How long does it take your organization to roll out a Windows application update from request to completed deployment?
If your answer is less than 40 days, you’re doing better than most. Research shows the average manual rollout time sits around 42 days. That includes a full day to package the application, another for user acceptance testing (UAT) and QA, and half a day to publish it in the app catalog. But the real delay isn’t the tasks themselves—it’s the wait and communications required to progress them that really defines how long it will take.
In many organizations, the application readiness process grinds to a halt as tasks wait in queues for the right people to become available. There’s a very good reason for this. The people running these processes are highly technical and in high demand. Usually, organizations only have one, or at most a small number, of people who are capable of doing these tasks. The sheer number of Windows applications that need managing means that the backlog is never-ending, and this creates queues where only the most pressing priorities make it to the front of the line.
That’s why more and more organizations are choosing automation as their path to modernization. And from our work at Juriba, we’re seeing what a successful journey looks like.
You can’t modernize what you don’t know exists. The first step is to conduct a comprehensive inventory of your application estate. Tools like Juriba's Digital Platform Conductor (DPC) help uncover all installed applications: managed, unmanaged, duplicated, outdated, or simply unused.
This stage often reveals hidden costs and risks, including duplicate licenses, old versions still in use, shadow IT that has flown under the radar, and, critically, unmanaged apps that may expose your environment to security vulnerabilities.
By mapping everything out, you can compare the results to your Windows Application Catalog (if it exists) or use this step to make one, and prioritize updates and remediations based on risk.
Application packaging, testing, and publishing traditionally take around two and a half days per app. But with automation, you can slash that down to minutes. Using tools like the PowerShell App Deployment Toolkit alongside Juriba App Readiness, you can standardize and streamline this entire process.
In fact, Juriba can package and test an app in minutes and queue it for deployment on your schedule. We recommend running a pilot first with a handful of non-critical applications. This helps validate your workflows and build internal confidence.
When teams see automation in action, the impact is immediate. Suddenly, they're managing more applications with greater control and less stress.
At this stage, your apps typically fall into three groups:
After a successful pilot, it's time to scale. The goal is 100% coverage through automation. You’re now continuously publishing, tracking usage, updating, and retiring apps with an efficient, repeatable process. Everything from the initial request through to the deployment itself should be mapped out and automated wherever possible.
Resulting automation processes also help eliminate shadow IT. Most businesses only start managing a Windows app once it’s installed on 10 or more machines. That leaves thousands of unmanaged apps lurking in the background. By using automation and analytics, you can bring them under control.
Juriba App Readiness can also publish packages directly into your deployment tool, allowing phased rollouts by date, user group, or deployment ring (pilot, early adopter, production). Meanwhile, real-time analytics let you monitor application health and flag anomalies instantly.
Once your new process is live, it’s essential to measure the change. Compare your application coverage rates pre- and post-automation. Look at how much time and cost you’re saving per application. Quantify the risk reduction.
Most organizations we work with already have strong technical teams and at least some inventory tools in place. They’re not starting from scratch. The missing link is often just automating the inefficient steps that drag out the update process.
Once that gap is closed, the gains come quickly.
Modernizing your Windows application management doesn’t need to be overwhelming. The tools and talent already exist inside your business. The key is giving your team the power to do more with less through intelligent automation.
At Juriba, we’ve helped hundreds of companies take this journey, and no two paths look the same. But the outcomes are consistent: shorter rollout times, reduced risk, lower costs, and a more agile IT function.
Ready to modernize your enterprise Windows application readiness approach? Learn how Juriba App Readiness can automate and accelerate your application modernization journey.