Top Five IT Priorities for 2025
The festive season typically gets us to start winding down and only think about the short-term. However, IT technology is always on the move, meaning as we head into the New Year, IT managers ought to keep an eye on their plans for the next four quarters. Nobody likes the feeling of scrambling at the last minute, so to help you transfer from fun festivities to a stress-free 2025, we have compiled a checklist for IT managers covering five essential priorities.
Windows 10 end-of-life
October is a bit of a spooky season, what with it ending in Halloween and all, but a bigger scare lies ahead on 14th October 2025 – support for Windows 10 will end. This means that after that date, Microsoft will no longer provide the following for Windows 10 users: technical assistance, security fixes, and free software updates from Windows Update. A device running Windows 10 will still work, but it will be less secure and likely experience an accelerated decline in operational performance, with no help provided by Microsoft.
If your organisation has not yet upgraded to Windows 11 it is highly recommended to do so sooner rather than later, and especially before 14th October. Not only will your organisation’s devices work less effectively, but they will also immediately become at greater risk of a cyber attack, which is a visible pattern that can be seen during previous Windows end-of-life transitions.
Windows 11 has been available since 2021 and is not just a copy of Windows 10 with support being continued – it also has its own features that benefit users, such as a new user interface, live captions during calls, and integrated passkeys across website and apps. We understand that comprehending all the features and discovering what is beneficial to you can be overwhelming. At FluidOne we are a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP), which allows us to not only sell Microsoft Cloud products, but also provide a full managed service from providing customer support to handling your licenses. To see how we can help you make the most of your Microsoft investment, try our free Microsoft 365 license review.
Rise of AI
New inventions, innovations, and developments emerge all the time but on occasion there are those that emerge that stand clear of the rest, clearly looking like they have the potential to reshape society. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of those innovations, and even though aspects of it have been around for a few years, the latest development of “generative chatbots” has been a big leap forward in the public consciousness. Any computer user can simply ask a question or put in a command and the chatbot endeavours to do it, with increasing levels of success and sophistication as the technology evolves.
ChatGPT is probably the AI chatbot that the average person is most familiar with, as they can freely access it through an internet browser. Another notable one is Microsoft 365 Copilot, which is built upon the same large language models as ChatGPT, but does not learn solely through information on the internet – if subscribed, it learns through your data across Microsoft apps, making it much more personalised to your style and way of working. It can be used to transcribe meetings and summarise it into notes, create content, draft emails, create customer support chatbots, generate reports, and much more. To find out in greater detail the ways that Copilot can benefit your business, you can read our recent blog for small businesses or watch our webinar: Learn how to 10x your output with Microsoft 365 Copilot.
No matter which AI software you decide to utilise, the benefits that have emerged for businesses over the last year are becoming difficult to ignore. 2025 looks set to be the perfect time to learn about the technology while it is still developing, so that it can be better incorporated into long-term business operations, rather than playing catch-up once the technology has become more firmly established.
Sustainable IT
As environmental concerns continue to gain prominence across industries and wider society, sustainability will play an increasingly crucial role in the future of IT consultancy. It’s not just about businesses being under growing pressure to adopt eco-friendly practices; many businesses themselves want to be sustainable. A key focus is organisations adopting green IT practices that reduce their environmental footprint while optimising performance. To have the biggest possible impact these policies should be enacted as soon as possible, meaning that 2025 is a great time to start.
One of the primary areas where IT can make an impact is through the migration to energy-efficient data centres. Data storage consumes a lot of energy, which is simply the nature of our current data-centric reality. Switching to cloud storage or shared data centres through hosting and colocation can at least prove to be the most sustainable option through economies of scale. Essentially, a smaller number of large data centres will operate more efficiently than if every business stored everything in their own on-premise servers.
Another area of focus will be eco-friendly hardware solutions. IT managers should recommend environmentally responsible hardware options that use less energy, are made from recyclable materials, and have longer life cycles, reducing e-waste. These solutions will be integral to reducing the overall environmental impact of IT operations, ensuring that companies not only meet regulatory requirements but also align with global sustainability goals.
Ultimately, the aim of these sustainable IT practices is to help businesses reduce their environmental impact without compromising on the performance or efficiency of their IT systems. By leveraging sustainability-focused IT solutions, companies can contribute to a greener planet while also reaping the long-term benefits of energy savings and operational efficiency.
Increasing Security Measures
Earlier we touched on migrating to Windows 11 as a way of ensuring that your organisation avoids any security vulnerability that will come with Windows 10 end-of-life in October 2025. However, it should not end there – it should instead be a catalyst for a more extensive review of IT and cyber security measures within an organisation. According to the UK government, close to a half of businesses and a third of charities experienced a cyber security breach or attack in the 12 months leading to April 2024.
The scale of cyber threats is so extensive that organisations cannot afford to simply sit back and react to attacks – breaches and attack attempts are so common as to almost be inevitable, meaning that organisations need to take a proactive approach to cyber security. This involves measures ranging from regular cyber assessments and monitoring to employee cyber training, which are just some of the services our dedicated cyber security sister company CSA provide.
Cyber security needs to be combined with IT security to form a broader policy that protects the organisation on all fronts. Both feature prominently in the concept of the Zero Trust Model, which is an example of a security framework that organisations can follow. The core principle of this method is to never trust, always verify. As well as putting the above-mentioned cyber policies at their centre, IT security features prominently through the implementation of multifactor authentication, mobile device management, firewalls, and a multitude of other methods our IT teams at FluidOne have extensive experience in implementing and managing. Establishing a framework avoids having an ad-hoc approach to security, ensuring that you are less likely to experience gaps in your organisation’s defences.
Backup and Disaster Recovery
Having a security strategy in place can help fend off cyber threats, but what if an attack is successful? Alternatively, what if your organisation experiences another form of disaster – such as a flood or employee negligence – that negatively impacts your data, digital assets, and IT infrastructure? This is where a disaster recovery plan becomes essential, with backup being both the most simple and essential aspect. It is prudent to review these plans alongside all other parts of your 2025 IT strategy to ensure alignment, making it more likely that your data is protected and recoverable, and that the whole organisation can recover as effectively as possible after experiencing a disaster.
A disaster recovery plan normally consists of the stages of risk assessment, deciding recovery objectives, actions, testing, and review. These need to be constantly reassessed on a regular basis so that the plan remains up to date. Common components within a disaster recovery plan include cloud migration, intelligent monitoring, data encryption, and backup.
Backup is especially important as it is the basis of disaster recovery. If data has not been backed up, then it can all be lost – everything from employee information to financial data. The volumes of data compiled today, and increased cost of many backup providers means that it can be an easy aspect of business operations to neglect. This can even happen inadvertently, with automatic backups to servers not switched-on or scheduled manual backups not being carried out. We understand that managing backups is both important and difficult, which is why at FluidOne we provide backup as a service, as well as a broader disaster recovery service, to keep your data safe and operations functioning even when the worst happens.
Conclusion
Having an up-to-date IT Strategy in place can enable your organisation to run more safely, smoothly, and successfully. Of course, every organisation is different and there are plenty of other steps that you can take to create the 2025 IT Strategy that best suits you, but we believe that these are among the most important five priorities that are universal.
At FluidOne, our Business IT and Enterprise IT teams consist of highly trained professionals that work tirelessly to maximise your IT operations. Whether you need advice on one highly specific issue or are interested in our managed services, book time to talk to me about your plans.
About the Author
Mark Chinery is FluidOne's Enterprise IT Head of Consultancy and has 20+ years' experience in advising customers on strategic change including implementation of complex Microsoft infrastructure.
Mark particularly enjoys solving complex problems in End User Compute (desktop/mobile/security) and server infrastructure.
