Why do the same IT issues keep happening?

Recurring IT issues usually happen when problems are fixed at symptom level, not root cause. Without proactive monitoring and trend reporting, the same underlying misconfiguration, capacity issue, or workflow mismatch keeps triggering repeat incidents.

What is the difference between reactive IT support and Managed IT Services?

Reactive support responds after users are impacted. Managed IT Services combines support with proactive monitoring, preventative maintenance, and structured improvements so issues are found early and repeat causes are removed over time.

How do you actually reduce downtime, not just respond faster?

You reduce downtime by preventing the failures that cause it. That means monitoring, patch and update management, capacity management, security tuning that fits real workflows, and a root-cause process that verifies issues do not return.

What should we measure to prove downtime is improving?

Track incident volume, repeat incidents, time-to-resolve, and the top causes of disruption by impact. A good Managed IT partner will also report on prevented incidents, device health trends, and recurring-issue elimination over time.

How long does it take to see fewer recurring issues?

Most businesses see improvement within 30–90 days when repeat offenders are targeted first. The key is prioritising the highest-frequency issues, applying permanent fixes, and monitoring outcomes so the same problems do not reappear.

9 April 2026 | IT | Tony Pearson

Why Laptop and Phone Prices Are Rising

Why Laptop and Phone Prices Are Rising (And What You Can Do About It)

If you’ve priced laptops, phones or IT hardware recently, you’ve likely noticed two things:

Prices are noticeably higher than they were even 6-12 months ago
Availability and lead times are less predictable

This isn’t a short-term spike. It reflects a wider shift in how technology is being used globally.

What’s Driving These Changes?

The biggest driver is AI.

AI data centres require far more memory than traditional systems and are now consuming a significant, previously unforecasted share of global demand.

At the same time:

Memory production is concentrated among a small number of manufacturers
Manufacturers are prioritising high-performance memory for AI workloads
Capacity cannot be increased quickly

Put simply: Supply cannot keep up with demand

And this is now affecting more than just RAM.

As production is redirected, availability is reduced across other key components, such as SSD storage and graphics memory.

These are essential parts of all modern devices, which means the increase in component costs is now feeding directly into the price of:

Laptops
Desktops
Servers
Smartphones
Tablets and other everyday devices

What This Means For Pricing

Memory prices have increased significantly over the past 12 months, in many cases by over 80%.

The graph below shows how server-grade memory prices have increased over the past 12-15 months, with higher-capacity memory seeing the sharpest rises.

Article body image

This is now feeding directly into device costs:

Laptop manufacturers are expecting price increases of 15–30%
Higher-spec devices (32GB+ memory) are seeing the biggest increases
Lower-cost devices are becoming more limited in availability

Some of these increases have been delayed by existing stock, but as that is used up, pricing pressure is continuing to build.

This isn’t expected to correct quickly, with prices more likely to remain at current levels or increase further before stabilising over the next 12-24 months.

How The HBP Group Is Adapting To This

Because of this, we’ve had to adapt how we quote and supply hardware:

Laptop quotes are valid for up to 7 days
Laptop stock availability may change week to week
Server quote validity will be confirmed at the time of quoting by your account manager, but is typically between 48 and 72 hours
Quotes may need to be reissued if delayed

What You Can Do

If you take one thing from this, it’s this: Planning ahead matters more than ever.

In practice, that means:

Budget for higher hardware costs than previous years
Plan hardware purchases 3-6 months earlier
Bring forward known purchases where possible
Speak to us early to secure pricing
Review SaaS or cloud options if they were already being considered

Final Thought

This can feel frustrating, as much like other market-driven price changes, such a fuel prices going up, it is largely outside of anyone’s control and there is very little we can do about it.

However, the businesses that manage this best are the ones that plan ahead, budget appropriately, and avoid being forced into reactive decisions.

If you’d like help reviewing your upcoming hardware needs or timelines, speak to our team - we can help you understand what needs to happen now and what can wait.

Posted by Tony Pearson

Tony Pearson is Chief Service Delivery Officer at The HBP Group, with over 25 years of experience leading high-performing service delivery teams. Having spent nearly three decades at HBP, including more than 26 years as Group Operations Director, he brings extensive expertise in IT operations, customer experience, and service improvement. Tony shares insights on cybersecurity, service delivery best practice, and the real-world decisions UK businesses face when managing IT risk.