IT Expert Voice

Deploying Windows 7 in an enterprise setting promises huge benefits, but it also brings challenges that IT managers haven’t confronted in eight years. Are you ready for them? We’re here to help.

Many businesses, large and small, dragged their feet on adopting Vista. The benefits never overwhelmed the cost and pain-in-the-butt of upgrading. Yet Windows XP has gotten very long in the tooth, and many IT managers (why yes, I do mean you) are ready for a version of Windows that really does take advantage of modern hardware, improves security, and gives the organization better control over user access. (Really, do we want to resort to putting caulk in USB ports?)

Yet, if you skipped Vista, it’s been several years since your company experienced (or, honestly, endured) an OS migration. Your company has undoubtedly hired many employees in the last eight years, so for a large segment of your user community, their only corporate PC experience has been with Windows XP. It’s your job to make the transition to the new operating system in such a way that they look forward to the change… and so that they’re glad when it arrives.

But you have plenty of challenges along that path. Some are technical, such as practical guides about the new Windows 7 features. Some are process-oriented, such as understanding the difference between the old way of doing things and the new ways to accomplish the same tasks (they’re better, we hope, but at the moment they’re all just different). And some have little to do with technology. Few IT problems are technical, after all; most problems are people-problems.

IT Expert Voice is here to help. Here, you’ll find guidance from experts who understand both the technology and the business challenges. Our techie experts have been working with Windows 7 full-time since the initial version was available. Our writers grok the issues faced by big companies; you’ll recognize most of them from their bylines in enterprise publications like eWEEK, InformationWeek, and CIO. And (apply the old fiction-writer adage of “show, don’t tell”) you’ll also hear sometimes from our sponsor Dell, as they demonstrate their deep knowledge of the technology and the deployment landscape.

This is going to be fun! I hope you’ll join us regularly.