Second CDW Windows Vista Tracking Poll Reveals That Organizations Are Increasingly Confronting, Overcoming Adoption Issues
May 08 2007 - 8:00AM
Business Wire
CDW Corporation (NASDAQ:CDWC), a leading provider of technology
products and services to business, government and education, today
released the findings of its Second Windows� Vista� Tracking Poll.
The survey of 753 IT decision makers indicates that use and
evaluation of Windows Vista has increased by 8 percent over the
previous poll, with 29 percent of respondents indicating that their
organizations are currently using or evaluating Windows Vista.
Though positive end-user feedback outweighs negative feedback by a
two-to-one margin, the second poll also reveals increased concerns
regarding performance, patching and hardware requirements. The
First Windows Vista Tracking Poll indicated that 86 percent of IT
decision makers expected their organizations to adopt Windows
Vista, with 20 percent of organizations deploying the new operating
system within the next 12 months. Findings from the second poll
track to that adoption rate, with 1 percent of respondents stating
that their organizations have completed implementation already, and
another 19 percent scheduled to complete implementation within the
next 12 months. Six percent of responding organizations are
currently implementing Windows Vista with project schedules that
extend beyond 12 months, and another 13 percent of responding
organizations are not currently implementing, but plan to start in
the next year. Including the number of currently unscheduled
adoptions, fully 87 percent of responding IT decision makers state
that their organizations will adopt Windows Vista. �The Second CDW
Windows Vista Tracking Poll indicates that organizations are
confronting and overcoming the barriers to adoption in increasingly
complex and diverse computing environments,� said Harry J. Harczak,
Jr., executive vice president of CDW Corporation. �Like any major
system change, there is a curve for learning and leveraging new
features and the new ways to access older features. Maintaining and
increasing the pace of adoption will require Microsoft, industry
partners and lead adopters to share best practices for implementing
Vista smoothly and effectively.� In addition to data from the
second poll, the latest CDW Windows Vista Tracking Poll report
includes best practices from CDW Microsoft Engineers on overcoming
common implementation issues. Windows Vista Hardware Requirements
Customer concerns about Windows Vista hardware requirements saw the
greatest increase between polls. In the first CDW Microsoft Vista
Tracking Poll, concerns about hardware requirements ranked sixth
among concerns overall, with 28 percent of respondents citing the
issue. In the second wave, hardware concerns jumped nine points to
37 percent and moved to the fourth-highest concern. At the same
time, however, concerns about having enough money to migrate
dropped from 30 percent in the first poll to 25 percent in the
second poll. Though many organizations are tackling hardware
requirements within the confines of their existing asset refresh
programs, CDW Microsoft Engineers recommend the following best
practices to reduce the impact of hardware requirements on the
Windows Vista investment: Enable/disable Vista features based upon
hardware performance scores to facilitate a phased approach to
deployment Increase memory with ReadyBoost�, which uses USB devices
as an additional RAM resource Improve Vista performance by focusing
on RAM upgrades before adding other components Utilize Vista�s
broad configuration options to capture the core benefits that Vista
provides without hardware purchases or upgrades Windows Vista
Performance Improved performance and patching were among the top
perceived benefits of Windows Vista in the First CDW Windows Vista
Tracking Poll. The second poll indicates that fewer customers
believe Vista�s performance and patching capabilities are an
improvement, with 56 percent of respondents now citing increased
performance as a key benefit (compared to 63 percent in the first
poll). Thirty percent of respondents to the second poll cite
improved Windows Update as a key benefit (compared to 36 percent in
the first survey), while 25 percent mention improved patch
management as a benefit in the second poll (down from 31 percent in
the initial poll). Of interest, however, no other perceived
benefits had statistically significant declines or increases
between polls one and two. To ensure that organizations reap the
maximum positive benefits from their Vista investment, CDW
Microsoft Engineers recommend the following best practices:
Optimize the indexing feature by increasing scan depth and
frequency, while reducing the scope of each scan to improve search
performance and speed Significantly increase performance by
configuring ReadyBoost, which enhances performance by using a USB
device as additional memory Enable integrated Windows patching to
facilitate increased control over patch cycles Utilize offline
patching in concert with Windows Server Update Service to manage
patching globally rather than locally (i.e., client by client) The
User Experience Respondents seem to like using Windows Vista, with
positive feedback outweighing negative feedback two to one. Of
respondents implementing Windows Vista, 26 percent report either
strong positive feedback (7 percent) or some positive feedback (19
percent), compared to 13 percent reporting either negative feedback
similar to other initiatives (5 percent) or negative user feedback
(8 percent). Thirty-four percent report mixed views and 27 percent
report no feedback from users. To improve the user experience, CDW
Microsoft Engineers recommend the following best practices: Focus
on the configuration. Proper configuration of Windows Vista
features will substantially enhance the user experience Do not try
to configure/do everything at once. Vista adds thousands of new
features. Pick the features that provide the most value to the
business and implement those first Utilize Vista�s feature to
extend user rights without compromising system security or
administrative control. Administrative requirements will be reduced
Walker Information, in collaboration with CDW Corporation, executed
the second Windows Vista Tracking Poll between February 10 and
February 27, 2007. Seven hundred fifty-three IT decision makers
completed the survey, resulting in a margin of error of �3.5
percent at a 95 percent level of confidence. For a complete copy of
the survey report, please visit http://www.cdw.com/poll. For more
information on Microsoft Windows Vista, please visit
http://www.cdw.com/vista. About CDW CDW�, ranked No. 342 on the
FORTUNE 500, is a leading provider of technology solutions for
business, government and education. CDW is a principal source of
technology products and services including top name brands such as
Acer, Adobe, APC, Apple, Cisco, Fujitsu, HP, IBM, Lenovo,
Microsoft, Panasonic, Quantum, Samsung, Sony, Symantec and
ViewSonic. CDW's direct model offers customers one-on-one
relationships with knowledgeable account managers and access to
approximately 820 on-staff engineers and advanced technology
specialists who customize solutions for customers� complex
technology needs. CDW also provides same-day product shipping and
post-sales technical support. CDW was founded in 1984 and employs
approximately 5,640 coworkers. In 2006, the company generated sales
of $6.8 billion. For more information, visit CDW.com.
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