Now Auld Lang Syne is out of the way for another year, there’s another countdown to look forward to. Except this one doesn’t involve champagne and party poppers.
This time next year, half of all businesses are going to be affected by a big problem.
In fact, IT professionals are calling it the 2020 problem.
Some of the most commonly used business software is coming to the end of its life in 2020.
And when it does, it will no longer be supported by Microsoft.
That means that anyone still using that software will be in big trouble. Not only will there be nobody to fix it when things go wrong (and it’s inevitable they will). But out of date software also means your business won’t be compliant with GDPR.
So, all that effort you made to tick all those data protection boxes last year will count for nothing.
And then there’s the hackers. Cyber criminals love companies who don’t upgrade old software because it leaves them extremely vulnerable to attack.
Those who continue to squeeze their end of life software right down to the very last breath are easy prey, and once the cyber baddies spot a way in, they’ll happily swoop down and create carnage.
Here’s a list of the software that’s going to expire in January 2020:
- Windows 7
- Office 2010
- Exchange 2010
- Small Business Server 2011
- Windows Server 2008
If you don’t know what software you’re using, don’t panic. Checking is easy. You can find out what version of Windows you’re using just by looking at your screen. We’ve put together a handy guide to the 2020 problem which has a simple visual way for you to identify if your business is at risk.
