The research report, which is based on a survey of 260 US and UK IT professionals, examines the potential costs and security threats facing businesses that fail to prepare their systems for Windows as a service (WaaS) following the end of support for Windows 7.
Kollective found that 15% of IT professionals didn’t know about Microsoft’s plans to transition Windows to an “as a service” update model. Nearly a fifth (17%) of IT departments are also unaware that Microsoft will end support for Windows 7 on January 14th, 2020. Of those surveyed, 6% also say that while they are aware of the end of support, their businesses are yet to begin planning to migrate to Windows 10.
In regard to the report’s findings Kollective’s CEO, Dan Vetras, said: “With Microsoft describing Windows 10 as the ‘last ever’ version of Windows, it’s no secret that businesses will soon be moved over to a more fluid ‘as a service’ update model. While this means fewer major OS migrations, it also means a far more frequent stream of updates — with an average size of over 1GB. For many IT departments working with dispersed networks or within international organizations, installing such frequent updates on all of their endpoints simply isn’t possible.
“Businesses need to start preparing their infrastructure now to support future Windows as a Service updates. The fact that nearly half of IT teams have no plan in place is a real cause for concern."