The Unite Group News and Updates
Huntress Cyber Security Review: What UK Businesses Get for the Money (2026)
Huntress cyber security is a managed detection and response platform built for UK businesses that need enterprise-grade protection without an in-house security team. The short version: Huntress runs a 24/7 Security Operations Centre staffed by human analysts, and...
UK Cyber Security and Resilience Bill 2026: What It Means for SMEs and Their IT Suppliers
The Cyber Security and Resilience Bill is the UK government's most significant update to cyber legislation since the original NIS Regulations in 2018. It expands who must meet formal cyber security standards, tightens incident reporting timelines, and for...
What Is SoGEA Broadband and Why Is It Replacing Your Business Phone Line?
SoGEA stands for Single Order Generic Ethernet Access. In plain English, it is broadband delivered over the same fibre-to-the-cabinet infrastructure your business probably already uses, but without requiring a traditional phone line. You get the...
From Experimental to Essential: How UK SMEs Are Embracing AI in 2026
AI for SMEs has shifted from ‘something to try when we have time’ to a practical way to get more done with the same headcount. For UK SMEs, AI is now less about experiments and more about quietly handling admin, content and routine decision-making in the background....
Unified Communications: What It Is and Why SMEs Are Finally Using It
Unified communications brings your calls, video meetings, messaging and sometimes contact centre tools into one joined-up platform, instead of spreading them across separate apps. For UK SMEs, that usually means fewer missed messages, smoother collaboration and one...
What’s New in Microsoft 365 Copilot: How AI Levels the Playing Field for SMEs
Microsoft 365 Copilot for SMEs is essentially an extra pair of digital hands working across Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams and the wider Microsoft 365 app. It turns plain-English prompts into drafts, summaries, action lists and even workable spreadsheets. Therefore a...
Stop Business Email Compromise: How to Lock Down Your Microsoft 365 Mailboxes
Business email compromise happens when criminals trick or hijack real business email accounts to redirect payments or steal sensitive information. To stop business email compromise in UK SMEs using Microsoft 365, you need to lock down how people sign in, harden...
Beyond Antivirus: The Ransomware Defences That Actually Reduce Downtime
Ransomware defences that actually reduce downtime go well beyond ‘better antivirus’. They combine strong endpoint protection, modern monitoring, resilient backups, and a planned recovery process so you can get core systems back quickly, even if an attacker breaks...
Why UK SMEs Use Managed Service Providers in 2026: The Data and the Drivers
Over 60% of UK SMEs now outsource at least part of their IT function to a managed service provider (MSP), up from under 40% five years ago. The UK MSP market crossed £15 billion in 2026 and is still growing at around 12% a year. The reasons are specific: cyber...
Windows Server 2016 Support Ends January 2027: Is Your North East Business Ready?
If you still rely on Windows Server 2016, you now have a clear deadline. Windows Server 2016 end of support is 12 January 2027. After that, Microsoft stops providing regular security updates, which means any new vulnerability stays open on any server you have left on...
Safer Internet Day 2026: Promoting AI Safety and Cyber Awareness at Work
Safer Internet Day 2026 is a good moment to reset how your organisation handles AI use and cyber awareness at work. This year’s theme is about making safer choices with ‘smart tech’, which is exactly where most day-to-day risk sits: what people share, click, download,...
Identity Threat Detection (ITDR): The Cybersecurity Shift Your Business Cannot Ignore
Identity threat detection is about spotting and stopping attacks that target user accounts rather than the perimeter. Instead of only watching firewalls and antivirus, IT teams focus on unusual sign-ins, suspicious use of permissions and signs that someone is abusing...
How to Get Cyber Essentials Certified in the UK: 2026 Process Guide
Getting Cyber Essentials certified in the UK takes most SMEs between two and eight weeks, depending on how ready your IT environment is when you start. The process is a self-assessment against five technical controls, submitted through an IASME certification body,...
Business Broadband vs Leased Lines: Choosing the Right Internet for Your SME
If you're choosing between business broadband and a leased line, the key question is simple: how critical is your internet connection to daily operations? For many smaller organisations, good business broadband is enough. Once phones, Microsoft Teams, cloud...
How SD-WAN and Backup Connections Keep Your Business Online
If your phones, tills or cloud systems stop when the internet drops, you're exactly the sort of organisation that can benefit from SD-WAN. In simple terms, SD-WAN lets you use more than one internet connection intelligently, so if one link fails or slows, traffic...
On-Premise vs Cloud Phone Systems: A UK Guide (2026)
Cloud phone systems and on-premise PBX look similar in a demo and behave differently over five years. The short version. On-premise means a physical PBX in your building, one-off capital cost, and full control. Cloud means the PBX lives in a provider's data centre and...
Cyber Essentials Certification Body: What You Need to Know
What Is a Cyber Essentials Certification Body? A Cyber Essentials Certification Body is an accredited organisation that has been officially approved to assess, support and certify businesses against the UK Government-backed Cyber Essentials scheme. This...
Why Your Business Needs a Reliable IT Support Service
Whether you’re a small business or a growing enterprise, the right IT support service can keep your operations running smoothly. In addition, it boosts productivity and protects you from costly downtime. At The Unite Group, we believe technology should enable your...