Apparently, there’s never been a better time to be a PC. There may also never be a better time to be a systems integrator. However, the inclusion of some core functionality may bring about pitfalls for some software and managed services vendors.
On the back of the obligatory marketing blitz, Microsoft has upgraded its core Windows platform offering to Version 7. Initially, there appears to be a collective sigh of relief and the early feedback is generally positive despite a few niggles.
With over 8 million beta downloads, 40,000 hours of customer experience work, months of working with partner ecosystems and over 500 million client feedback sessions, Microsoft has certainly attempted to reveal more during the development process and to use the customer as the guiding light.
Interestingly, Microsoft took an alternative approach by focusing on the customer concerns first: security, reliability, compatibility and speed, and needing the PC to “just work” and not hinder them. Then, and only then, did the obligatory “feature fest” come into play, with offerings such as multi-touch, remote streaming, DirectAccess, Search Federation, BitLocker and group sharing.
Beyond the impact of the global financial crisis on discretionary spend, there has been a distinct drop-off in organizational uptake of regular transitions to the “next” Windows release.
There are many XP instances that are eight years old or more – a consequence of the general rejection of the transition to Vista. With Extended Support for XP due to be phased out by Microsoft in 2014, the clock is ticking and pent-up demand for a new platform certainly exists. Enterprise customers signed up to Software Assurance also want to see something for their money, especially if they missed out on Vista.
From an IT services providers’ perspective, particularly those offering systems integration services, this could well be the shot in the arm that initiates a wave of implementation work moving into 2010 and beyond, especially when aligned with the current hardware refresh cycle.
After substantial training from Microsoft, systems integrators are now able to provide a suite of services to help minimize the pain of what could be one of the first large IT projects after the global financial crisis.