Windows 10 is set for record levels of adoption, as half of businesses are planning to roll it out before the end of the year.
According to Gartner research, 50 per cent of enterprises will have started deploying Windows 10 by January 2017, making it the most widely-installed version of Windows ever.
A number of factors have influenced this decision, with awareness of support for Microsoft Windows 7 coming to an end in January 2020 being one of the biggest. As Windows 10 offers strong compatibility with Windows 7, the transitions across applications and devices will be a relatively straightforward one. As such, companies can future-proof their operations early, as running an operating system past end of support opens up a wealth of security concerns.
Touchscreens and ‘2-in-1’ devices drive demand
The trend is also set to be driven by growth in mobile and tablet devices, as well as pent-up demand for ‘2-in-1’ devices. In fact, Gartner also made the related forecast that touchscreens will be shipped on one third of notebooks by 2018. This can be attributed to incremental price decreases for touch-screen devices, making them become the norm. Consequently, prices on touch-screen devices will start becoming more competitive before the end of 2016, which will start impacting the market on a much wider scale by 2018.
For the Windows 10 rollout, Gartner expects companies to pilot the OS in H1 2016, before broadening their deployments between July and December.
Microsoft is likely to welcome the announcement, after chief executive Satya Nadella went on record to state his aim for Windows 10 to be installed on one billion devices within the next three years. It has reached 110 million devices already.
Commenting on the findings, Gartner research vice president Steve Kleynhans told theregister.co.uk: “For businesses, we expect that implementation will be significantly more rapid than that seen with Windows 7 six years ago.”
For further information regarding upgrading your business to Windows 10, speak to your IT support supplier or get in touch with M2 Computing 0845 034 2150 or enquiries@m2computing.co.uk.
