We’ve been aware of a price rise coming on Microsoft 365 subscriptions since last Autumn, but they have only now confirmed the details – less than a month before the new prices come into play. As is typical with this kind of pricing these days, there’s a myriad of variables that dictate the price and we’ve spent a busy two weeks with our clients ..read more

At our BNI networking group we give a 45 second presentation each week on our company - yes, just 45 seconds! It used to be called an 'elevator pitch' (in the 1980's I think...) - the idea being how would you pitch your company if all you had was a short elevator ride with someone you wanted to get the attention of? I don't ride many elevators(!) but it's a good ..read more

Have you had an IT issue that affected your operations for days or even weeks? Maybe the internet is down, or  email, but the resultant effect that’s it had on business is tangible. The question at that point is why hasn’t an alternative solution been put in place? Our view is always to do what we need to to get the business back and up and running, and ..read more

Two is better than one – if you’ve ever temporarily lost the use of a part of your body like an arm, leg or eye, then you can likely attest to that! At Control and Shift we’ve long extolled the virtues of using two or more screens on your office desk. It’s not a gimmick – it absolutely makes you more productive. I don’t know if ..read more

In any sector, when there are multiple suppliers involved problems can arise. Nowhere is that more true than your technology with internet providers, hardware manufacturers, software developers, telephony providers, website designers and leasing companies just some of the parties we regularly encounter while providing IT support to our customers. Those suppliers each have their own ..read more

Now for some companies, there can still be good reason to have your own server running, but in 2021 that’s an ever-decreasing list. The option to move your business onto the cloud is cost-effective, removes the support, energy & maintenance costs of running your own server, and makes sharing information with your customers and suppliers easy & secure. I have ..read more

We have been involved with BNI networking groups since 2007 and they have been a valuable source of new business. Since June 2020 Control and Shift has been part of the Rainbow BNI group based in Worcester, although up till last week our meetings have been online. Last Wednesday we met in person for the first time, and it was the first time many of us - myself included - had met face to ..read more

I got a call yesterday from a new client that things were not going smoothly with them giving notice to their current IT. They sent me all their current contracts and asked for advice. Looking through these there were two themes – long, long contract lengths tying them in for years – and the almost incomprehensible amounts of money they were being charged. If the ..read more

We get a lot of compliments about our name, but a bit of confusion too: “Hello is that Shift + Delete” (nope) “Hi, is that Shift + Control” (getting closer) “Hi is that Control + Sh…” – I can’t tell you how that one ends as they left the ‘f’ out and that just made us sound ..read more

It was a couple of years ago now, but I was shown a quote from another IT support provider to a company I was in talks with. Their solution involved a new server for this 10 person business – at which point you already wonder if that solution is a bit much for that size of business. However when I saw the quote I was amazed to see that they’d been quoted on a high-end ..read more