(13-Apr-10) Anxious to reap the oft-touted benefits of Windows 7, you may want to jump right into a pilot implementation. But to realize the maximum and most effective return on your latest OS investment and to ensure user buy-in for the initiative, it’s prudent to take a step back and test all your existing applications for compatibility.
No doubt you’ve standardized on many applications, from spreadsheets and presentation tools to word processors and customer relationship management. But how many IT executives can guarantee that end users are running only corporate-approved tools? Who truly knows how many user-downloaded tools, orphan applications, and customized programs lurk throughout your network? The only way to be certain, then, is a PC to laptop treasure hunt to locate all applications and test their compatibility with Windows 7 before entering the migration fray.
After all, 54% of IT executives cite application-testing as the most successful way to mitigate deployment problems, according to a March 2010 report by Info-Tech. While smaller businesses may solely depend on off-the-shelf software, larger companies’ software mix also often includes proprietary, customized, and non-IT installed applications, says Mark Tauschek, director of research at the London, Ontario research firm.