Author: James McNamara

ITP are on the move

ITP is having a moving experience

We are excited to share some important news with you – ITP is on the move! After more than 20 years in Cheam, we are relocating to a new dedicated office to better serve your IT needs and to continue our journey of growth and innovation.

Effective now, our new office address will be:

The IT Partnership
Oru Space
Unit 3
Times Square
High Street, Sutton
SM1 1LF

Our phone numbers and email addresses will remain unchanged, so you can still reach us easily:

Phone: 02039715757
Email: info@it-partnership.com

We truly value the trust and confidence you have placed in us, and we are excited about the opportunities this move brings for strengthening our partnership.

If you have any questions or concerns about the move or need assistance with anything else, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We are here to help.

Thank you for your continued support and for choosing us as your IT partner.

Office
Workspace

More information on our new office location:

Oru Sutton is a landmark workspace, leisure, and destination space in the heart of Sutton High Street. It’ll create a nurturing environment for people to connect and thrive in their work and personal lives.

The doors opened on the 1st September 2023, to this 500-person capacity coworking space in the heart of Sutton High Street. The building has been smartly designed to inspire and create a nurturing environment for you to be supported, connected and take the next step on our business journey.

https://oruspace.co/sutton

 

Merry Christmas from ITP

ITP’s leadership Team would like to wish you a very Happy Xmas & a safer  & more prosperous New Year 2022.

We thank you for your continuing support to our business and look forward to working with you in the year ahead.

We recognise that this year , continued to have some challenges but presented opportunities as well and we have seen this at at ITP.

We have heard from you, our Partners and Clients that this year has given the Opportunity to reflect on your People, our most valuable asset and what we can do to develop and empower them to achieve better outcomes . This helps us unlock the discretionary effort to be Curious , Creative and Innovative and that together with enabling Technology can build the resilience required to weather and Thrive in the Uncertainties of the Future

We continue to see opportunities and we hope that you get or make time in the Holidays for reflection on what you need to change to take on the Future.  

We aim to get in touch in the New Year to see how we can help you even more.
 

During the Christmas period our offices will be closed from Friday 24th December until Tuesday 4th of January. Support calls and e-mails during the holiday break will be monitored and responses will be on a best efforts basis.

 

ITP Sponsor Sutton Soup

What is Sutton Soup?

Sutton Soup – It’s the sociable way of raising money for local good causes. 

​You come along and pay £8 for a meal of homemade soup and bread.  You get to hear four pitches from local people who need funding for a project that benefits the Sutton community.  You get to vote for the one you like best.  The winner of the vote gets to keep ALL the money we take on the door on the night.  That means your £8!  By coming together that £8 turns into hundreds of pounds for the winner.

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ITP's Involvement

Sutton Soup is a worthwhile local charity making a difference to the local community and ITP is proud to be involved as a Sponsor.

Images from the latest event:

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photo credit @abbeymillstudios Abbey Mills Studio

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Windows 11 Release

Windows 11 Release

Windows 11 will start to become available on October 5, 2021. On this day, the free upgrade to Windows 11 will begin rolling out to eligible Windows 10 PCs and PCs that come pre-loaded with Windows 11 will start to become available for purchase.

The upgrade roll out is a phased process and although it starts on the 5th it’s not expected to roll out to all eligible devices until sometime in mid 2022.

What do I need to do?

At this stage there is nothing you need to do. If you have an eligible machine which also meets the hardware requirements then you just carry on as usual and when the update is ready to roll out for you, you’ll get a message to prompt you about it. If you’re happy to do so you can click to upgrade and let it run or if you’d prefer you can get in contact with ITP and we’d be happy to help with your upgrade. You can also contact us if you’re unsure if your PC will run Windows 11 or not.

We have a previous blog post on some of the key features of Windows 11 which can be found here:

Windows 11

If your PC is unable to run Windows 11 but you’d like to get hold of it then now could be the time to upgrade to a new PC. Feel free to get in touch and we can help you out with this.

 

 

 

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Windows 11

Windows 11

Windows 11 has been officially announced by Microsoft and is set to be a big shake up in the look and feel of Windows.

It’s set to start rolling out later this year and in this blog post we are going to go over some of the new features.

As always, if you have any questions or want to talk to us further about Windows 11 then feel free to Contact Us.

Windows 11 Features:

New Design

Windows 11 showcases a new design with the taskbar items sitting in the middle of the screen and a whole new start menu. This should make accessing your programs and data quick and easy. There are also new folder icons and neat rounded edges to all windows.

Access to Android Apps

You can now download Android mobile apps from the Amazon App store and run them directly within Windows. This closes the gap and helps bridge the technology between your desktop PC and your mobile phone.

Microsoft Teams integration

Teams is getting a face-lift and will be integrated directly into the Windows 11 Taskbar, making it easier to access. You’ll be able to access Teams from Windows, Mac, Android or iOS. 

Better virtual desktop support

Windows 11 will let you set up virtual desktops in a way that’s more similar to MacOS, toggling between multiple desktops for personal, work, school or gaming use. 

 
 

When will it release & how much will it cost?

Microsoft are set to start rolling out Windows 11 as an upgrade to existing Windows 10 users later this year and carrying on into 2022. There is no offical date yet as to when the rollout will start but we’ll update everyone as soon as we know.

If you currently have a Windows 7 or above you’ll be able to upgrade to Windows 11 for free. Microsoft haven’t annouced a time limit on this yet although with Windows 10 the free upgrad lasted for the first year of it’s life.

Your PC will need to be able to meet the minimum specification to run Windows 11 which we’ll outline below.

Can I run Windows 11?

Below is a link to the official spec from Microsoft needed to run Windows 11. If you aren’t sure about any of it then please let us know and we’ll be able to help.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-11-specifications

What do I need to do?

At this point there is nothing you need to do. Microsoft hasn’t started rolling out Windows 11 just yet and even when they do, if you have a compatible machine it should install automatically. If you aren’t sure you can run it or you have any further questions then feel free to Contact Us.

New VOIP System Installed

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ITP have just installed another of our award winning VOIP phone system into a long-standing client of ours. The system was put in place to replace their aging ISDN phone system.

Previously they had users working from home using mobile phones to make calls as the current system meant the office phones had to be connected there. They now have the power to be much more flexible when working from home, allowing their workers to be able to make and receive calls just as if they were in the office on either a PC or mobile app as well as many other new and powerful features.

It’s now only 4 years away until BT ceases all standard phone lines (PSTN) so it’s a great time to make the move to VOIP to not only future proof your company but also give yourself much more freedom and flexibility with what your phone system can do.

If you’d like to have a chat with us about putting a VOIP system in place for your business then give us a call on 02039715757 or fill out the contact form below.

The Advantages of Using ITP’s Hosted Voice Solution:

  • Secure: Built in business continuity and disaster recovery with call re-routing.
  • Reliable: Guaranteed 99.9% uptime backed byITP’sSLA.
  • Scalable: Add and remove users as required.
  • Future-Proofed: With continual service enhancements.
  • No Hardware: Get complete PBX functionality without the hardware element.
  • Enhanced Mobility: Through seamless remote operation.
  • Highly Competitive: Simple, clear pricing.
  • Wide Range of Features: Such as unlimited auto-attendant.
  • Best Quality of Service: ITP’s QoS is end-to-end, delivering a market-leading customer experience.
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ITP’s managed print service

At ITP we currently offer a fully managed print solution which you can read more about here. In this post we wanted to draw your attention to some of the key features that we can offer.

HOW SECURE
IS YOUR PRINTING EQUIPMENT?

Security is a top priority for us, and we know it is for your business too.​

Businesses around the globe have invested in security software to protect their computers and networks, but few are aware of the threat to security their printing devices pose.
Modern commercial printing devices have hard drives and network connectivity. They are just as vulnerable to data theft as anything in your businesses IT system.
Our print solutions are fully protected by class leading data security products. We worry about it, so you don’t have to.
We offer a FULLY MANAGED printing solution that fits seamlessly into your existing IT infrastructure. Speak with the team today to see what we can do for you.
Solutions from desktop printers through to freestanding workhorses.
We offer advice and solutions on unique terms.
Whether you’re looking for new equipment, or to replace existing devices – speak to the team today!
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THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT.

Apps. They’ve become imperative to almost everything we do. Revolutionizing the world of business and education and making everyday tasks quicker and simpler than ever before.
But did you know that apps have changed the way businesses use their printing equipment? As office technology has evolved so have printing devices. Not just mobile printing but being able to print from and scan directly to the cloud has made digitizing documents and existing workflows seamless.
We can supply printing equipment fit for the future as well as class leading solutions on terms fair for all parties.

Please use the contact information below to get in touch with us for any of your managed printing needs.

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How secure is your password?

Brute force attacks on peoples passwords is a method in which people use hacking tools to attempt to access your private data by attempting thousands of combinations of words and letters every minute until they get the right one.

This can then be used to encrypt your data for ransomeware purposes, get your banking information, or just get general personal info on you that you don’t want these people to have.

Depending on how complex your password is this can take anything from seconds to years to achieve and outlines how important it is to have a strong secure password.

In this blog post we are going to outline some good password practises and how best to protect yourself, but before we get to that we’d like to firstly outline a great website you can use to check how long it would take a brute force attack to learn your password.

https://howsecureismypassword.net/

If you go to the site above and type in one of your passwords you’ll be able to see the time needed to brute force guess it. The site is totally safe to use as none of your data is sent anywhere.

Below is a screen shot taken of a password we put into the site. As you can see we’re pretty happy with it as it would take around 4 hundred years to crack.

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Best practises for password security

Password Length – Longer passwords are always better. The more characters in a password the longer it will take to crack. Sometimes adding in 1 extra digit can add on months or even years to the time it would take to crack the password. We would recommend using passwords with a minimum of 12 characters.

Dictionary Words – Try not to use dictionary words. When brute forcing a password the systems use dictionary words first as they tend to be the most common for passwords.It’s much more secure to use a jumble of letters and numbers that don’t mean anything.

Mix Things Up – Touched apon in the last point, you want to use a mixture of lowercase, uppercase, numbers and symbols in your password. Using all 4 of these greatly increases the difficulty required to crack your password.

Password Duplication – You don’t want to use the same password on more than one site. This helps avoid people getting into multiple accounts if one of your passwords is ever compromised.

Below is a good visual representation of how using the methods above can make your password much more secure.

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How can ITP help?

We are always looking at best practise methods for protecting and securing our customers data. We can run a check on all your systems to make sure you’re doing everything you can to keep yourself safe. That not only includes passwords but security in general as well as backups of data. Please feel free to use the contact form below to get in touch if you’d like ITP to help you with your security needs.

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Using Teams as our VOIP Telephone System

ITP has used Teams as a communication and collaboration app for sometime now. We use it for project planning, file storage and having our weekly team meetings. As our workflow has become more and more centralised around Teams we thought why not take the plunge and use it as our Telephone VOIP app as well.

After some configuration we are now able to make an receive external calls through Teams, while also still using it for internal calls and meetings. This means we have been able to remove our old software and integrate all into one package.

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Here are some of the key points Microsoft mention about using Teams for your VOIP system.

Enterprise cloud calling

Give people the calling features they need to get business done. Get consultative transfers, music on hold, call park, and cloud voicemail in Teams.

Collaborative calling experiences

Deliver great collaborative experiences as part of Phone System in Microsoft Teams with features such as group call pickup, delegation, and shared line appearance.

Customer support experiences

Help ensure every customer is answered and routed to the right queue with cloud auto attendants and call queues in Phone System.

Global administrative experiences

Administer and monitor your calling in Microsoft 365 with the Teams admin center and call quality dashboard. Save time for your IT professionals with a centralized experience.

If you’d like more information about Teams or VOIP calling please feel free to get in contact below.

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British public help reach major milestone in fight against scammers

Two months ago the government launched the Suspicious Email Reporting Service which allows users to forward on suspicious to be investigated for fraud or phishing.

Since then they have gone on to receive over one million reports. Here is what they’ve had to say about it:

Reaching the milestone of one million suspicious emails reported is a fantastic achievement and testament to the vigilance of the British public. “The kind of scams we’ve blocked could have caused very real harm and I would like to thank everyone who has played their part in helping make the internet safer for all of us. “While it’s right that we should celebrate reaching this milestone, it is important for all of us to remain on our guard and forward any emails that don’t look right to report@phishing.gov.uk.”

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What's been targeted?

AN influx of cryptocurrency investment scams is among a range of online threats which have been blocked as a result of more than 1 million suspect emails being reported by the public in just two months.

More than half of the 10,000 online links to scams blocked or taken down by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) with the help of the public relate to cryptocurrency schemes, where investors are typically promised high returns in exchange for buying currency such as Bitcoin.

How do I use the service?

The Suspicious Email Reporting Service was launched as part of the Cyber Aware campaign, which promotes protective behaviours to keep your online accounts and your devices as secure as possible.

To use the reporting service, people are asked to simply forward suspect emails to report@phishing.gov.uk. If they are found to link to malicious content, it will be taken down or blocked, helping prevent future victims of crime.

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You’re of course also welcome to contact ITP if you are worried about any email that comes through. Give us a call or use the form below.

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