Improving the experience for your customers is a priority for any business. Are you aware how large a part your own infrastructure plays in this? Transforming your IT will transform your customer's business also. In this months guide we take a deep dive into the world of digital transformations.

Before you can measure success you must first identify what it is you are measuring. In this guide we offer a general list as a starting point covering 7 major KPIs to consider. This is by no means an exhaustive list, there will be many KPIs which are specific to your business or industry. Similarly we don't necessarily use all of these with every client. We work with each client individually to gain insight and understand the KPIs needed to provide effective reporting to facilitate strategic planning.

Have you considered moving to a cloud model for your business data but don't know where to begin? You could also be forgiven for worrying about such a switch so much that it never actually happens. This is a common issue in IT infrastructure planning which we covered recently in our 10 Questions piece: "Are we actually doing this or just talking about it?"

During the course of IT consultancy, we encounter clients who are frustrated by the way their IT infrastructure has failed to deliver on their expectations. A succession of poor IT investments which have never yielded the kind of returns desired. They approach us looking for leadership to rectify their historical failures and revolutionise their relationship with technology. When analysing the reasons for their previous failures there are some consistent themes which crop up time and time again.

Running an SME can often seem like a never ending stream of crucial choices. You are the core decision maker, responsible for many things; growth, client success and ensuring project deliverables are achieved. With so much at stake and so many plates to spin, some things can often be overlooked and IT can fall victim. When you are so occupied with other tasks, the small warning signs or tiny changes in normally mundane maintenance tasks that normally serve as a trigger to take action are often missed by your busy eyes. Pro-active management of key infrastructure is critical to enabling smooth growth and overall success within your business. Here we briefly discuss some basic IT red flags to keep a lookout for.

MSPs and cloud providers in line for legal regulations after government consultation. Government officials have issued their response to a cyber security consultation held earlier this year looking at possible changes to the Computer Misuse Act. Now the responses have been digested it is looking increasingly likely that information security practices are going to become a matter of a legally binding framework of responsibilities.

The latest ONS crime survey for England and Wales is out and it makes grim reading for anyone concerned with their IT security and privacy. After a brief dip in 2019 the number of computer misuse crimes reported was back to record levels not seen since 2017 with 1.8 million being reported in the year to June 2021.

You use the cloud and don't even know it. Do you go to Amazon and create a wishlist? Do you have an email account with Google's Gmail or Outlook? That is cloud computing. All your emails are stored on Yahoo servers somewhere. They are on physical servers, of course, but they aren't on your laptop. The advantage is that when you spill your coffee onto the laptop keyboard, you haven't lost all your emails even if you never backed up your hard drive. (If you haven't, shame on you, by the way.)

In order to offset our carbon footprint here at Aabyss we signed up to the Ecologi charity programme. Every month the folks at Ecologi use the donations to support two impact driven climate projects. All of the projects are in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. For the month of October 2021, firstly we are being shown how a common sense approach to forestry in Chile is generating power while reducing reliance on fossil fuels. Then we zoom across the Atlantic to Uganda to see a project run by Trees For The Future.

Aabyss are proud to be named winners of the Large MSP of the Year Award at the 12th annual Network Group Gala & Awards 2021. The event was held in Brighton last week and for many it represented the first time to meet up with fellow partners for over 18 months.