BMIT Technologies has been proudly regranted its ISO 27001:2013 certification.

But what does this entail? ISO stands for International Organization for Standardization and is the world's largest developer of International Standards for business, government, and society. Through its members, it brings together experts to share knowledge and develop voluntary, consensus-based, market relevant International Standards that support innovation and provide solutions to global challenges.

We have successfully managed to gain recertification in the ISO/IEC 27001:2013 which focuses on the requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining, and continually improving an information security management system within the context of the organization.

This certification also includes requirements for the assessment and treatment of information security risks tailored to the needs of the organization.

As the largest datacenter on the island, we are very proud to be recertified as this provides reassurance to all our customers. Every client we work with requires different solutions. So, we tackle each need with our expertise in technology, business strategy and innovation.

We propose and develop intelligent, secure infrastructure solutions, help build your internal capabilities and identify opportunities to enhance your business potential through the application of innovative technologies. This ensures a greater level of business management and progression.

Cloud services have proved to be an undeniable requisite and a positive shift for businesses of all sizes, with a high possibility of further acceleration in the near future.

There are various Cloud Services to fit different business requirements - from storage to computing, from AI to machine learning- not to mention the availability of SaaS (Software as a Service) platforms and solutions. Nowadays, software and IT infrastructures have reached a high level of complexity, and in this context, choosing the right mix between on-premise IT services and infrastructure and public and private cloud services, in order to find the optimal solution for your operational context, is a must.

Cloud-related debates have now moved from analysing of the pros and cons of a cloud approach to figuring which cloud approach will be most effective for specific business requirements.

Public Cloud

By now everyone knows the great advantages of public cloud in terms of costs and efficiency, of relying on a provider which provides you with an adequate Iaas (Infrastructure as a Service) or Saas solutions. One of the most significant advantages is the reduction of the management costs since the adoption of an IaaS implies a shift of costs from capital expenditure (Capex) to operating expenditure (Opex), An adequate IaaS infrastructure therefore allows you to significantly reduce the initial IT costs.

Beyond the economic advantages, there are also technical considerations to be done, which can even be more relevant: scalability, reliability, automation, continuous updates, non-existent obsolescence, and much more.

Public cloud services can work side-by-side to infrastructure hosted within a data centre, through a hybrid cloud set-up, therefore allowing for better manageability of the related physical hardware equipment, the maintenance costs of the hardware and its maintenance

Nowadays, from a technical point of view, there are very few services that cannot be migrated to the cloud.

The main services that are particularly suitable for a public implementation are the following:

Saas (Software as a Service):

This is a software distribution model in which a cloud provider hosts applications and makes them available to end-users over the internet. Microsoft 365 is probably the most famous product which falls in this category, but there are also other types of applications, such as CRM (Customer Relationship Management, such as Salesforce or Hubspot) and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning).

IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service):

This is a type of cloud computing service that offers essential compute, storage, and networking resources on-demand, on a pay-as-you-go basis. The IaaS enables you to avoid “important” investments which would eventually be necessary for building and maintenance physical infrastructure otherwise. In this scenario, the provider is responsible for creating and maintaining the infrastructure, while the user makes use of a powerful, modern, efficient, and highly scalable system.

PaaS (Platform as a Service):

This is the third cloud computing model, in that it provides customers with a complete cloud platform—hardware, software, and infrastructure—for developing, running, and managing applications without the cost, complexity, and inflexibility that often comes with building and maintaining that platform on-premise. The PaaS provider hosts everything—servers, networks, storage, operating system software, databases, development tools—at their data centre. Typically, customers can pay a fixed fee to provide a specified amount of resources for a specified number of users, or they can choose 'pay-as-you-go' pricing to pay only for the resources they use.

Nowadays you can either manage your IT infrastructure or delegate it to a service provider. A cloud service can effectively support the entire infrastructure, managing for example, Web Servers, Load Balancing, Failover, High Availability, and allowing you to manage everything from a single monitoring environment.

Private cloud

Although there are many advantages when using the public cloud, companies are usually reluctant to assign 100% of their IT resources and applications on such platforms. Also, as is often the case especially at migration stage, it is usually easier from a technical point of view to deploy a private cloud, rather than migrating to a completely public solution.

Nowadays, it is possible to create private cloud environments from which you can deploy almost any kind of applications. The private cloud therefore remains an interesting option for all those companies that might have concerns related to migrating to a Public Cloud.

There might be several scenarios where a Private Cloud fits best. By way of example: a company that uses applications that require high performance at a technical level.

Another example would be when main applications have a very predictable usage model, with low management and storage costs, and therefore the migration to the public cloud may not be the best option financially.

A third use case is security and compliance – it is usually best-practice to adopt a private cloud model if you want the highest degree of compliance and security for your data.

In all these instances, the data centres, with cloud solutions at local level, implemented with virtualization systems such as VMware, still might be the best solution.

Hybrid Cloud

Given all the above consideration, the best solution is often to implement a hybrid cloud strategy within a certified data centre.

As the Latin saying goes, “in medio stat virtus”, virtue stands in the middle.

Hybrid architectures are very appealing for companies that want to migrate gradually. A hybrid system is presented as an excellent solution even in such circumstances where there are “institutional” concerns related to security and privacy of the data. A hybrid system allows for a partial migration while keeping certain data on-premise and other data in the public cloud.

Ultimately, technology enables us to solve the same problem in diverse ways: the choice of the implementation strategy is therefore based on a series of technical, economic, and even "ideological" considerations. There is no right or wrong answer, but you can start off with considering the following points before deciding which cloud model will best suit your needs:

Identify the main use case: What is the purpose and the objective of the project (disaster recovery, backup, collaboration, primary storage, etc.)? It is necessary to define the strategic objective and draft a plan of how to reach this.

What information will be stored: is it data in use by users? What kind of applications do they power? Do these applications also work in cloud environments?

Identify the type of storage: If you have to support a project that provides data available to cloud native applications, probably object storage via public cloud will be the most suitable solution.

Compliance and Security: What type of data do you deal with? If you deal with highly sensitive and private data, it might be that storing it in the public cloud is not allowed from a compliance perspective. When a strict control over your data is required, a public cloud with servers in other countries might not be the best solution and is often illegal. A hybrid cloud setup set on a private platform enables organisations to actively restrict access externally and internally. However, most of today’s cloud providers offer maximum-security options, at a cost, to ensure that your data is stored securely. Depending on company policies one or the other is more suitable.

Scalability Requirements: A public cloud can scale exponentially within minutes. This flexibility in available storage can be beneficial if you are dealing with volatile data streams that need to be processed and stored. When you have a private cloud on premise, scaling up often requires additional hardware which can both be time-consuming and expensive.

Available Budget: Of course, budget is a key factor to consider. For example, installing a large Hadoop cluster on premises requires substantial hardware, employees to operate and manage it, as well as maintenance costs. A hybrid cloud setup often works with a pay-as-you-go system, which ensures that you only have to pay for the equipment used, sometimes even charged on an hourly, or even shorter, basis.

How can BMIT Technologies help?

Every client we work with requires different solutions. So, we tackle each need with our expertise in technology, business strategy and innovation.

Want to learn more about cloud? We can help you find the perfect fit for your business needs, get in touch with us or take a look at our various services.

Have you ever wondered how to make the most out of your local IT setup and public cloud? Or multiple cloud platforms? Learn how to harness the power of hybrid and multi cloud through this short on demand webinar hosted by the BMIT Technologies team in conjunction with Microsoft.

In this on-demand webinar, we take a deep dive into how hybrid and multi cloud setups can be used effectively to power IT solutions and grow businesses. We've also invited a guest speaker from our partner Microsoft to cover solutions currently enabling multi cloud setups.

So, what do we talk about in this webinar? We go over how to effectively use Hybrid and Multi Cloud, bring up use cases for hybrid and multi cloud architectures and go over Azure Arc and how Microsoft enables Multi Cloud setups.

Register here today to gain full access to this on-demand webinar and see how you can reap all the features hybrid and multi cloud have to offer.

Watch here

The more we move to the cloud, the more we are getting used to the fact that the cloud providers relieve us of many responsibilities. Such an approach has its pros and cons. A cloud provider is certainly able and willing to provide many services that would otherwise consume your IT resources. However, if you leave everything up to your cloud provider, no matter how reliable they are, you are greatly increasing business risks in case something goes wrong.

Many owners of SaaS applications assume that backup services offered by cloud providers are enough. However, this approach can lead to major problems. Backup is like an opinion – you should always have your own.

Reason 1. During disaster recovery, you need to be in control

The biggest problem with backup handled by your cloud services provider is that you are not in control when you need recovery. For example, imagine that a major natural disaster affects your cloud provider and some or all of your data in the cloud is lost. While your cloud provider will probably have an off-site backup, they will have thousands of other customers to serve at the same time. Who knows how far in the queue you are going to be?

If you have your own backup, it is only up to you how fast your business can be back to normal in case of any disaster or attack. If your business is highly critical, you may even have a secondary on-site or off-site location to switch to in case your primary one goes down and then you may use your own backup data to quickly activate the secondary site.

If you want to maintain business continuity, you must be the one in control. There is nothing more frustrating than seeing that you are losing your money by the minute and you can’t do anything about it but wait for a third party to resolve your problems.

Reason 2. You can’t move or reuse your backup data

When your SaaS provider backs up your data, that backup can only be managed with the help of that particular provider. On the other hand, if you use your own backup solution, you have complete freedom about what to do with the backup data. And, in some cases, this actually may make a huge difference.

For example, if you want to move your services from one SaaS provider to the other, all the old backups will be left with the old provider. After the move, you won’t be able, for example, to restore data from a year ago. If you use more than one SaaS provider and juggle your data and applications between them, that makes it even more of a problem because the backup data could change dynamically and future restores may be difficult and chaotic.

Last but not least, you may want to use your backup data to restore to other environments. For example, if you need a staging/test environment based on your current production environment, the easiest solution is to make a backup of your production environment and then restore that backup to staging. That would not be possible unless both environments are managed by the same SaaS provider.

Reason 3. You can’t be certain that your backup is secure

Your backup contains exactly the same confidential/sensitive information that you store in your live web application. Your SaaS provider probably only offers basic data safety measures like a simple web application firewall. The rest of security is in your hands (or in the hands of third parties such as MSSPs) – this includes regular vulnerability scanning, vulnerability assessment and management, etc. You can therefore be sure that your web application is well protected against malicious attacks. But can you say the same about your backup data?

Since in the case of a cloud-based provider you most probably have no direct access to the backup data, you don’t know how it is stored and protected against unauthorised access. If you’re in control of your own backups, you can make sure that they are just as well protected as your live data. On the other hand, when you select your own backup solution, even one managed by a third party, you can select one where you know much more about the security of your backup data.

Reason 4. The retention may be insufficient

It is very unlikely that typical SaaS host backup offerings will let you retain backups from a long time ago. However, it may be necessary for your business, for both compliance and operational reasons, to have access to backups from even several years ago. A SaaS host is unlikely to offer you such capabilities simply because most customers would not need them – and if you go for a custom retention period, the price may turn out to be far from cost-effective.

If you additionally introduce your own backup solutions, the only limit on retention is the amount of storage, which you can control on your own. You may also vary the backup by keeping the more recent data at an easily accessible location for immediate disaster recovery, and archive backups in an offline location, accessed only when needed for reasons other than disaster recovery.

Reason 5. Your backup plan may not be cost-effective in the long term

The biggest advantage of SaaS hosts is that your costs are proportional to the scope of their services. That means that if you have typical requirements, also in the case of backups, you are likely to spend less than you would for your own backup solutions and personnel to handle them. However, the moment that your requirements change, for example with the growth of your business, you may notice that to meet those requirements you have to spend a lot more, on a regular basis, than you would if you handled backups on your own.

If you expect your business to grow, you have to look into the future and predict what will happen when your applications multiply and your data grows significantly. Of course, you may want to switch or expand to your own backup solution then but you must remember that the bigger the amount of data and the more complex situation, the more work you will need to change or introduce your backup policy. It will be much more efficient if your backups grow together with your live data, at the same time providing you with all the benefits mentioned in the previous four reasons.

How can BMIT Technologies help?

Every client we work with requires different solutions. So, we tackle each need with our expertise in technology, business strategy and innovation.

Want to learn more about backups? Contact us and one of our experts will reach out and guide you accordingly!

In 1950, one of Britain’s most famous mathematicians, Alan M. Turing, proposed a test that could be used to evaluate artificial intelligence. In this test, a human judge observes a simple text conversation between two parties, knowing that one is a human and the other one is a machine but not knowing which one is which. Then, the judge guesses which party is the machine. If the guess is incorrect, the machine passes the Turing test.

Despite being more than 70 years old, the Turing test is still surprisingly applicable to certain types of artificial intelligence solutions, for example, virtual agent systems. By using advanced technologies in the development of such systems, their creators ultimately try to make them feel more human. Such technologies help the machines understand the conversation better, draw better conclusions, and ultimately serve the customer better.

Does the BMIT CX-VA virtual agent pass the Turing test? Give it a try and see for yourself if it would pass it for you.

The Power of Natural Language Processing

In the heart of every virtual assistant/virtual agent lies a natural language processing (NLP) engine. This is the element that lets the agent understand human input and behave appropriately based on that understanding.

NLP engines begin by pre-processing the text entered by a human. They tokenize it (break it down into smaller fragments), recognize parts of speech (verbs, nouns, adjectives, etc.), convert words to stems (root forms), and eliminate words with little meaning (such as articles). After that, the engine classifies the text, usually by assigning categories and/or tags.

Natural language processing involves several classification methods. For example, by performing sentiment analysis, the NLP engine recognizes the emotions within the text and can figure out whether the customer is excited, neutral, agitated, etc. Intent detection lets the NLP engine recognize what is the goal of the conversation, for example, whether the customer needs help or is just looking for some extra information. Topic classification assigns text to categories, for example, technical, financial, services, etc.

Thanks to these NLP capabilities, our virtual agent resolves the most common/repetitive queries by providing the right answers or routes the ticket to the most appropriate human agent. For example, using intent detection and sentiment analysis, the CX-VA can detect that the customer is aggravated and requires immediate help. Then, it can calm the customer down by saying that the ticket is recognized as critical and immediately routed to the dedicated staff/ department. At the same time, another customer that is just looking for current pricing information is served without the need to involve any humans.

One of the features that allows the CX-VA to stand out from the crowd is that it has access to over 100 languages (anke il-Malti!). This is enabled by its architecture being agnostic to the Natural Language Processing platform (NLP) it is set up to use. This allows the CX-VA to access any of the languages available via NLP engines from Google, Microsoft, IBM, or Facebook. We will choose the best platform for the language your business needs.

Together with the Human

The CX-VA will augment alongside and work with your human agents, allowing them to focus on real queries & VIP nurturing, dedicating the CX-VA to triage and handle the high volume, first-line repetitive queries without bias and emotional attachment. This way, the human factor can be used efficiently where it is most needed and the machine will eliminate the biggest causes of human agent frustration and burnout.

We designed the CX-VA so that it can learn more about the user. For example, if your customers are authenticated, the CX-VA will consider the entire conversation history, appearing to the customer as if it remembered the conversation that they had, for example, a year earlier. The CX-VA can also take a lot of other types of data into account, for example, the country that the customer is playing from.

Last but not least – the CX-VA is based on artificial intelligence. This means that it gets better with time. The more your customers use it, the better decisions it will make to help them. And to make it even better, you can lurk in the back and influence its choices to meet your specific/unique business branding.

Working Together – Working Better

While the CX-VA is very powerful on its own, it shines even more when you make it part of your customer support environment. For example, you can connect it to the CRM system and other solutions that you use to serve your customers better so that it gets as much contextual data about the customer as possible.

Using our REST API, you can make your agent work together with any system that supports REST. You can also greatly enhance the capabilities of the virtual agent. For example, you can use the API to allow the agent to perform multi-factor authentication (MFA) during the conversation with the customer.

Will You Be Talking to a Virtual Agent?

To see the CX-VA in action, just ask us for a free demo. We’ll be happy to show you its capabilities and help you learn how to make the best use of them in your business.

Oh, and we promise. We won’t be doing a Turing test on you 😉

Microsoft has announced that as of November 1^st 2021, they will be making some changes to the version requirements of Outlook application to connect to Microsoft 365 services. This means that some older Outlook versions will no longer work – and need to be updated.

What versions are impacted?

Microsoft is removing the capability of connecting with Microsoft 365 services for the versions below:

Outlook 2007
Outlook 2010
Office 2013 (15.0.4970.9999 and older)
Office 2016 (16.0.4599.9999 and older)
Office 365 ProPlus (1705 and older)
Office 365 Business (1705 and older)

If you are running any of the above versions, you will need to upgrade your application. Continue reading to see our suggestions and guide how to proceed.

What versions am I on?

First, let’s find out what Outlook version you are running:

For Outlook 2013 or higher

Open your Outlook desktop application
Click on “File” (Top left) in the tool bar
On the left-hand side find and click “Office Account”
On the right-hand side you should now see “Product Information”
Click on “About Outlook” icon to reveal more information and take note of your version build

For Outlook 2010

Open your Outlook desktop application.
Click on “File” (Top left) in the tool bar
On the left-hand side find and click “Help”
On the right-hand side you should now see “About Microsoft Outlook”

If you are using Microsoft 365 Apps or other M365 subscriptions with Apps included, then you do not need to take any further action since you will not be impacted.

Why is this change happening?

As Microsoft continue to evolve their Microsoft 365 services with new features, they introduce security enhancements and improved application stability. The result is that some legacy applications either become incompatible with the service change implemented or they pose a security risk to its users. Microsoft explain that “Support for basic authentication is ending to increase the security of Microsoft 365 by relying on modern authentication protocols, which are not only more secure, but also provide compliance and policy controls to help you manage your data.” - (read more here)

“We’re working on adding support for HTTP/2 in Microsoft 365. HTTP/2 is a full duplex protocol, which decreases latency through header compression and request multiplexing. On the service side, we’ll be able to better prioritize requests and more effectively push data to clients.”

My version is going out of support; what should I do?

BMIT suggests that businesses and users upgrade to a subscription-based monthly license for Microsoft 365 Apps or Microsoft 365 Business Standard. You can do so by visiting our online store or contact us so that we can analyse and provide you with a tailored recommendation.

Outlook 2007 and Outlook Outlook 2010 users have two options: either upgrade to Microsoft Apps for Business or if your organisation is highly regulated or user’s devices cannot take upgrades then we suggest upgrading to Office 2019 or Office LTSC 2021 (released September 2021).

Office 2013 users can upgrade their Version to 15.0.4971.1000 of Office 2013 (Service Pack 1 with the October 2017 Update)

Office 2016 users must ensure that their Outlook and Windows client is updated with the latest September 2021 PU (KB5001966)

Why should you upgrade to a Microsoft 365 Apps subscription?

As a result of the huge spike in remote working, both product vulnerabilities and malicious threats created new risksMicrosoft 365 Apps subscription users benefit from frequent product security patches and constant product updates delivering enhancements and new features.

Next Steps

If you know what you need to do, then just visit our online store to get the right product for you. If you would like further help or advice, please contact us and we will be in touch.

Some businesses leave their data completely unprotected and never lose it. Some people run across eight lanes of the Marsa bypass in the rush hour and reach the other side unharmed. In both cases, it’s a matter of calculating whether the cost of acting safely is worth it when compared to the probability and the cost of failure.

Based on actual evidence and case histories, there is a surprisingly large number of factors that can pose a threat to your data. The obvious and well-known factors are cybercrime, natural disasters, or hardware failures but some of the most common ones also include a simple human mistake (clicking the wrong option) or malicious internal actors (for example, a disgruntled employee that is about to be laid off).

There is no good way to protect yourself against such threats. People may be trained to be careful but there is always a chance that they will make a mistake. Employees may be treated well but there is always a chance that one will do something foolish out of spite. Even failure-protected hardware can fail – we’ve personally experienced a failure of two disks from a RAID 5 matrix at the same time. And in recent years, cybercrime has completely dominated the threat landscape with ransomware leading the flock.

Are you a potential target?

At the moment, ransomware is perceived as the biggest threat to the security of both businesses and individuals. While we often hear from the media about major cases such as the recent Colonial Pipeline attack, what escapes us is the fact that small and medium businesses are the most common targets – they’re just too small to make headlines. And it’s very rare to actually read a positive story about a business that came out of the ransomware attack without the need to pay and learn how they managed to do it.

Yes, you are a potential ransomware target. This is primarily because ransomware attacks don’t just come from big Russian hacker organisations. Anybody can attack you because ransomware is often available via the software-as-a-service model. This means that even a disgruntled ex-employee could access such a service, target you, and scramble all your data – all hiding behind a cryptocurrency-based anonymised system.

Local statistics also show that ransomware is a major problem for our islands. Based on data from 2020, 8% of Maltese internet users have been affected by ransomware between 2017 and 2020, compared to 1% in other EU states. This may be due to the fact that small and medium businesses, which are predominant on the islands, are an easy attack target when compared to large organisations due to having fewer security measures in place and smaller security teams.

How to protect your data?

There are many ways to try to avoid the impact of factors that may endanger your data. You can establish very strong security policies, you may double-check every action, you may use failure-proof hardware. However, while all these factors reduce the risk a little, they won’t help you recover. The only effective way of making sure that you can recover if your safety measures fail is to have a well-established backup plan.

However, ransomware authors know about backups. Ransomware software is specially designed to infiltrate the system, discover backup methods, and make its way into backups as well. The actual encryption event often happens with a delay, which means that even your last backup is very likely to contain and be restored together with malware. If so, your restored data is automatically encrypted again, making your backup plan utterly useless.

What and how to back up?

One of the most common mistakes that businesses make is backing up just key business data and leaving everything else unprotected, for example, operational data. In the case of an event that doesn’t just affect key business data but, for example, makes every computer in the company inaccessible, the lack of a complete backup means that you have to manually reinstall and reconfigure every single workstation, which makes recovery much longer and much more difficult.

To protect your data against all the threats, not just ransomware, your backups must be:

Complete – you can’t just focus on key business data.
Physically offsite – so you can avoid disasters that influence your live systems along with your backups. This includes natural disasters, accidents, power failures, etc.
Efficiently firewalled – there must be no way for malicious software to automatically access your backup.
Far-reaching – you need backups from several points in history so, in the event of a ransomware attack, you can find a backup that certainly contains no malware.
Monitored – security experts should monitor your backups for any signs of ransomware.
Well supported – in a critical situation, you need all the support you can get. Specialised third-party experts can help you bring your systems back online much faster and easier.

BMIT has your back with our backup solutions, which let you cover all of the above points. Our backup plans include managed backup for M365, backup for Office 365, backup for Azure and other cloud providers, backup for physical servers, backup for VMs, backup for workstations, and Veeam Cloud Connect. You can get full support with backup and recovery operations by taking advantage of our Backup-as-a-Service offering.

With our products and expertise, you can be sure that no matter whether it’s sea breams falling on your roof and causing a short circuit and fire, the interconnector failing during an important data saving operation, or someone demanding a ransom for decrypting your entire system, you can count on us to help you restore everything back to normal.

With the news that Scotland is to trial the 4-day working week, it is evident that changes in the work life balance are playing a major part in how businesses will start to operate, taking into consideration the issues related to people management as well as the financial impact this will have.

By adopting the experiences of Iceland and New Zealand, Scotland will trial the 4-day week without any reduction in pay. What does this mean for businesses? Do they have to employ more staff? Increase prices to retain the same net profit? Adopt new technologies and bring in innovative solutions?

On the flip side, will a 4-day week on the same income levels mean people have more time to spend more money? Increased input to the leisure and entertainment industries? Due to Covid 19, it has become evident that people who have more “free-time” spend more money on entertainment channels such as sports betting (when available), online bingo, lotteries and online casinos.

New business is always good news to operators but only if the right preparation is in place. This will bring greater pressure on their operations to cope with demand, closer monitoring of Responsible Gaming, increased registrations and KYC as well as unexpected inbound customer service volumes. Looking at alleviating such pressure whilst providing a truly world-class service allows for healthy wellbeing for the employees, while increasing revenue and customer satisfaction.

The CX Virtual Agent from BMIT Technologies is designed to help gaming operators achieve this balance. Designed to be indistinguishable from a human agent, this AI-driven technology equips operators with the capability to handle an increased volume of customer support queries – such as account interventions, player onboarding, compliance and responsible gaming checks – therefore allowing the customer support team to handle more specific customer requests and be more proactive. One key area where live agents can play a more effective role relates to player profiling. With other tasks assigned to an intelligent automation system, they can focus on more direct engagement with players, adopting a proactive approach to players’ acquisition, direct marketing of new games or offers and Increased player loyalty via bonuses and other rewards

How can BMIT Technologies help you adopt AI within your customer support?

Every client we work with requires different solutions. So, we tackle each need with our expertise in technology, business strategy and innovation.

Want to learn more about BMIT Technologies CX-Virtual Agent and its benefits? The CX-Virtual Agent is an additional resource in your customer service team and has the skills to handle requests and tasks on your behalf, as if it was a human agent. Read more about our CX-Virtual agent here or else contact us directly and one of our experts will reach out and guide you accordingly.

Microsoft have just launched a new cloud product - Windows 365, but what is Windows 365 and how can it benefit you on a day-to-day basis?

In a nutshell with Windows 365 feels like a cloud PC on steroids, where businesses are able to support on-site and remote working all at one go, by enabling an instantly available PC environment that can work on many different devices. This is ideal for businesses who have, or plan to have, a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy, that will save up on costs for the business and make life easier for the employee.

So how does Windows 365 work?

Simply put by The Verge - "Microsoft is putting Windows in the cloud". As a business you get the option to choose between 3 different plans – basic, standard, and premium. The differences between the plans lies in the ‘power’ the virtual PC has. You can see the different plans and their intricacies below.

Windows 365 Basic	Windows 365 Standard	Windows 365 Premium
2 vCPU 4 GB RAM 128 GB Storage	2 vCPU 8 GB RAM 128 GB Storage	4 vCPU 16 GB RAM 128 GB Storage
Access and manage the Cloud PC	Access and manage the Cloud PC	Access and manage the Cloud PC
Supports the desktop versions of Office apps, Outlook, and OneDrive	Supports the desktop versions of Office apps, Outlook, and OneDrive	Supports the desktop versions of Office apps, Outlook, and OneDrive
Supports the desktop version of Microsoft Teams (chat and audio calls only)	Supports the desktop version of Microsoft Teams	Supports the desktop version of Microsoft Teams
Up to 300 users	Up to 300 users	Supports Microsoft Visual Studio, Power BI, and Dynamics 365
		Up to 300 users

Windows 365 Business Cloud Plans

The main advantage to this is that all the security, processing and resources are being taken off the local machine and being handled by the virtual PC in the cloud. This enables employees to use their own devices or thin clients to get their work done, being at home, the office or anywhere in between. Windows 365 also natively supports some of the more popular products, such as the Office suite, Teams and OneDrive.

Windows 365 virtual PC can run on PCs, Macs, iPads, Linux, and Android device through a native Remote Desktop application. Windows 365 can also run on a simple web browser. Basically, as long as you have an internet connection you can connect to your Windows 365 virtual PC from literally anywhere.

What are the alternatives?

The obvious comparison one initially makes is comparing Windows 365 with the cost of buying a new PC, which at a glance may not seem worth it. Although, when factoring in the initial cost, upkeep, parts replacement, security, and a resource to manage all this, and the devices of an entire organisation the savings are evident.

A more apt comparison would be Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) since the technology is similar but the savings are much more significant.

How can BMIT Technologies help?

Every client we work with requires different solutions. So, we tackle each need with our expertise in technology, business strategy and innovation.

Want to learn more about Windows 365 and its benefits? Contact us directly and one of our experts will reach out and guide you accordingly!

As a leading technology provider we are proud to have been invited to make a contribution on the role of technology on citizenship at the State of the Nation conference, hosted by HE The President of Malta on Friday 4th June. In this speech I focused on various opportunities and threats that technology brings to the sphere of citizenship and residency, and the importance of vigilance on global social media platforms, as as a result of their increasing use to manipulate public opinion on matters of critical importance.

Follow the full speech in Maltese here.

Script

It-Teknologija Qed Tibdel Is-Sens Ta’ Ċittadinanza?

"Nixtieq nuża dan il ftit ħin biex naqsam magħkom ftit ħsibijiet rigward kif inhoss li t-teknologija tista qed tibdel is-sens ta ċittadinanza, u kif dan kollu jimpatta ir-relazzjoni bejn l-individwu, r-residenza u n-nazzjonalità.

Għal eluf ta' snin kien faċli li wiehed jidentifika ruħu skond fejn ikun twieled, u ma kien hemm ebda dubju dwar dan. Dak li ġie stabbilit fil-Greċja antika f’dak li għandu x’jaqsam ma’ prinċipji demokratiċi u ċittadinanza, serviena bħala referenza għal tul ta’ zmien mhux ħazin - izda aktar ma kien hemm zviluppi fit-teknologija, aktar din iċ-ċertezza bdiet tonqos – sa kemm wasalna fiż-żmien tal-llum, fejn l-access kontinwu, veloċi u irħis ghal-internet waslu biex ħafna individwi jistaqsu jekk verament art twelidhom tirriflettix huma min huma. L-aċċess għal informazzjoni ta kull tip, tat lil ħafna il-kapaċita li jiffurmaw opinjoni indipendentament mill-verzjonijiet li l-istat jew xi partit politiku jipprova jgħaddilna.

Mistoqsijiet li nħoss li wieħed jista jistaqsi f’dan il kuntest huma:

L-ewwel: “Għalfejn għandi nidentifika ruħi ma’ art twelidi meta l-maġġoranza tan-nies f’art twelidi jħaddnu prinċipji li jmorru kontra dak li nemmen fih jien?” jew

It-tieni: “Għalfejn fi zmien ta’ kommunikazzjoni u kollaborazzjoni diġitali wieħed m’għandux id-dritt jagħzel x’tip ta ċittadinanza jkollu, jew li jagħzel residenza fejn hu, hi jew huma jhossu li l-aktar jagħmel sens għalihom?”

Għalkemm dawn jistaw jinstemaw bħala mistoqsijiet ftit fit-teorija, ta’ min isemmi li diġa jeżistu kunċetti ta e-residency għal negozji, bħal dawk li huma offruti mill-Estonja, esklussivament online. Jista dan il-kunċett jigi estiz għal individwi, minghajr il-bzonn li jkun marbut ma’ kritejri ta rikkezza personali?

Lil hinn minn dawn il mistoqijet, li hu zgur hu li it-teknologija, u aktar min hekk, l-użu tat- teknologija kważi minn kulhadd bidlet id-dinja li ngħixu fiha, u l-ordni soċjali li għal mijiet ta snin stabbiliet rwoli differenti għal kull individwu u kariga. Inbidel il-mod ukoll kif iċ-ċittadin ihares lejn l-istat, u kif aħna bhala ċittadini nippretendu li l-istat, u r-rappreżentati tal-istituzzjoniiet, jaġixxu. Il-midja soċjali tat lil individwu l-għodda li biha jista' jgħid li jrid - jikkritika, jfaħħar u anke jweġġa - u welldet sistema ta' mikro-politika ġdida. Dan kollu jinstema bhala xi haga tajba, izda wiehed ma jistax jinsa il manipulazzjoni li spiss isir permezz tal midja soċjali.

F’dan il-kuntest wieħed irid isemmi ukoll l-użu tal-mezzi diġitali bħala għodda biex uħud jagħmlu definizzjoni ta nazzjon kif jogħgob lilhom – eżempju klassiku hu t-tip ta’ patrijottizmu malti definit mill-ammont ta kummenti razzisti li wiehed jara online, kummenti li tant saru komuni li għal xi whud saru xi haġa normali.

Punt li jidher li hemm kunsens fuqu hu li t-teknologija, u b’mod partikulari l-informatika, qed tibdel b’mod radikali l-erba’ dimensjonijiet li jiffurmaw iċ-ċittadinanza, jiġifieri: l-istatus legali li wieħed ikollu bhala ċittadin, id-drittijiet u obbligi li dan l-istatus iġorr miegħu, l-identita tal-persuna, kif ukoll il-parteċipazzjoni fi sfera politika u soċjali.

Aktar qabel diġa għamilt referenza kif dawn id-dimensjonijiet qed jigu impattati bit-teknologija. Ta’ min wieħed izid kif diġa għaddejja diskussjoni f’diversi sferi fuq jekk għandux ikun hemm ċittadinanza elettronika globali (jew “global e-citizenship”) biex tikkumplimenta iċ-ċittadinanza nazzjonali. Għalkemm personalment għadu mhux ċar għalija il-valur prattiku ta’ din it-tip ta ċittadinanza elettronika, jidher li l-ideja hi marbuta ma’ dak li tkun tirrapreżenta bħala valuri li wieħed iħaddan u mhux biss fejn ikun twieled.

Nixtieq issa ngħaddi għal-punt li, fl-opinjoni tiegħi, hu aktar ta’ priorita. Qed nirreferi għal użu, u l-abbuż, ta data personali biex jigu manipulati aspetti fundamentali ta’ kull nazzjon, bħal ma’ huma deċizjonijiet ta’ importanza nazzjonali, elezzjonijiet, jew opinjoni pubblika fuq policies li gvern partikulari jkun irid jadotta. Fuq naha hemm il-vantaġġ li deċiżjoni issa tista tittieħed fuq data ta vera, u mhux fuq opinjoni ta min jinstema jew jgħajjat l-aktar – u dan iwassal għal “data driven policies”. Min naha l-ohra hemm il-periklu li min għandu aċċess għal dik id-data jista jimmanipulaha kif ikun jaqbel lilu.

Każ klassiku hu Facebook – fejn il-kumpanija kienet kuntenta li tħalli manipulazzjoni sħiħa anke ta elezzjonijiet biex ma titlifx id-dħul mir-reklamar – u agħar min hekk halliet lil min jaċċessa u jimmanipula id-data għal dan l-iskop – bhal ma kien il kaz ta Cambridge Analytica. Ma ninsewx li dak li naraw fuq Facebook u midja soċjali oħra hu kkontrollant minn algorithm, li l-oġġettiv tagħha hu wiehed kummercjali u indipendenti mill-ġid komuni.

Dan l-aċċess għad-data b’mod pubbliku ġab fuq quddiem problemi li 20 sena ilu ma kinux jeżistu, bħal serq ta identita u targeted messaging għal skop politiku - dan tal-aħħar marbut ma aċċess għal data kunfindenzjali li kultant il-partiti politiċi jkollhom aktar minn kulhadd. Din it-taħlita ta data driven policies, viżibilta ta data personali minkejja kontrolli bħal dawk introdotti bil-GDPR, kif ukoll il-bumbardament kontinwu ta’ targeted advertising qed iwassal biex saffi sħaħ tas-soċjeta qed jigu kundizzjonati mingħajr ma jindunaw, a skapitu tal-prinċipji demokratiċi u s-sens ta valuri komuni f’soċjeta.

Nixtieq nagħlaq b’zewg suġġerimenti:

l-ewwel: inħoss li hemm bzonn aktar għarfien ghal kif ligijiet rigward privatezza qegħdin hemm biex jipproteġuna – ngħajja nisma kummenti fuq GDPR li juru li hafna lanqas biss ghandhom ideja fuq xiex qed jitkellmu, filwaqt li ohrajn juzaw dan in-nuqqas bhala skuża biex izommu lura milli jagħtu informazzjoni mitluba.

It-tieni: jista jkun li wasal iż-żmien li issir regolamentazzjoni aktar ċara f’dak li għandu x’jaqsam social media. Huwa ovvju li self regulation mhix taħdem, u għalhekk inħoss li hemm bżonn tibda diskussjoni lokalment fuq kif wiehed jista jiżgura li ma ssirx manipulazzjoni fuq skala kbira fuq suġġetti ta natura serja, kif semmejt qabel.

Nirringrazzja lil organiżżaturi għal opportunita li tawni li nindirizzakom kif ukoll lil BMIT Technologies li huma supporter ewlieni ta’ din il konferenza nazzjonali.