Saturday 6 May 2017

Move to Windows 10 Even If Not Comfortable

Windows 10 has landed in the market with several advantages over the Windows 7 version. The biggest change is the approach of Microsoft who has stopped considering computers as the only target. Realising the advancements of technology users towards an app based ecosystem where the users can move swiftly between mobile devices and the pc, they have created an app based operating system in Windows 10. They have also introduced Cortana, the virtual assistance which understand voice commands very well.

However, all of these have one combined effect, Windows 10 is becoming the most helpful operating system in the world in no time. This means that employee productivity touches a new high with Windows 10. This is why every company should invest in Windows 10 transformation and they are. Some of them are hesitating because they aren't very sure if their internal applications would run smoothly on the new OS. This is natural because these applications actually are the revenue earners for those companies.

However, there is another factor to be considered seriously by the companies and that is the data security. Windows XP has stopped receiving supports in 2014 and Windows 7 also retired this year. Which means these two OS will not receive any updates. That makes these operating systems very insecure. While ease of use and habit of using are greatly beneficial for employee productivity, ignoring security threats is surely not a prudent call. Even if it takes little acclimatisation, companies should invest in migrating to Windows 10.

Advantages of Using SCCM Management


SCCM is widely used technology for maintaining a group of computers over the internet or any other type of networking. While internet is all what we think about, there is intranet and also LAN and WAN to think of. In fact, WAN can have hundreds of computers connected together and it would be a network admin’s worst nightmare to attend to those computers one by one for a group job. If an application is malfunctioning due a reason of its own, a bug or a misfiring code, and the computer is not to be blamed, it is understood that every used would face the problem. This is when a mass management of all the networked computers is necessary. This is when SCCM asset management becomes indispensable.

System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM, also known as ConfigMgr), is a Microsoft product which is freely downloadable from the official site. The site also hosts a complete range of wiki, how to, popular scripts, troubleshooting materials and tutorials for the network admins to use. Thus, with minimal amount of scripting, any network-wide update or upgrade can be pushed. This makes life very easy for the admins. They can push the updates to the complete network or can select multiple PC at once and can determine when to execute the updates. This is far better than manual attendance because often these computers are at another location, even another continent.

Why Companies Fear To Test Windows 10 Compatibility

Windows 10 is the latest offering from Microsoft and looking at how strongly it is promoting the operating system, it is here to stay. It is evident by the fact how Microsoft has taken off the support for both Windows XP, their most popular and successful operating system till date and Windows 7, a worthy successor. It is allowing personal users to upgrade to Windows 10 for free, it that means anything to you. Thus, if you are living in the Microsoft ecosystem, you need to embrace Windows 10.

This can be little tough for some companies, especially those who depend on internal software to run their business. The internal software might be dated and was created to work well in Windows XP or 7. While many programs offer excellent compatibility with Windows 10 as well, there are certain compatibility issues always. They originate from how the core architecture behind the operating system changed. And Windows 10 has changed a lot from the Windows 7.

It is not easy to upgrade the internal software, because of the simple fear, if it breaks down, the company operation would come to a standstill. Which means, the revenue generation of the company is halted. This is why professional agencies should handle the Windows 10 compatibility. They will check the compatibility, upgrade as needed and then check in a closed simulated environment before deploying the updated version. One4 thing is for sure, Upgrading to Windows 10 compatible ecosystem is highly recommended.

Legacy Applications Must Be Updated But With Care

Legacy applications are those which have served their purpose previously but look horribly outdated and outsmarted. People still go for it at times, simply because they have been using that for last 2 decades. For example, the great 5250 interface for data entry jobs. While it was the best in its days, it is certainly nothing compared to the Microsoft interface. Microsoft interface is much more empowering to the employees. And we all know what employee empowerment can do to employee productivity. Expect a manifold increase in the efficiency of your employees when using modern interfaces like Microsoft. Moreover, they hardly need any training to get accustomed to this environment. They grew up using that.

This brings us to the important consideration of the roadblocks to legacy applications modernisation. The most obvious one would be, whether the application function in the modern environment as, if not, it might hit the revenue making process of the company and that is simply unacceptable. Thus, the duty should be handed over to a professional agency who can do this and perform sandbox testing for the application before really getting to work.

The other challenge would be to maintain the integrity of the database and to align it with the new system. Working for so long, the application must have gathered ample data and this data can’t be lost. Whoever is handling the upgrade should keep that in mind. Moreover, this database need to be utilised in the modernised version as well.