Energy is one of the largest hidden costs in IT. Whether you run your own servers, rent cloud infrastructure, or simply power a fleet of workstations, electricity bills add up — and they are only going one way.
Regulatory pressure is building too. The EU’s revised Energy Efficiency Directive requires businesses consuming more than 10 TJ annually (roughly £100k–£150k in electricity at current UK business rates) to complete energy audits by October 2026.
The April 2026 update to Cyber Essentials is the most significant revision the scheme has seen. If you hold — or are considering — Cyber Essentials certification, here is what changed and why it matters.
What changed Multi-factor authentication is now mandatory for all cloud services. If your business uses Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, or any other cloud platform, MFA must be enabled for every user account. No exceptions.
Home working environments are in scope.
From 19 June 2026, the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 requires every UK organisation that processes personal data to have a formal, documented procedure for handling data protection complaints. This applies to businesses of all sizes — a sole trader with a customer email list is in scope.
What changed Previously, there was no explicit legal requirement for most organisations to have a documented complaints process for data protection matters.
The drive for digital sovereignty is accelerating across Europe. In June 2026, the European Commission announced a comprehensive tech sovereignty package, the EU Parliament switched from Google to Qwant for search, and France confirmed it will roll out “LaSuite” to replace Microsoft tools across government.
For UK businesses — particularly those in privacy-sensitive sectors like legal, medical, and financial services — this raises a question: should you consider moving away from US-based providers?
The UK Government’s Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025/2026, published 30 April 2026, reveals that small businesses (10–49 employees) are backsliding on basic cyber hygiene after improvements last year.
Key findings 46% of small businesses experienced a cyber breach or attack in the last 12 months (43% across all UK businesses). Cyber hygiene measures among small businesses declined year-on-year: Cyber security risk assessments: 48% → 41% Formal cyber security policy: 59% → 52% Business continuity plans covering cyber: 53% → 44% Phishing remains the most common attack vector, responsible for 83% of incidents among businesses that reported a breach.
Microsoft has announced pricing increases for most Microsoft 365 commercial subscriptions, effective 1 July 2026.
Key changes affecting UK businesses:
Product Current price (per user/month) New price (per user/month) Microsoft 365 Business Basic £5.00 £5.80 Microsoft 365 Business Standard £10.40 £11.70 Microsoft 365 Business Premium £18.30 No change Microsoft 365 E3 £30.00 £32.50 Microsoft 365 E5 £47.50 £50.00 The good news: Business Premium is not increasing. With Intune, Defender for Business, Conditional Access, and device compliance built in, it continues to be the strongest value in the Microsoft portfolio.
Beginning July 24th, all administrative access to Azure services will be protected by MFA. Microsoft will require Multi-Factor Authentication for all accounts administering Azure resources.
Read the Microsoft post here.
Get in front of the curve by planning, configuring, and enabling your MFA prior to the switch-on. We are a telephone call away.
Microsoft support will end for the following products on 14 October 2025:
Windows 10 Office 2016 Office 2019 Apps Exchange 2016 Exchange 2019 It is advised to plan now for migration or updates to ensure that your business productivity and messaging services can continue.
Windows 10 can be upgraded to Windows 11 On-site Exchange can be migrated to M365 Access to Office apps can be obtained through M365 subscriptions M365 includes identity services with MFA support, Office apps, and messaging with email and Teams.