Our September quarter: a new face, a settled office, and the dates ahead

Author

Linden Jackson

Managing Director, Agile IT Solutions. Helping Australian SMBs run technology deliberately since 2007.

Each quarter we set down two things: what changed inside Agile IT, and the dates coming up that affect the businesses we look after across Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula. This update covers July to September 2026. The first half is a register of what we did, not a highlight reel. The second half, the quarter ahead, is the part worth keeping: every dated change we expect to land on a 5-to-50-staff business running Microsoft 365 between now and the end of December, each with its source.

What changed at Agile IT

A new face in Client Services. Wil Hoy joined our Client Services team in August. Wil looks after general customer service and phone calls, onsite deliveries and assistance, quoting and ordering equipment, and a good deal of what keeps the office running. If you call us or take delivery of new equipment, there is a fair chance you will deal with Wil. We are excited to have another team member in the office.

Settled in at Watt Road. We are now fully up and running from our new office at C6/41 Watt Rd, Mornington, which we wrote about during the fit-out. It is great having clients and suppliers visit for a coffee and a chat, and the offer stands if you are passing through.

Welcome back, Camerons. We are pleased to welcome Camerons Blinds and Awnings back to Agile IT. Camerons is a family-owned business in Carrum Downs that has been making and installing custom blinds, awnings, shutters and outdoor shading since 1985.

What we shipped. Most of the quarter’s work was about making it easier to see what we do and what we are accountable for:

• Ask Agile IT, a chat assistant on our website that answers questions about our services and points support requests to the right place (July).
• A Request a Quote page, and a support hub that puts our Client Portal and remote support in one place (July).
• Our AgileMANAGED response times, published in full, including the difference between a response and a resolution (September).
• A Compliance Obligations page setting out the rules that apply to Melbourne businesses, and a Compliance category on this blog (September).
• AgileREMOTE is now AgileCORE: the same service under a clearer name. We also launched AgileASSURE, our self-managed IT offering for businesses that run their own IT (August).
• A plain account of what “Your Business IT, Our Responsibility” means, including where our responsibility stops (August).

Out in the community. We attended Next Level 2026, the SMBiT Professionals conference, and wrote up what we learned. In August we were at the B.I.T.E Business Conference at Mornington Racecourse, and we were a Gold Sponsor of the Frankston and Mornington Peninsula Business Festival, where I gave the AI keynote.

Next on the calendar: Letecia Jackson and I, the owners of Agile IT, are looking forward to Fusion Mornington Peninsula’s gala dinner, A Night in the Vines, on Friday 16 October at Dromana Estate Winery. We have written about why we are backing it.

The quarter ahead: October to December 2026

These are the dated changes we expect to affect a small or medium business on Microsoft 365. Two of them started on 1 October, so the first job is to check nothing quietly stopped working.

• 1 October: new Tax Practitioners Board powers. From 1 October the TPB can pursue civil penalties for breaches of the Code of Professional Conduct, issue infringement notices and accept enforceable undertakings, among other new powers. For an accounting practice, the practical question is whether you could show the reasonable steps you take to protect client information.
• 1 October: Exchange Web Services off by default. Microsoft began disabling Exchange Web Services in Exchange Online tenants that had not chosen to keep it on. Older add-ins and third-party apps that read mailboxes or calendars through it may stop connecting. An administrator can switch it back on for now, but Microsoft shuts it down permanently on 1 April 2027 and says there will be no extensions.
• 13 October: Office 2021 and Windows 11 24H2 Home and Pro. Office 2021 and Office LTSC 2021 reach end of support, and Windows 11 Home and Pro version 24H2 stops receiving servicing, according to Microsoft’s lifecycle list. Computers on either need upgrading to keep receiving security updates. If any PCs in the business are still on Windows 10, they have been unsupported for a year.
• 2 November: Copilot usage billing on by default. New Copilot Business licences bought through a Microsoft partner come with pay-as-you-go usage billing switched on. We covered the three decisions to make in setting the cap before someone else does.
• 10 December: privacy policies and automated decisions. If a computer program uses personal information to make, or substantially help make, decisions that significantly affect people, your privacy policy must say what kinds of information and decisions are involved, under the OAIC’s APP 1 guidelines. Not every small business is covered by the Privacy Act, but more are than most owners expect.
• End of December: basic authentication for sending email. Microsoft will disable Basic authentication for SMTP AUTH by default in existing Exchange Online tenants. That is how many older printers, scanners and business apps send email using a stored username and password, and each one needs moving to a modern method before the switch.
• 31 December: Copilot Business promotional pricing ends. Microsoft’s promotional pricing on standalone Copilot Business runs to the end of the year. If you are weighing it up, remember that anything bought after 2 November arrives with usage billing on.

The two email changes are the ones most likely to cause a surprise. A scanner that stops sending, or a calendar tool that stops syncing, rarely announces why. For a manufacturer in Dandenong South or a broking firm in Brighton, the fix is usually quick once someone knows what to look for; the cost is in the hours spent before anyone connects the fault to a Microsoft change.

Where we fit

Working through dates like these, and deciding which ones need action in your business and who owns them, is what our AgileSTRATEGY reviews are for. The security-related items sit with AgileSECURE. We are based in Mornington and look after businesses of 5 to 50 staff across Melbourne and the Peninsula; you can see where we work. If you are not sure whether any of these dates apply to you, start with a conversation.

Frequently asked questions