Our exercise obsessed Director David Hall has put his passion to good use this year. He’s pouring his energies in to raising money for a brilliant local charity – Milton Keynes Hospital Charity Cancer Centre Appeal – who are aiming to raise a huge 2.5 million pounds of the 15 million required to build a designated cancer centre at the hospital.
Council Modernisation Training Day
Cloudy Group are pleased to be working with Sally McLellan at Wolverton & Greenleys Town Council (WGTC), we recently migrated them to Microsoft Office 365 Cloud, please read our latest blog post from Sally regarding the councils experiences…
Moving to Office 365 – a Council’s View
Cloudy Group are pleased to be working with Sally McLellan at Wolverton & Greenleys Town Council (WGTC), we recently migrated them to Microsoft Office 365 Cloud, please read our latest blog post from Sally regarding the councils experiences…
Microsoft Enterprise Mobility and Security
Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security
At Cloudy IT we are proud to offer Enterprise Mobility + Security (EMS), an all in a one identity mobile management and security solution from Microsoft which is licensed on a per user base. Â
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In today’s world the majority of employees in our workforce prefer to be able to have the flexibility to work and complete tasks on the go. Using Laptops or mobile phones gives us that flexibility. However, this rise comes with an increased security risk. And since mobile devices are so small, it’s easier to lose them—and the data they contain. Microsoft’s Enterprise Mobility + Security (EMS) is the solution to all these problems. The cloud-based program promotes mobility while ensuring security, allowing administrators to easily manage accounts, change passwords, and monitor data.Â
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What is included?Â
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Azure Active Directory Premium  Â
Azure Active Directory is a comprehensive, highly available identity and access management cloud solution. It includes core directory services, advanced identity governance, and application access management. You can manage your network without a server. Â
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Azure Rights Management (RMS)Â Â Â Â
Azure rights management helps secure your data such as files and emails by using authorisation policies, encryption and identity even when it has left your network. This will also help you stay compliant with new GDPR regulations.Â
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Advanced Threat AnalyticsÂ
ATA provides information on what is happening within your network by identifying suspicious user and device activity. Built-in intelligence helps against targeted attacks by automatically analysing, learning, and identifying normal and abnormal entity (user, devices, and resources) behaviour.Â
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Intune MDM – Mobile Device Management Â
Microsoft Intune manages and protects data and application on any device including mobiles, tablets and laptops. Deploy, manage and even wipe corporate data from any managed device.Â
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SSO Single Sign On Â
Centrally managed passwords for all your applications across all your devices. Self-service portal providing secure single sign on to all your applications. Â
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The Benefits of EMSÂ
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Managing ApplicationsÂ
EMS is integrated with more than 2500 of the leading SaaS applications. This means companies can provide more customized application packages to their users, all with single sign-on enabled.Â
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Work anywhere, anytimeÂ
With an EMS system, employees can access their data and applications from literally anywhere in the world. Working from the comfort of your own home has never been easier! Â
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Single sign-onÂ
With single-sign on, employees can access all their registered applications with just a single identity. Ultimately, this simplifies identity management and enhances employee productivity.Â
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Data protectionÂ
EMS is easily integrated with Android, IOS, or Windows operating systems. It provides protection to all these devices and with remote data wiping, usage alerts and notifications, active threat analytics, and data tracking, EMS ensures that all your company data remains protected.Â
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Reduced costsÂ
Perhaps the most important benefit of EMS is the reduced cost of managing teams. With EMS, the cost of infrastructure decreases, as all data are shifted to the cloud. IT departments also no longer having to worry about micromanaging users. Above all, EMS helps companies save considerable sums by reducing the risk of data breaches.Â
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Conclusion Â
These are just some of the main benefits of EMS. In short, EMS aligns your business with modern workplace requirements. If even some of your employees work remotely and use mobile devices, as many people do nowadays, integrating EMS is essential to ensuring that your data remains protected at all times.Â
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To speak to us about EMS or any security issues you might have please call us on 01280 830107.  To visit our contact page click here.
CLOUDY GROUP ARE ON THE ROAD… WELCOME TO SWYX PARTNER AND TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE 2018!
CLOUDY GROUP ARE WINNERS OF THE TOP UK PARTNER AWARD AT THE SWYX PARTNER AND TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE 2018!
The Cloudy Group are on the road again at this year’s Swyx Partner & Technology Conference in Hanover Germany this week. Managing Director, David Hall and telecoms expert Denis Polgar headed to Germany this week to attend the conference and to pick up the prestigious Top UK Partner award.Â
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The Swyx Unified Communications solution from CloudyComms, which uses VoIP technology, lays the foundation for futureproofing your organisation’s communication platform. The system comes with continuous upgrades and updates and with additional options and add-ons, Swyx is designed to evolve alongside your company.Â
What is Swyx? (pronounced Swix)
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This state-of-the-art technology allows you the flexibility to connect with both modern SIP connections from your service provider or via an established ISDN telephone network for handling external voice communication. And whichever you choose, Swyx never compromises on the quality of your call.Â
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Swyx isn’t only there to give you the best possible voice calls – as well as instant messaging, it enables faxes to be sent directly from applications with a print option, making traditional facsimile systems obsolete. And with Microsoft Outlook integration you can scan documents to your contacts inbox as .PDF or .TIFF files.Â
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Swyx can be customised to create a unique look and feel for your telecommunication platform that is in keeping with your brand. Users can then add speed dials and line buttons to suit their needs.Â
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A personal voicemail system is available for users, with extensive functions. Voicemails can be sent as an attachment to an email address to be retrieved by the recipient. Messages can then be forwarded, answered, saved or deleted. Alternatively, users can retrieve their voicemail messages by remote access via telephone or the SwyxIt! app.Â
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Cloudy group are one of the top UK  Swyx  partners having previously won the 2017 &
now the 2018 partner award.
Swyx partners are certified network or telecommunication retailers that have been trained by Swyx and therefore authorised to distribute SwyxWare. Our skills allow us to support users in technical and sales matters. Being a Swyx reseller, we are qualified consultants to our customers.Â
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If you would like more information about how cloudy can improve your telephony solutions then contact us using the button below or visit the Cloudy Comms website here.
MANDEVILLE SCHOOL YEAR 10s TAKE ON THE APP-PRENTICE CHALLENGE & DESIGN THEIR OWN APP FOR THE SCHOOL
MANDEVILLE SCHOOL YEAR 10s TAKE ON THE APP-PRENTICE CHALLENGE & DESIGN THEIR OWN APP FOR THE SCHOOL!
In under three days, Mandeville School’s Year 10 student group have managed to design, market and build a working prototype of a mobile App that will serve a purpose for the school.
The year group took part in the App-prentice Challenge from 16 -18 July led by local businesses, Cloudy Group and partners: Microsoft Education, Technovisual Education and Buckinghamshire Thames Valley Local Enterprise Partnership(BTVLEP).
Competing in teams of 10, the 110 students took up the challenge using the resources on hand from the 34 members of staff, 90 ICT workstations and 18 Microsoft Surface Pros they had dedicated to supporting them.Â
Jackie Campbell
Skills Development Manager at BTVLEP
“This is such a fabulous challenge!. It has encompassed the development of so many vital skills including team work and leadership, project management, independent learning, innovation, adaptability, problem-solving, time management, communication and presentation skills. All of which are so important in whatever career or next steps the students choose.  The insightful and inspiring challenge has brought to life careers in this vital growth sector and has connected Cloudy Group to tomorrow’s workforce.”
Mark Vanstone
Technovisual Education’s Managing Director and event leader for the Design sub-team
“For those who are interested in careers in technology, game or software development, the App-Prentice Challenge has provided the students with a real-life insight into what it’s like to work on the development of an app. Â
It has been exciting to witness how these young minds have taken to the challenge and pieced it all together, working in their teams. They have shown great flexibility in how they’ve adapted to being taken out of their comfort zone and focused on solving an issue. It’s been fascinating to see how well they’ve engaged with new digital tools and business ways of working, as well as how they’ve used the marketing principles they’ve learned to “brand” and create their final app with the end user in mind.“​
The commitment and motivation of the students shone through in how much they were able to achieve in only a few days. The creative thinking, organisation and entrepreneurship were evidenced not only in how quickly students took up using the new technology and software, but in how they worked with their team to produce some exceptional app ideas that were proudly on show in the final exhibition and presentation pitch to the judges.
Tanya Albert
Senior Marketing Manager at The Careers & Enterprise
“The App-Prentice Challenge has been a fantastic event to attend. It is clear to see how much preparation has been made, how each student has identified and understood their role, and how some have also mastered the art of pitching. These types of event are a great opportunity for young people to develop the skills they need to help prepare them for the world of work.”​
79% of participating students surveyed said they would recommend the App-Prentice Challenge to other schools. When asked how helpful the programme has been to help them make decisions about their next steps in terms of education, training or work, 87% were positive it had.Â
Chris Penson
PSHCE, Careers, and Critical Thinking Coordinator at The Mandeville School
“This has been a fantastic experience for our students. As the first Year 10 Enterprise event, this pilot has proven how worthwhile it will be to do again.
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“We’ve seen students engaging with their work in new ways as they’ve absorbed themselves in the project over the last three days. They’ve clearly enjoyed themselves whilst also pushing themselves academically and practically to take on the challenge and compete with their peers. It was great to see how empowering the technology and insights from the business partners have been for our students.”
All students have been awarded with a certificate of achievement in recognition of their hard work and aptitude in using core competencies that will be useful in future education and employment.
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12 students were recognised for their outstanding commitment to the project and will be awarded with a “pizza party” on the last day of term.
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The peer prize went to team “Equipo Seis” who will have their lunches paid for at the upcoming end of year school trip to Thorpe Park.
Aaron Hussain
Team “Equipo Seis”
“This programme has improved my leadership skills. As I was Project Manager I have had to assign roles to my team and trust them with their work. I have gone over their work and was very happy, so I have been happy for my role and happy with this programme.”
The judges’ winning team (“Black & White”) and team in second place (“Group 4”), will be rewarded with an exclusive day trip to the Microsoft offices in Reading. There, the 20 students will have the opportunity to explore and create in the unique spaces of the office and learn more about some of the applications, tools and digital skills that will support jobs of the future and these individuals throughout their lives.
Amy Simon
Sales Excellence Manager Intern at Microsoft Education UK
“We’ve seen fantastic enthusiasm and teamwork from all of the students involved in this challenge and we’re delighted to be able to offer these young people the chance to put their creative skills to the test, using the latest technology. This programme has helped to build new skills, which we’ve seen the students apply in various tasks, not least their use of Microsoft applications and devices, which could be a huge advantage for their future career prospects.“
In keeping with BBC’s The Apprentice show, Cloudy Group will be “hiring” one person from each of the winning teams to develop the winning app proof of concept.
David Hall
Director of Cloudy Group
“It’s a wonderful coincidence that both winning teams came up with similar app ideas around revision guidance for students. We’re delighted to be able to invite the two winning candidates to the Cloudy Group offices for a week’s employment over the summer holidays. Our welcome new “App-Prentices” will be developing a joint, fully functioning mobile app that they and their peers will be able to use in school in future.
We’re proud to be part of such a rewarding challenge and to see the students get involved with such enthusiasm. The results have exceeded our expectations and we look forward to what the future holds for these students, as well as in taking the App-Prentice Challenge further“
Andria Hanham
Principal at The Mandeville School
“This enriching learning experience has been a great end to the school year. The school is very proud of our Year 10s who have responded well to an inspiring event.
We expect our students to continue to work with our local business partners and for our school to also benefit from the new revision app that has been researched, embraced and built by our very own accomplished Year 10 entrepreneurs.“
For more information, please contact:
Kirsty Forshaw, [email protected]
Mob. 07920 092928
Please also visit:
2018’S APP-PRENTICE CHALLENGE OUT TO PUT YOUNG MINDS TO THE TEST WITH TECH
2018’S APP-PRENTICE CHALLENGE
OUT TO PUT YOUNG MINDS TO THE TEST WITH TECH
BUCKINGHAM – Buckingham’s own Cloudy Group is very happy to announce the 2018 App-prentice Challenge, taking place 16 – 18 July this year, at Mandeville School in Aylesbury, Bucks.Â
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Cloudy Group and its partners Technovisual Education and Buckinghamshire Thames Valley Local Enterprise Partnership (BTVLEP) will be supported by Microsoft to challenge 150 Year 10 students to create their own mobile apps. Â
“As part of the curriculum changes taking place at The Mandeville School, we have implemented a new careers strategy across the whole school,” says Chris Penson, PSHCE, Careers, and Critical Thinking Coordinator at Mandeville. “One aspect of this is to ensure our students have the opportunity to work with, or see, local businesses in action.”Â
Much like the popular BBC show The Apprentice, teams of 10 will compete to make their own apps which will be judged on how useful they are to the life of the school. The winning team even has the potential for their idea to be made into a real app that serves a legitimate purpose for the school.Â
This is the first year that Mandeville have run a Year 10 Enterprise event so bringing in local business like Cloudy Group and Technovisual Education – not to mention Microsoft – is expected to have a significant impact on the students’ learning.Â
“When I started organising the Year 10 Enterprise Activity, I had no idea it would grow into something this substantial,” Penson says. “I know our students will not only enjoy themselves, but will benefit from this session academically.”Â
“CloudyGroup is thrilled to be the driving force behind this project,” says David Hall, Director of Cloudy Group. “Working with young people is something we’re incredibly passionate about. It’s great to have this opportunity to encourage young people to use their creative skills alongside modern tech.”Â
Jackie Campbell, Skills Development Manager at BLVLEP adds: “Employer engagement in developing enterprising challenges like this is invaluable, and this fantastic programme promises to encourage student’s creative thinking and entrepreneurship skills whilst also giving them a valuable, practical view of working in the IT industry.”Â
The three day programme is designed to give young people a taste of life in the modern digital workplace, and all the hope, challenge, and joy that goes into creating work digitally.Â
“Microsoft is proud to support this project and work with the Cloudy Team, Mandeville School and all the partners involved,” says Ian Fordham, Director of Education, Microsoft UK. “A team of Microsoft specialists will be on hand throughout the event to help students grow their digital skills, develop their apps and help transform potentially game-changing ideas into reality. This is a fantastic way for us to work with business partners to give something back and invest in young people to ensure they are equipped with the skills they need to enter the digital economy.”Â
Mark Vanstone, Director of Technovisual Education and a developer of The Official F1 Timing App also suggests: “As young people prepare themselves to work in business these days, they need to be more well versed in how those businesses operate and the technology they will be using. Technovisual Education is proud to be part of a project that helps give these students a real insight in to how to use those skills.”Â
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For more information, please contact:Â Â
David Hall, [email protected]Â
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Please also visit:Â
Cloudy Group – Building Tomorrow’s Cybersecurity Today
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Cloudy Group attend Infosecurity Europe, Europe’s biggest IT security exhibition Â
Cloudy Group Director, David and our newest engineer, Charlie both attended the Infosecurity Europe last week, which was held at the Olympia, London. Companies from all corners of the information security industry turned up to learn about the very latest innovations, and of course, to do business. Both David and Charlie jumped at the opportunity to travel down to London to attend some of the complementary learning programmes of more than 240 different seminars which targeted every segment of the industry.Â
The theme for this year was ‘Building Tomorrows’ Cybersecurity today’ which informed us on how to align infosecurity with our client’s strategic business objectives and overcome the latest challenges. Here at Cloudy IT, we are dedicated to keeping abreast of new innovations in information security technology solutions, which is essential for providing business continuity and data protection for our clients should malicious malware or other threats attack their systems.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”1323″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1527768843366{padding-top: 50px !important;padding-bottom: 50px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”1337″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1528801704017{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]To protect our clients’ data from multi-vector threats, all our solutions use Webroot BrightCloud® threat intelligence. This is currently the most powerful threat intelligence architecture in the world and is not only trusted by us at Cloudy IT but also by top network and security companies like Citrix, Cisco, HPE and more. Cloudy IT are confident that we can keep businesses safe by stopping never– before – seen threats before anyone even knows they’re there!Â
The show provided us with business-critical insights, best practice case studies that can be brought back to the office and used to enhance the service of security we offer to our clients. Speakers included information security thought-leaders like Ben Russell, Head of Cyber Intelligence at the National Crime Agency.  Private and public sectors, end-users, government analysts, industry experts, service providers and vendors like Cloudy Group all took up the opportunity to learn more about protecting information and data for their clients.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1528804193599{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]
This was definitely one of the top events for information security professionals like Cloudy Group as we are always working to improve the security service we offer and to keep up to date on the latest regulations and trends.
Looking for advice on how to improve the information security for your business? Browse our website or call us on 01280 830107[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”1334″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Creating coders of the future with Cloudy Academy
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This morning saw the first Coders Club, part of Cloudy Academy which was held at Bourton Meadow School in Buckingham.
This amazing workshop lasted 2 hours and the children leave with worksheets to take away and try at home and hopefully a newfound knowledge of coding. Our newest Cloudy Group engineer Charlie joined award-winning educational software developer, Mark Vanstone, from Technovisual, Matt and Sam from S4A and 12 enthusiastic children eager to learn!
Our aim is to inspire a new generation of young minds to get excited about computing and the digital world. Cloudy Academy works in the local community to support and encourage activities for young people, and we are so grateful that Buckingham Town Mayor Jon Harvey has this same ethos. He has been busy promoting the Coders Club and joined us for the first session this morning and enjoyed it so much he may well stay for this afternoons’ one!
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”1303″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1527768843366{padding-top: 50px !important;padding-bottom: 50px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”1314″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1527768819634{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]All children should have the opportunity to learn how to code, regardless of who they are or where they come from. This club gives the children the opportunity to share ideas and build their knowledge of coding. They also got to hang out with their friends during the half-term break and to learn something new.
Using Raspberry Pi to help them learn programming was a key part of the day. Raspberry Pi is a small and affordable computer that the children used to help them learn programming. Another great part of this club today was that so many girls attended. There are so many girl coders out there and we hope today has inspired girls to realise girls code too! We’re looking forward to many more Coders Clubs this Summer, so if you’d like more information about this and Cloudy Academy just visit here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Bringing modern ways of working to you
As a company, we are continually looking for opportunities to bring new technologies and smarter ways of working to our clients. Just last week Director David Hall was invited to attend the Microsoft Modern Workplace Training and Networking event in London. This was a chance to meet with experts from Tech Data and Microsoft. There was also, an opportunity to network with experts across other collaborative products and vendors and find out how to help take our clients’ business successfully to the Cloud.
Cloudy Group is dedicated to building a modern and responsive workplace for our clients through our partnership with Microsoft. Imagine a work environment where there is improved creativity and collaboration. Improved user experience of IT, and all this while protecting IP and importantly, ensuring compliance with GDPR. Providing employees with modern tools and flexibilities results in higher engagement and productivity which is great for everyone. Even the CEO of Microsoft Satya Nadella says “Productivity is the engine of human progress. The promise of technology is to help us get more done, with less effort”
By bringing our clients the Microsoft Modern Workplace we can help them to discover how to deploy, support and manage the Office platform, by using Windows as a core part of their productivity platforms. With the increasing threat to data, we’ll help to simplify IT environments by unifying management across all users in order to safeguard data and intellectual property – all this is done with built-in security.
With this in mind, we are building a brand-new website and taking the  CloudyIT arm of our company in a new and innovative direction. Keep an eye on our news page for more exciting updates about the initiatives and technologies we’ll be sharing with you. In the meantime, enjoy the cheesy grins from David whilst he was attending the training session.
       
      
By Sam Hall, Lead Copywriter
