2025 was a defining year for technology. From the rapid acceleration of private cloud adoption and growing security risk challenges, to major shifts in digital employee experience driven by Windows 11, businesses have been pushed to rethink what’s possible with IT.

In this Best of Explain IT 2025 episode, we revisit our biggest themes and most impactful conversations from the year, bringing together highlights from four standout episodes that shaped how organisations approach modern technology.

Including moments from:

Navigating Windows 10 End of Support (October)

We revisit our episode on Windows 10 end of support, featuring Softcat’s Kelly Calver and Ella Chew. This conversation explores how organisations should prepare for the transition to Windows 11, with a strong focus on application readiness, compatibility, and minimising disruption for end users.

Everything Data: From Strategy to Silos (August)

From our data-focused episode, Andy Crossley (Oakland) and James Wingham (Softcat) discuss why a clear data strategy must come before tackling data silos. The clip highlights how businesses can unlock real value from data by aligning technology with long-term business goals.

Streamlining Your Operations (September)

In this episode, Oli Meadows (Softcat) and Adam Sperring (ServiceNow) explore how organisations can streamline operations by thinking about service management across the entire business, not just IT. A must-listen for anyone looking to improve efficiency, visibility and outcomes through enterprise service management.

VMware Explore on Tour: is Private Cloud the solution your business needs? – Special Edition (November)

One of two special editions in 2025, this episode covers VMware Explore On Tour, featuring Richard Fraser (Softcat) and Joe Bagley (Broadcom). It dives into how a unified private cloud platform is driving innovation and helping businesses modernise securely and at scale.

About Explain IT:

Hosted by Helen Gidney, Head of Architecture at Softcat; Explain IT, where we talk tech in simple, jargon-free language.

Keep Listening:

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review — it helps others discover the podcast. You can also catch up on all the episodes mentioned here, covering topics like private cloud, VMware innovation, data strategy, and service operations.

We release new episodes every month, so make sure you follow the podcast.

Coming up: insights into AI-driven security, and how to maximise your technology investments ahead of the 2026 public sector year-end.

Thanks for listening to the Explain IT podcast from Softcat.

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