Support as the largest cost for a Windows 7 transition for small business - Citrix Online Survey

Though touted as the easy-to-use upgrade to Vista, Windows 7 may just cost a packet in transition costs for small businesses, according to IT professionals surveyed online by Citrix Online.

IT professionals see user “hand-holding” as the biggest challenge for small businesses transitioning to Windows 7, according a survey of 200 small business IT professionals conducted by Citrix Online, a division of Citrix Systems, Inc., and MarketTools. Over half (55 percent) the respondents plan to implement Windows 7 in 2010 even as many anticipate more than just a small impact on their operations. 65 percent of IT professionals surveyed said the biggest hurdle is people’s limited understanding of computer operating systems and applications.

“The industry has looked on Windows 7 as the ‘un-Vista’ in terms of usability,” said Justin Madison, VP of Engineering and Operations for Citrix Online. “But especially for companies jumping from XP to Windows 7, the biggest headache may still be user support.”

“If more than half of small business IT professionals plan to migrate to Windows 7 in 2010, that translates to potentially 13-15 million small businesses making the migration in one year alone,” said Gene Marks, noted author and SMB technology expert. “That is ever more reason for remote support technologies like GoToAssist to support these people in the migration.”

The survey revealed that for many IT pros, the Windows 7 transition will add yet another layer to their support duties, with arould 40 percent of respondents saying that they already spent anywhere between one day a week to half their time supporting software upgrades. Almost half (46 percent) said they spent an average of 2 ½ hours a week supporting upgrades on top of their other maintenance duties. Still, just 13 percent of respondents have any plan to hire additional IT staff for Windows 7 Support.

Citrix Online's recent virtual roundtable called Migration Nirvana, which featured “Window 7 for Dummies” author Andy Rathbone, also hosted small business experts who offered guidance for SMBs on successfully migrating to Windows 7. Their pointers included:

• Offer training: Not everyone is comfortable with clicking and finding things on his or her own, so it’s important to provide comprehensive user training – in advance – on these new technologies;
• Back up hard drives before proceeding: This may sound obvious, but horror stories abound of companies neglecting to back up critical data before changing software – and losing everything;
• Have the right tools available to assist users: The ability to access remote and at-home users to provide tech support improves the end-user experience and reduces loss of productivity;

“When it comes to supporting Windows 7 users, the ability to quickly and systematically sort out everything – from printer drivers to the new look and feel of Windows 7 – is key to survival for the ever-challenging role of the IT support guru,” said Madison.