In today's digital landscape, organisations are increasingly moving their operations to the cloud, seeking scalability, flexibility, and efficiency. However, as cloud infrastructures grow, so do the costs associated with them. That's where cloud cost optimisation comes into play.This week, we're diving deep into the world of cloud cost optimisation, a topic that's on the minds of every savvy business and tech enthusiast.Join us as we explore the strategies, tools, and best practices that can help you trim the fat from your cloud expenditure while maintaining peak performance and reliability. Whether you're a cloud administrator, a CTO, or simply someone interested in the ever-evolving world of cloud technology, this episode is packed with valuable insights that can help you make the most of your cloud investment.

Welcome to the digital dawn, where artificial intelligence isn't just a futuristic concept, but a vivid reality shaping our everyday lives. From the smartphone in your pocket to the virtual assistant in your home, AI has woven itself into the very fabric of our existence. It's transforming how we work, play, and interact with the world around us. With that being said...In this week's episode we discuss Paul's trip to Microsoft Envision, an event focusing on Microsoft's response to AI - Microsoft Co-pilot - An AI-driven tool and feature designed to enhance productivity in Microsoft's suite of applications.If AI's your cup of tea, you won't want to miss this episode. Tune in for a deep dive into the world of artificial intelligence with Microsoft at the helm. It's a cracker!Chapters:00:00:00 - Introduction00:02:02 - Co-Pilot for Microsoft 36500:03:56 - Introduction of Sales Co-Pilot00:05:50 - Microsoft's research on the use of AI in organizations00:07:33 - Microsoft's Data Fabric: Consolidating and Integrating Data00:09:24 - Microsoft Co-Pilot Availability Options00:11:13 - The Importance of Security Operations in AI Implementation00:12:54 - Involving Security Teams at the Start00:14:44 - Free Enterprise chat on Bing

In this episode, we welcome back NetApp Field CTO Grant Caley to explore how the way we use data is impacting how we need to design and manage our data infrastructure. Most businesses today want to use the data they hold to better work with their customers and suppliers, make better decisions, market more effectively, and bring products to market more quickly, all while maintaining essential data security.We discuss what this means for the way we manage our data, whether that's on-premises or in the public cloud. We talk about how detailed data management can impact things from cost to your company's sustainability goals.  We also ask Grant to dust off his crystal ball and share his thoughts on the data management challenges we are going to be dealing with in the future.For future episodes of Tech Takeaways please subscribe on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction00:02:01 - The Changing Landscape of Data Management and Security00:03:59 - Protecting Data from Malware Attacks00:05:58 - The Importance of Data Storage and Security00:07:52 - Optimizing Data for Cloud Migration00:09:47 - The Role of Data and Sustainability00:11:46 - Challenges in Data Processing and Security00:13:46 - The Relevance of Storage Technology00:15:55 - The Advantage of a Unified Data Platform

Today's technology debates are usually focused on cloud, security and of course the ever-growing presence of AI. But does that mean that traditional IT topics aren't worth talking about, topics like storage for example?On this week's episode, we respectfully disagree as we talk about why storage is and needs to remain a core part of any IT strategy discussion. To help us with that debate is Grant Caley. Grant is a Field CTO at NetApp. With 20 years at the storage giant he has seen a lot of change from a company focused on selling storage to start-up tech companies, to today's data and cost management business. A business that provides data management platforms on-premises and across all of the major clouds, supporting companies with a few TBs of data to those with many PBsWe discuss why effective storage and data management is more important than ever. And why picking the right storage technologies can make a massive difference to those wanting to explore AI, optimise their costs when they move to the cloud and, essentially, the critical part it plays in an organization's ability to recover from a cyber security incident.We cover a lot in a short time! Settle in and find out why storage conversations are far from boring!To make sure you catch out next episode then do subscribe you can do so here, all homes of podcasts and via our website https://www.gardnersystems.co.uk/podcasts/Chapters:00:00:00 - Introduction to Grant Caley00:03:46 - Data Classification and Optimization00:05:36 - Serving Customers of All Sizes00:07:21 - Data Optimization and Hydration in the Cloud00:09:13 - The Importance of Storage Efficiency in the Cloud00:10:53 - Building an AI Pipeline with NetApp00:12:45 - Recovering from Ransomware Attacks with NetApp

After the popular Beyond the Firewall episode, we go "Beyond" again this week. This time it's beyond the endpoint. What do we mean when we talk about beyond the endpoint?  How our people work has changed a lot in the last few years. This also means how our IT teams work with those users has also changed, especially how we deliver, manage, support and secure our users and their devices. The team delve into some recent endpoint projects and how businesses have been able to adopt technology to help improve the management and security of their devices as well as the end-user experience.Settle back and join us as we take a journey beyond the endpoint.If you want to make sure you capture all future episodes then subscribe on YouTube, all good homes of podcasts or via our website https://www.gardnersystems.co.uk/podcasts/Chapters: 00:00:00 - Tech Takeaways: Beyond Endpoint00:01:54 - Efficient and Secure Onboarding00:03:27 - Guaranteeing a Secure Configuration00:05:25 - Utilising RMM Tools for Endpoint Monitoring00:07:12 - Endpoint Management Solutions and Security00:08:44 - Monitoring and Improving User Experience00:10:22 - The Business Benefits of IT Experience00:12:03 - Streamlining Device Repairs with Endpoint Management Software00:13:49 - The Future of Endpoint Management

As companies move more infrastructure and platforms into the public cloud the management, security and costs of those cloud-based services are often difficult to understand and predict. How can companies better use the cloud to make sure it's secure and cost-efficient?This week the team share some of their experiences with recent cloud optimisation projects. They discuss the issues that come with running cloud environments, and how cloud can often bring unexpected costs in areas such as storage, backup and data movements.But it's not all doom and gloom, they also chat about how to gain insights into a cloud environment and how that insight can have a significant effect on improving security and reducing costs by 20-30%.If you are looking to optimise the way you are using the cloud, then this is the show for you.To make sure you don't miss an episode, then subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and via our website https://www.gardnersystems.co.uk/podcasts/Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction to Cloud Optimisation00:02:01 - Common Mistakes in Cloud Deployment00:03:54 - Predicting and forecasting costs00:05:55 - The Mistake of Moving On-Prem Services as They Are00:07:37 - Scalability of Cloud Native Services00:09:31 - Scaling SQL Databases in Busy Times00:11:12 - Challenges of Forecasting Cloud Costs00:12:49 - Importance of Analyzing Cloud Costs00:14:32 - Highlighting Data Breach Risks in Cloud Environments

Continuing from last week's episode on the changing world of work and its impact on our infrastructure. We discuss how those changes must also make us rethink how we secure our increasingly disparate infrastructures and user environments. We discuss why traditional models no longer work, what the modern alternatives are and why we need to think about ensuring our security resides alongside our users and applications and not at a physical location. So, settle back and enjoy as we go "Beyond the Firewall".To catch all episodes of Tech Takeaways subscribe. You can Subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and all good homes of podcasts. Or via our website at https://www.gardnersystems.co.uk/podcasts/Chapters:00:00:00 - Beyond the Firewall00:03:02 - The Changing Landscape of the Internet00:05:48 - The Changing Perimeter and Secure Edge00:08:45 - Zero Trust and ZTNA Network Architecture00:11:40 - Securing Key Assets with Zero Trust Network Architecture00:14:36 - The Complexity of Firewalls in a Hybrid World

This episode was sparked by an article Wayne read that discussed how increasingly organisations are looking to bring more and more people back into the office. But, is this the right thing to do? and if it is how is today's worker and office environment different from the one many of us were used to in 2020.This episode is not about the rights and wrongs of bringing people into the office,  but the practical impacts of doing so. Is your office setup for not only lots of people coming into it but also for the different ways people need the space and infrastructure to work to meet modern work approaches?The team share their thoughts and some of the practical things to consider to ensure, that if you are bringing people back to the office, you give them the most effective experience you can.To catch all Tech Takeaways episodes please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and all good homes of podcasts. Chapters: 00:00:00 - The Change in Nature of Work and Hybrid Working00:02:03 - The Rise of Video Conferencing00:03:59 - The Impact of Video Calls on Office Space00:05:43 - The Impact of Video Calls and Working from Home00:07:40 - Broadband Usage and Infrastructure Challenges00:09:39 - Ensuring Effective Environments for Businesses00:11:33 - Architectural Changes for a Hybrid Workforce00:13:27 - Improving Network Bandwidth for a Better User Experience00:15:22 - Planning for Returning to the Office

Usernames and passwords are at the heart of cybersecurity, both business and personal, whether we know it or not! User credentials control access to our key applications and of course all of our data. Because of that, they are not only important to us, they are a key target for cybercriminals. A cyber bad guy with usernames and passwords can cause a lot of damage to a business or individual.The harsh reality is user credentials do get compromised, but if that does happen, what can we do to protect our applications and data from compromise? One of the best tools we have available to us is multi-factor authentication (MFA) and that's the topic of this week's show. We discuss why MFA is valuable, some of the challenges that come with adoption, how to be smart with how you use it and what the future holds.So if you are MFA curious then this is the show for you.To make sure you catch all episodes of the show then subscribe. You can subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and all good homes of podcasts. You can also subscribe on our website https://www.gardnersystems.co.uk/podcasts/Chapters:00:00:00 - Introduction 00:02:05 - Evolution of Multi-Factor Authentication in the Enterprise00:04:07 - Challenges of Implementing MFA at Scale00:06:13 - Dealing with Issues of MFA Implementation00:08:01 - Security Buy-In and Communication00:10:16 - Benefits of Single Identity Platform00:12:21 - Context-Driven MFA Application00:14:14 - Trusting User Behavior and Device Locations00:16:33 - Passwordless Authentication and Cybersecurity Risks

On this week's show we have two things returning by popular demand, firstly our topic, you all loved our first chat about Generative AI, so much so that we thought we'd discuss it again. To help us to do that, is our second item of popular demand, our guest, Sophos's Jon Hope.Jon brings to us his insight into GenAI, including what it's good at doing, what it isn't and what we need to consider before we broadly adopt it. We also discuss how AI can break some of the cybersecurity approaches that we rely on and how we may be able to solve them.To make sure you catch all future episodes of Tech Takeaways, subscribe. We are available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find us on at website at https://www.gardnersystems.co.uk/podcasts/Chapters0:00 Introduction1:41 John’s view on generative AI4:35 Why use humans and not AI7:07 AI will be so good we won’t know the difference9:04 Advice12:42 Closing Words

Backups - we've all got them, we all know how to do them, we've got it nailed, haven't we? Well, maybe not!On this week's show, we look at backups and recovery, from basics such as recovery points and times, recovery tests and good data protection discipline, to modern threats to our backup data and systems.The team share some good practice on how you can make your backups more secure and effective.If you've got some tips you'd like to share then let us know.To make sure you catch all episodes of Tech Takeaways subscribe on YouTube, all good homes of podcasts or via our website at https://www.gardnersystems.co.uk/podcasts/Chapters0:00 Introduction1:39 What questions should you be asking?5:30 Resilience plan8:40 Backup Solutions14:30 Key Takeaways15:00 Closing Words

In part two of our chat with Sophos's Jon Hope we talk about cyber incident response plans. With the volume and complexity of cyberattacks, regardless of how much prevention we put in place, the chances of getting hit by an attack remain high. Therefore, preparing for such an eventuality should be as high on the list of priorities as attempts to prevent it.We discuss with Jon the importance of an incident response plan and the things you should consider to build an effective one. We talk about when to build a plan (spoiler: now is the answer!), who should be involved, why it's not just an IT plan and what not to do with your IR plan!Jon shares lots of great tips that will help you in getting your IR planning right. An effective IR plan may be the difference between your business recovering from a cyber attack or not.To make sure you catch all future episodes of the show please subscribe. You can do so on YouTube, on our website or wherever you get your podcasts.You can find Jon on LinkedIn and his podcast on Spotify and all good homes of podcasts look for "One Million Questions to Ask".Chapters0:00 Introduction1:24 When should I plan for an incident?4:01 What does a plan look like?7:36 How not to store your response plan10:31 Ransomware and AI14:19 Closing Words

This week's show is the first of a two-part special with Sophos Technical Evangelist, Jon Hope. Jon shares with us his and Sophos's view of the modern threat landscape, customer challenges and how to deal with them.Jon provides insight into the evolving threats, how diminishing returns from ransomware have caused the threat to evolve and when we talk about cybercriminals, the reality of what we are up against.We cover a lot, so settle in for a ride through cybercrime!To catch all future episodes of Tech Takeaways then subscribe on Youtube, via our website https://www.gardnersystems.co.uk/podcasts/ or wherever you get your podcasts.Chapters:0:00 Introduction2:10 Resources available to deal with cyber incidents6:37 Do you get your data back?8:35 Elements of ransomware12:54 Be careful what you put online14:39 Closing Words

Wayne is missing this week - so Jason and Paul go rogue and let loose on the  IT claims they commonly hear, but are often not true. The team picks through common misconceptions ranging from the classic "It's in the cloud, I don't have to worry about its security and availability anymore" to every IT pro's favourite line "You work in IT so you must know everything about IT".  Really this is just a chance for Paul and Jason to get some  IT stuff off their chests!Settle in and enjoy the ride.To catch all episodes of Tech Takeaways then subscribe here on Youtube or via the podcast app of your choice over at https://www.gardnersystems.co.uk/podcasts/ or the podcast platform of your choice.Have a topic you'd like the team to chat through? - Then drop us a line and let us know.Chapters0:00 Introduction0:48 Episode outline3:38 Responsibilities7:08 Is it cheaper to move to the cloud?12:38 Tactical cloud13:40 “I’m an IT specialist, I know everything.”18:36 Closing words.

Data is a valuable asset to any business. It's the information we use to make decisions, the things we share with our customers, suppliers and partners to more effectively operate. The question is, are you protecting this valuable asset as well as you can?In this episode, Paul and Jason discuss the data loss risk and how to build an approach to avoid it. The team talk about why securing data is essential, where the risks are, and the impact of losing it. They also discuss why this is much more than an IT problem, why it needs wide business adoption and why data security is not just about technology.A lot to unpack, but full of top data security tips.To ensure you don't miss an episode of Tech Takeaways subscribe. You can subscribe here on YouTube or visit https://www.gardnersystems.co.uk/podcasts/ to find links to the podcast apps of your choice.If you have any questions about data security then contact us in any of the usual ways.Enjoy the show.Chapters0:00 intro0:45 Taking care of our data3:13 How data has changed5:49 Types of risks8:00 Ways customers can help11:21 The value of data12:34 Impact of leaked data15:37 Closing words

When you have a security assessor to chat with, they don't get away with one episode of questions - they get two!!! On this week's show, Jason and Paul continue chatting with security assessor Rory Breen. This time we delve into more detail about the biggest risks and challenges companies face when trying to develop their security posture and meet cybersecurity regulations. We chat about the challenges of patching, supported devices, system complexity and identity protection and a whole lot more!Enjoy the show.To catch future episodes of Tech Takeaways then subscribe on YouTube or for the audio version visit  https://www.gardnersystems.co.uk/podcasts/Chapters:0:00 Introduction0:51 Patching4:40 Firmware updates6:18 MFA Management9:44 MFA Tips12:09 Asset Management14:54 Simplification & closing words

Cyber Security Frameworks are a hugely useful tool for helping businesses develop a good strong baseline security posture. We've talked in previous episodes about Cyber Essentials and why it's useful and the process you go through to achieve it. Part of that process is assessment, carried out by an independent assessor. What is it that assessors look for when evaluating a business's cyber security? Do you know?Well, we didn't, so we thought we'd ask on your behalf! This week, in this first of a two-part special, we chat with Security Assessor, Rory Breen. Rory shares his insights into the process, but also what he has learned about how businesses can improve their security posture and how to avoid some common mistakes he sees businesses mistake. Great chat - part two is out next week.To make sure you catch part two and all future Tech Takeaways then subscribe in your podcast app of choice or here at https://www.gardnersystems.co.uk/podcasts/Chapters0:00 Introduction0:48 Intro to Rory3:07 Assessors role5:46 User Education8:42 Common mistakes11:50 Larger vs smaller organisations16:52 Closing words

It had to happen that Tech Takeaways would wander into the murky waters of ITs current hot topic of Generative AI. A technology brought into the popular consciousness by ChatGPT. But what does this potentially game-changing technology actually mean for all of us and for those of us focused on business technology?With Wayne away for a few episodes, Jason and Paul tackle the Generative AI question and share some thoughts on how they are seeing generative AI used in general, what options and risks it presents to a business and things for you to consider as you think about your own steps into the world of GenAI.If you have any comments please leave them here or contact us via any of our usual channels.To make sure you catch the next episode then subscribe on YouTube, via https://www.gardnersystems.co.uk/podcasts/ and all good homes of audio podcasts.Chapters:0:00 Introduction0:34 Generative AI1:56 ChatGPT’s rise in popularity4:04 Opportunities for CEOs in Generative AI6:56 Using ChatGPT for coding10:25 Flaws with Generative AI13:35 Closing thoughts

The risk posed to businesses by poor password management is huge. A username and password that falls into the wrong hands can be used to gain access to all kinds of systems, from enterprise to personal. They can be used to steal data, money, deploy malware or carry out reconnaissance on a future target.How do we end up with poor password practice? Often because we ask too much of our users, we want passwords to multiple systems, we want long and complex passwords, and we want them to change regularly. All of this is too much for the human mind to cope with, which leads to poor and risky practices.On this week's show, the team discuss these challenges, some risks to consider and steps to take to reduce the risks. The team also chat about why enterprise password managers can have a significant impact on improving password practices and reducing security risks across your organization. You can make sure you catch all episodes of Tech Takeaways then subscribe on YouTube, gardnersystems.co.uk/podcasts and all good homes of podcasts.During the show Paul mentioned Hive Systems Password Table - you can request a copy of that here  https://www.hivesystems.io/password-tableChapters:0:00 Introduction: Password management2:35 Is having one password a bad idea?6:27 Password Managers14:00 Tech Takeaways

All businesses have and need usernames and passwords. They are how we get access to systems and our business information. Today businesses and users are managing more usernames and passwords than ever before.This creates a massive problem for businesses and users alike and is why identity and credential theft is at the top of the cybercriminal's hit list. With a username and password, a cybercriminal can access otherwise secure systems and start having fun at your expense.  However, there are steps you can take to improve your identity security and better protect your business. In this episode, the team discuss the importance of having a strong identity lifecycle strategy and how ensuring your management of usernames and passwords from creation to deletion can make your business much more secure.Chapters0:00 Introduction: Identity2:45 Identity LIfecycle Framework12:19 Tech takeaways