Windows 7 Migration: Four Planning Tips
As you plan for your enterprise Windows 7 deployment, you can also clean house and improve efficiency. Here's a look at four key areas to consider.
CIO —
Despite enterprise affinity for the sturdy and reliable Windows XP, it's all but inevitable that Windows 7, shipping next week, on Oct. 22, will see significant business adoption in 2010. That's due to both Windows XP's age and the timing of PC hardware upgrade cycles. Analysts at research firm Gartner expect corporate demand for Windows 7 to gain full momentum by the end of 2010.
Consequently, Gartner recommends strongly that businesses start testing for Windows 7 now, citing that mainstream support for Windows XP ended in April and any support for XP from ISVs (independent software vendors) will dry up toward the end of 2011. In other words, if you stall, you will end up in a support crunch, Gartner says.
Microsoft is providing free tools to help with Windows 7 migrations. Still, planning for an OS upgrade remains a giant undertaking full of compatibility testing and budgetary strains. Gartner estimates that migration costs could be $1,035 to $1,930 per user to move from Windows XP to Windows 7.
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But a Windows 7 migration also presents a golden opportunity to clean house and become a more efficient business, says Christine Ewing, a director of product marketing at security tools provider Symantec.
Here are four steps you need to take as you plan for your business to migrate to Windows 7.
Figure out What Needs to Migrate and What Doesn't
Migrating to Windows 7 is so much more than installing an OS on computers and tranferring people over. It's a clean slate, says Symantec's Ewing, and a chance to look at where you are spending money and where you can save money.
"Many businesses have applications that they don't use but they are still paying license [costs] for," she says. "One of the pitfalls of an OS upgrade is migrating things you don't need anymore."
Ewing recommends forming a task force made up of an IT people and procurement people to take stock of the value of a company's hardware and applications.
"This is good time to do an inventory of the apps that don't need to be compatible with Windows 7. You can get rid of a good load of apps and save money on where you are unnecessarily spending on licenses."
Migrate What's Compatible First
One of the top barriers to deploying Windows 7 is application compatibility.
Organizations need to prioritize migrations according to which applications in their environment are Windows 7 certified and which are not, says Ewing.
