locations the settings say it will use because there are regulations from the ICO (Information Commissioners Office) regarding GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) that states where data is allowed to be stored. If you are storing it in a country that is not recognised as safe and secure by the ICO you could be in breech of data protection regulation, so it is important that you know where you data is located.

Second figure out your storage allowance for the tenant

When you buy a Microsoft 365 license, you are allocated a block of storage in Microsoft 365. Here is the storage formula:

Base storage - 1TB - the Tenant is granted 1TB of storage
Additional storage - 10GB per qualifying license
Maximum storage per site collection - 25TB

What does this mean? It means that if you have 25 users that each has a Business Standard MS365 license your tenant will have

1TB + (25 x 10GB) = 1.25TB of SharePoint storage

On top of this, each user also has 1TB of OneDrive storage. When calculating the storage you should have, remember that the key words are "qualifying license" as not all licenses are equal so some licenses give you less storage allowance, some none at all. A lot of time people either store too much data in SharePoint, using the allowance, especially with stale data that should really be on an archive tier or data is in the wrong place making it harder to manage and store.

Third figure out where you data is stored

Yes I know this is like ground hog day, going back to the first point, but this time we mean where is the data stored within Microsoft 365. There are typically three repositories that are used by Microsoft 365 for data storage (technically there are more ways to store data but that is for more complex implementations and we are working on basics in this article), the repositories are:

Microsoft OneDrive - this is typically for personal data, for draft documents and for backing up your local profile data stored either in "Documents", "Photos" and "Desktop"
Microsoft Teams - this is typically for collaboration, sharing data with others, being able to message and collaborate on projects, chat and hold meetings when working together
Microsoft SharePoint - this is typically for an organisation to centrally store structured data with data libraries, often split into department libraries with organisation centralised security controls and the ability to apply meta data to the data

Knowing where the data is stored is key to managing it and it also makes it easier to control centrally if it is located in either Microsoft Teams or Microsoft SharePoint because both of these data repositories are managed by the Microsoft 365 administrator, making it easier to identify where data is shared, with whom and to monitor and control it, protecting the organisation from data leakage.

Moving data to a more suitable repository

Data should also be actively managed so that you only ever store data that is used in SharePoint in the document library. If data is stale and no longer actively used, it should be moved to cheaper, slower storage. This still means the data is searchable and usable, but it is no longer on higher speed storage.

Data that is company data, used across the organisation should reside in SharePoint. SharePoint is indexed making it easier to find data, even if it is buried in a document library. Teams document libraries in various sites and channels are similar to SharePoint but are used for collaborative data that is shared with others and is project oriented and both Teams and SharePoint share the same storage allowance meaning that if you duplicate data across SharePoint and Teams then it is using the storage allowance up.

Why should you manage your storage

If data is allowed to reside in SharePoint and it becomes stale, and the stale data grows and grows, it could result in the Tenant suffering. Stale or excessive data in SharePoint can negatively affect the speed of email and overall Microsoft 365 performance, primarily through storage quota exhaustion and degraded search indexing. While SharePoint and Exchange (email) are technically separate services, they share the same Microsoft 365 tenant infrastructure and storage limits.

What should you do next

If you want to check the health of your tenant and ensure that things are running smoothly, that your data resides in the correct locations and that things are running in an optimal way, call us on 01722 411 999 and we can help make sure everything is as it should be.