We’re willing to bet of all the things on your long to do list, doing a software update on your computer is not one of them. However, it probably should be.

Keeping your software up to date is one of the long running themes of this blog (alongside making good use of malware protection and ensuring you have super strong passwords).

For many updates, it only takes a few minutes to do. So these are our reasons why you should take that time and devote it to doing an update.

You probably have seen a lot in the news this year about hackers and cyber crime – one of the big stories of the year was around the data stolen by cyber criminals from Co-Op and Marks and Spencer amongst others.

On the face of it these news stories about cyber criminals seem to be quite removed from doing a software update on your computer – but are they?

The answer is, not really. Doing software updates makes sure that critical vulnerabilities in the software you use are fixed through the deployment of security patches. So whilst it is annoying to sit through the five to ten minutes your computer needs to update itself, it is keeping your data safe.

Keeping your software up to date is also an excellent way to ensure that things remain running smoothly for both your business and your clients.

Firstly ensuring that you do your software updates means that the software you are using is optimised and will keep things running efficiently. This can also extend over to how your computer functions – so that it takes less memory to run programs for example.

Updating software will also often bring in newly rolled out tools which can give you new functionality and improvements to your work. This is even more impactful when colleagues or clieants have also got these tools as it with improve collaboration.

It’s a learning and development opportunity

Taking the two points above together, its important to remember that doing a software update can have the benefit of being a learning and development opportunity for your team.

Firstly with new tools comes the opportunity of learning about new ways to work with colleagues and clients – this in turn can result in strong efficiencies for how work is done and is worth leaning into.

Secondly, doing that update is often primarily about security. Keeping the information held by your business safe and secure is an important responsibilty for any business and this is a good opportunity to remind your team of that obligation.

It can be easy to presume that it’s straightforward and obvious when a software update is required – sometimes this is the case as you will get a prompt from your computer to do it. However, it can be easy to miss when types of operating systems are getting phased out.

If you’re not entirely clear on what updates are required for your particular circumstances, WebbyTech is here to help. You can see the full range of services we offer here or contact us directly for a no obligations conversation.