Almost one in five New Zealand businesses have either fully or partially deployed Windows 10 since its global launch in 2015, and a further 60 percent are planning to upgrade to Windows 10 within the next 12 months.
The local predictions, conducted by Tech Research Asia (TRA) on behalf of Microsoft New Zealand, were drawn from a broad spectrum of Kiwi businesses and Microsoft Partner organisations.
Each respondent was asked for their views on Windows 10 and the associated impact they expect Windows 10 to have on their business.
TRA Executive Consultant for Cloud and Software Mark Iles says the key reason New Zealand businesses are adopting Windows 10 is because they recognise the importance of having a cloud first strategy.
“Microsoft has been unequivocal about its strategy development of Windows 10 as the operating system for the mobile first, cloud first world, and the clear indications from this survey are that Kiwi businesses are responding warmly to it,” Iles says.
Iles says secondary reasons for business’ upgrading are because they are refreshing their device fleet, and are realising the growing importance of integrating the mobile and desktop environments.
“In any case, the survey showed that over the next 24 months, over 75 percent of businesses surveyed expect to upgrade to Windows 10,” he adds.
Notably, when asked whether the fact Windows 10 is a free upgrade would influence their decision, 43 percent of respondent businesses said they intended to upgrade anyway, and Windows 10 being free had no impact on their plans.
Consumerisation of IT is also having a direct impact on formal Windows 10 adoption plans, with 35 percent of respondents indicating that their employees are bringing their own devices to work.
Of these, 43 percent believe this is quickening the rate of adoption of Windows 10 in their organisation as a result.
Iles says the outlook is also good for Microsoft’s partners in New Zealand, with the customer research showing strong consideration for adopting additional services and solutions within 18 months of deploying Windows 10.
Delving deeper, Iles says that 67 percent of customers are likely to purchase Managed Services, 64 percent are likely to purchase Additional Security Solutions, 63 percent are likely to purchase Office 365 and 61 percent are likely to purchase Mobile Device Management Services.
Iles says Microsoft partners remain optimistic about the business opportunity around Windows 10 at a local level, with 80 percent of respondents expressing the view that it will provide opportunities to grow their business.
“While the research highlighted that 18 percent of New Zealand customers interviewed have already deployed Windows 10 in their organisations and 60 percent are planning to upgrade within 12 months, the vast majority (80 percent) of partners thought only 20 percent of their customers would upgrade within that period,” Iles adds.
Microsoft’s stated goal is to have one billion devices running Windows 10 within the next three years with the company recently reaching 200 million downloads.
“Windows 10 clearly presents a huge opportunity for Microsoft’s partners,” Iles adds.
“It will be interesting to see how the ongoing global expansion raises the demand for its local deployment.”