Windows 10 Adoption: Sprinting out the Gate

In our 2015 report “Windows 10: Will It Soar?”, 40% of IT pros said they’d begin rolling out Windows 10 within a year of its launch, and an additional 33% said they’d deploy it within two years. That bet played out almost exactly as predicted: as of June 30, 2016, 38% of organizations across the globe had adopted Windows 10. Of those, a majority (58%) have implemented and the rest (42%) are still testing. Looking more closely, the highest adoption rates were found in North America (39%), in companies with more than 250 employees (51%), and in the software (51%), manufacturing (44%), and construction (42%) industries.

That’s the who of adoption rates; here’s the how. Microsoft designed the new OS to provide a more seamless user experience across PCs, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. In terms of the actual spread, organizations in the implementation phase are largely running the OS on laptops (92%) and desktops (87%). However, nearly 40% are running Windows 10 on their tablets, and 10% are running it on their Windows smartphones. Notably, more organizations in North America are running Windows 10 on tablets than their counterparts in EMEA. However, the roles are reversed and EMEA clearly leads in the adoption of Windows 10 on Windows smartphones, perhaps because they provide a less-expensive alternative to the iPhone and due to the popularity of European-based Nokia, which was acquired by Microsoft.

We also wondered if organizations in the implementation phase were planning to have the bulk of their devices running on Windows 10 within the next 12 months. Nearly 70% expect to harness Windows 10 on more than half of their laptops within 12 months, and nearly as many (63%) said it was the plan for desktops as well. Again, tablets were lagging behind at 34%, and Windows smartphones fell to the back of the pack at 11%.

By the numbers, it looks like IT pros are riding steady with Windows 10 so far: 85% of companies that have adopted it say they’re generally satisfied, and 51% are very or extremely satisfied.

But does that hold true for end users specifically? We already know from Spiceworks’ network data that Windows 7 is still the most widely deployed operating system. And when we asked IT pros which OS their end users are most satisfied with, the results show Windows 7 still has a comfortable lead over Windows 10 (69% to 17%) among end users. This is perhaps because end users are sometimes reluctant to saddle up with a new OS if it means going through the hassle of giving up a system they already know and like (“if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”).

What’s got IT pros interested in putting their money on Windows 10? A majority (66%) said the top reason they’re implementing the OS is because they don’t have to put down any money with Microsoft’s free upgrade offer available until the product’s one-year anniversary on July 29, 2016. However, companies with more than 500 employees are less motivated by this offer, likely because many utilize volume licenses and the Enterprise editions of Windows, which they can upgrade later at no additional cost.

But beyond the free upgrade, many IT pros are backing Windows 10 for a classic reason: it’s fast. Improved performance came in second at nearly 50% while 48% upgraded due to the end of life (EOL) of older operating systems and 43% upgraded for the new features/functionality. We know from Spiceworks’ 2016 State of IT report that EOL is often the number one driver of new tech purchases, so it’s no surprise to see it as a contender here. Interestingly, security requirements (which fell further back in terms of priorities), drove twice as many companies in EMEA to implement Windows 10 as companies in NA.

Purebred features: In terms of what drew many organizations to the OS, the return of the start menu (63%) was the crowd-favorite feature many users vocally missed. IT pros also cited enhanced security (60%), a faster update cycle (38%), and better integration with cloud services (32%) like OneDrive as the top features that led them to adopt Windows 10 at their organizations.

Those features met expectations, too, with 92% of IT pros saying they’re satisfied with the start menu and with the standing ovation their end users have given to its return. Nearly as many are happy with the enhanced security features (87%), and most are satisfied with the faster update cycle (77%) and improved integration with cloud services (51%). On the other hand, they’re least satisfied with Cortana and Windows Hello facial recognition features. As revealed in our data, this may be because many IT pros have yet to try these new features, but those that have tried them may not find the features suitable for business use.

In our 2015 Windows 10 Report, IT pros bet that compatibility issues with hardware and software would be their top challenge when implementing Windows 10, and they called it right. Compatibility issues top the list of challenges at 56%. About half of the survey respondents (45%) also said they found the amount of time required for the upgrade process to be a challenge, especially since many had to manually update individual computers because of the lack of a site license for Windows 7 Pro.

In third place, at 37%, was the challenge of having little to no control over Windows updates. However, two other big challenges that nearly two-thirds of IT pros expected to find — bugs in early releases and a heavy time requirement for training end users — only turned out to be issues for one in three organizations during implementation. Data privacy issues also fell to the back of the pack at 19%, likely because many IT pros learned how to disable the default settings that gave Microsoft the ability to collect usage data.

Plight of the big horses: Looking at the data by company size, we found (not surprisingly) that larger companies faced more compatibility issues and more constraints due to the time required to train users. They also found it more difficult to get support from third-party vendors, perhaps because smaller companies required less support with fewer users and therefore didn’t see it as a challenge.

When comparing Windows 10 to previous versions of the OS, it’s probably not shocking to learn IT pros view Windows 10 as the hands-down victor over Windows 8/8.1, in no small part because Windows 10 was specifically designed to step back from the touch-centric UI of Windows 8 and return to the more familiar “desktop” experience of Windows 7. IT pros said they prefer the new OS across nearly every metric — with the exception of data privacy guarantees. This is likely due to IT pros’ initial concerns about Microsoft collecting usage data by default after upgrading to Windows 10.

On the other hand, a majority of IT pros said that when comparing Windows 10 to Windows 7, they saw improved performance, security, and flexibility, as well as improvements to the start menu. However, Windows 10 is primarily considered no different from Windows 7 in terms of implementation, cost-effectiveness, management, compatibility, and the presence of bugs. But when it comes to data privacy guarantees, Windows 7 takes the trophy.

Despite any challenges, Windows 10 seems to have a positive impact on organizations’ likelihood to consider other Microsoft products and services. In fact, 31% of companies are more likely to purchase the Microsoft Surface Pro as a result of their experience with Windows 10. This is also true of the Surface Book (29%), and Microsoft services such as Azure (23%) and Office 365 (22%).

All of that said, there’s still the 62% of organizations that have not implemented Windows 10, including some who have no plans to do so. Nearly two-thirds told us that’s because they’re happy with their current operating systems, while about half mentioned compatibility issues with hardware/software and 36% listed concerns about control over Windows updates and bugs in early releases.

It appears some organizations are perfectly content idling at the starting gate. But among those who do plan to implement Windows 10, 11% plan to do so within the next 12 months, an additional 22% plan to in one to two years, and 16% plan to within two or more years. Only a few said they’re racing to adopt the OS before the anniversary deadline on July 29, presumably because most companies that were motivated by the free upgrade have already taken advantage of it. Just over 40% of the organizations that have not implemented the OS say they have no plans to in the foreseeable future.

With Windows 10 adoption galloping along as expected, the OS may quickly become the new champ. This yearling promises improved performance, enhanced security, and the best mix of previous generations — a feature perhaps best represented by the new start menu. At the same time, like any upgrade, it’s causing some disruptions and headaches along the way.

It’s when you peer down the track that you spot the biggest change: Windows 10 represents Microsoft’s first shift to what some call a “Windows-as-a-Service” model. Some IT pros see that model as a valuable timesaver that’ll keep their systems constantly updated with the latest features and security while others are less enthused about the loss of control over updates and data privacy.

Whether or not Windows 10 is a triumph for your organization… depends on a number of factors. But one takeaway is clear: Microsoft’s latest OS is winning over IT pros and end users alike.

Details on the Data

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Methodology

Windows 10 adoption rates were collected on June 30, 2016 and are based on anonymized, aggregated technology usage data from millions of IT professionals in Spiceworks across the globe. Technology usage data was supplemented with survey data collected in May 2016, which included 866 respondents from North America and EMEA. Respondents represent a variety of company sizes, including small-to-medium-sized businesses and enterprises, and come from a variety of industries including manufacturing, healthcare, non-profits, education, government, and finance.