Many end-users are already using Windows 11 on personal devices, but uptake in the enterprise space remains a little slow. An ad software and monitoring platform, AdDuplex, has reported that only 20% of Windows PCs have been updated to Windows 11. It’s the uncertainty around what is required to kick start enterprise-wide migration that has many hamstrung.
The benefits that Windows 11 brings with it are great, but Microsoft’s ongoing support for Windows 10 until, at least 2025, and the seemingly complex task of getting an enterprise environment ready is slowing migration plans.
Technology has advanced, and bad memories of Windows 10 migrations, cost overruns and open-ended project planning should not be factors that are allowed to determine Windows 11’s fate. The challenges appear so great that you may find enterprises often get stuck in the planning phase of major operating system change projects.
Here we look at the best path to migration for organizations of all sizes and guide you in having successful conversations with your enterprise customers.
The Windows 11 Enterprise Challenge
Windows 11 has delivered several world-class enhancements, making it one of the most efficient and collaborative operating systems ever. If you’ve used it on a personal machine, you may agree; however, deploying an entirely new operating system across multiple devices in many environments of an enterprise is not that straightforward.
Malfunctioning apps, poor migration experiences, outdated devices and insufficient budget allocation for replacement hardware are just some of the things that deprioritise migration for many IT departments at this stage.
Understanding The Environment Is Critical
It all starts with understanding. Understanding the compatibility of hardware and applications with the new OS to design the rollout plan and prioritizing application testing is a challenging task in itself, but then using that information to drive a velocity migration can be even more challenging.
In an ideal scenario, you should know what you’re up against before trying to solve it with client teams. The process can be intensive, but it needn’t be a manual one. This is why Juriba developed the suite of Windows 11 Assessment products to help speed up understanding and minimise the disruption to client environments.
By gaining a clear picture of the work, challenges, and timeline, you can help your client budget more accurately. As a result of better planning, you are more likely to achieve a rapid deployment. Automated, accurate scheduling and rollout orchestration reduces stress and mitigates risk but, most importantly, helps project teams avoid unexpected delays and budget overruns.
How To Get Your Organization To Windows 11
Start strong, finish strong. Driving clients’ business innovation and migrating to Windows 11 takes place in five areas:
- Audit and assessment – typically spreadsheet-heavy
- Application testing and packaging – manually intensive testing and packaging of hardware and software
- Project management – more spreadsheets
- End-user engagement – emails, phone calls, surveys, and more spreadsheets
- Deployment and scale – another labour-intensive manual process.
We automate most of these steps with our Juriba workplace automation platform. The assessment uses the Juriba Dashworks hardware assessment and AppM application testing and packaging automation engines to deliver a low-cost, fixed price outcome, cutting months off planning and assessment readiness.
Running assessments and planning more accurately with your clients is where real, quick win business value is realised.
Understanding The Hardware Audit And Assessment
Microsoft’s minimum support criteria may be low, but our assessment can be tailored to ensure that applications in the client environment that require higher specifications on hardware are catered for. During this process, a complete list of makes and models can be assessed quickly, providing an accurate summary of which hardware needs and upgrade and accurately budget for it.
Application Testing And Packaging
On-premise, in the cloud or within live environments, testing scenarios can appear daunting for teams to tackle. Testing needs to cater to all scenarios to ensure that any application packaging and repackaging for migration will not introduce unplanned delays. Juriba Dashworks quickly shows which devices are ready to go and AppM will show which packages need to be re-formatted to work in the Windows 11 environment.
Workplace automation modernises how you help clients manage end-user IT change, provide better planning and budgeting paths, and provide upfront assessments of where gaps exist. Automation frees up time for internal IT teams to focus on the real reason they are there which is to solve business challenges with technology rather than occupy their time with manual processes. Best of all, for clients it’s cheaper than adding headcount, and encourages IT teams to focus on delivering business value using the latest tech and not the perceived challenge of large-scale migration to a new OS.