Cyber Essentials – becoming the standard
12 April 2025
Many years ago there was an accreditation called Microsoft Gold Partner. It signified that an IT Support provider who attained it knew what they were talking about. Notably, even non-technical businesses understood what it meant.
However, Microsoft then split the single Gold Partner accreditation into numerous sub-categories. They called them competencies, which made sense as it was highlighting an IT company’s specialism in each area, but frankly most people had tuned out at this point.
For a non-IT business, that clear quality standard now had caveats – “yes, they are competent in area A, but what of areas B, C, etc.? – and so the industry kite mark ceased to exist.
Until a surprising source came to the rescue – the UK government. Recognising the need for a mark of quality that non-IT businesses could use, they introduced the Cyber Essentials framework. In our office we call this ‘IT 101’ as it really is just a checklist of doing the basics right.
Which works really well – as that is exactly what non-IT businesses want to see. Any company can hold the Cyber Essentials accreditation, so now non-IT businesses can check with one another to see if their IT is meeting the basic standards expected. This has worked so well that now many purchasing tenders will require Cyber Essentials as a pre-requisite.
If you would like to gain this accreditation for your business then please get in touch on 01527 834850 or via info@armstrongbell.co.uk
You might also like to read our previous article on KonMari for IT, 14 March 2025
