Should my business upgrade to Windows 10?

This post Should my business upgrade to Windows 10? was first posted on Nimbus CS, Northern Ireland

Small business owners need IT more than ever, but you don't need the technical hassles, or the traditional large expense. From helping you sell and manage your inventory, staff or services, to accounting and storing data, IT exists to help make these tasks easier. Yet, even in the age of user-friendliness and service-based offerings, it can still be as complex and challenging for any Irish or Northern Irish SMB. Not only that, but ever-increasing security threats to PCs and the data stored on them mean all companies have to be a master of many IT disciplines.     A current question popular among small businesses is should they click the 'free upgrade to Windows 10' icon that appears on many Windows 7 and 8.1 PCs. Microsoft is pushing the update hard, and the free upgrade offer expires at the end of July. If you run standard applications like Office, Outlook and so on, then there is little harm in upgrading your office PCs, as your current PCs should be fine to run Windows 10. If your office is still using Windows XP, then there is no free upgrade route, and with practically no updates for that version, it is highly vulnerable to attacks and malware. As of late March 2016 there has been a sharp increase in the amount of crypto virus emails being sent. If you need advice for upgrading and securing your data, do get in touch.   [caption id="attachment_1192" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Windows 10 installation by Matti Mattila licensed under Creative commons 4[/caption]

Benefits of Windows 10

Among the benefits of Windows 10 are direct links to cloud services like OneDrive storage, Office 365 to work on all your documents across any device and many more. At the time of writing OneDrive is one of the weaker file sharing offerings available. Windows 10 also comes with Cortana voice assistant and works seamlessly across your Windows mobile devices. The OS is also more resilient to attack and is easier to update and upgrade, with Microsoft planning future upgrades for free. After July, the upgrade will cost around £80 per PC, so do consider it as a valuable cost saving exercise in the months up to that deadline. Also consider that your PC or 3rd party software may not function correctly if you do choose to upgrade - just because you can upgrade doesn't mean everything will go smoothly. If you are an existing Nimbus CS client, no need to worry, we will be assessing what is best for your business and if an upgrade is in order we will handle the process for you. If you have any other IT questions about backups, improving security or other issues, give us a call and let us help you improve your business, through upgrades, cloud services, security and IT support, while reducing the stress that IT can bring. At Nimbus CS we offer a free system audit to let you know where you stand.