The latest in cloud, cybersecurity, AI, and web technology — curated for UK businesses every week
AzureOn 25 June 2026 the European Commission issued its preliminary finding that AWS and Azure should be designated as Digital Markets Act gatekeepers — the first time the EU's Big Tech rulebook has reached into cloud infrastructure. With fines up to 10% of worldwide turnover and six months to comply once finalised, here is what UK SMEs locked into either platform must assess now.
Microsoft 365On 4 May 2026 Microsoft's notice MC1269241 took effect and Anthropic Claude became the default Copilot model in Excel and PowerPoint — with Word following in summer 2026. But there is a twist for UK businesses: your tenant is set to OFF by default, the data processing happens outside the EU Data Boundary, and a Global Administrator has to opt in explicitly. Here is the full decode — what changed, what the EU Data Boundary exit means for GDPR and Cyber Essentials v3.3, the realistic cost of getting the governance wrong, and the 10-step opt-in decision framework for UK SMEs running Microsoft 365 Copilot today.
IT SupportMicrosoft’s 2011 Secure Boot certificate chain starts to expire on 19 June 2026 — 42 days from today. Devices keep booting, but a 2011-only Windows estate is locked out of every future Boot Manager update, every new DBX revocation, and every 2023-signed third-party bootloader once the post-June DBX revocation lands. Patch Tuesday on 12 May is the last comfortable rollout window. The full UK SME action plan: the four supported deployment paths, the 0x5944 registry value, the PowerShell verification kit, the Cyber Essentials v3.3 A2.4 angle, and a 42-day rollout sequence.
IT SupportOn 14 October 2026 Microsoft retires the Consumer Extended Security Updates programme — the final lifeline for the 38% of UK business endpoints still running Windows 10. From today, that is exactly 173 days. Here is the full UK SME migration plan: estate audit, Windows 11 eligibility, hardware refresh, Windows 365, Commercial ESU, the Cyber Essentials v3.3 auto-fail risk, the cyber insurance penalty, and the 10-step 173-day rollout you can start this week.
Microsoft 365Microsoft has suffered its fifth major cloud outage in six months, with the latest Microsoft 365 disruption knocking email, Teams and Copilot offline for more than nine hours. Here is the full 2026 outage timeline, the real cost to UK SMEs, and the 12-step resilience plan that keeps your business working when Microsoft does not.
Microsoft 365Microsoft 365 prices rise up to 33% on 1 July 2026. UK businesses have 78 days to lock in current rates by renewing early. Plus, Copilot is splitting into free and paid tiers from 15 April — here's what you lose and what you gain.
Cloud ComputingThe CMA has concluded its three-year cloud market investigation, accepting voluntary commitments from AWS and Microsoft rather than binding regulation. With 32% of cloud spend wasted and a new AWS-Google multicloud partnership lowering switching barriers, here's what UK SMEs must do now.
IT SupportUS trade tariffs are pushing up the cost of servers, networking equipment, and cloud services for UK businesses. With a 10% baseline tariff now in force and steel/aluminium at 50%, here's how to protect your IT budget.
Microsoft 365The UK Competition and Markets Authority has launched a strategic market status investigation into Microsoft's business software empire — covering Windows, Office, Teams and Copilot. Here's what every UK business needs to know.
Microsoft 365Microsoft's biggest Copilot update yet brings agent mode to every Office app, introduces GPT-5.4 models, and announces the premium E7 Frontier Suite for enterprises.
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