Friday, September 20, 2019

streym-img

The 2020 Problem

So, the GDPR is in full swing and you’re up to date with your data protection responsibilities (we hope – if not, please do contact us). Unfortunately, there’s another important landmark looming that all businesses need to know about.


In 2020 all of the following software reaches the end of its life:

  1. Small Business Server 2011
  2. Windows Server 2008
  3. Exchange 2010
  4. Windows 7
  5. Office 2010

Did you know that nearly 1 in 3 business still rely on this software to function?

This is a big problem for businesses. Here’s what “end of life” actually means.

It means Microsoft will no longer support and fix the software. It will abandon it to focus its teams on supporting newer software. This creates four key problems for businesses still using it:


If it breaks… it’ll stay broken.


If you need support on a problem you’ve not come across before, there’ll be no-one there to help.Your business will no longer be GDPR compliant. GDPR requires that any software you use is suitable. End of life software doesn’t count.


This is the biggie – end of life software is commonly targeted by hackers. Because they can exploit old vulnerabilities, safe in the knowledge that Microsoft won’t spot what they’re doing and fix the problem. The end of security updates creates huge data security problems.

Get in touch with one of our London based IT support team for a free consultation about how to improve your businesses software situation.