Survey Shows That the Pace of Windows 10 Migration Will Leave Nearly a Quarter of Enterprises Vulnerable to Cyberattack in 2020

Adaptiva, a leading, global provider of endpoint management and security solutions for enterprise customers, announced the results of its 2019 Windows 10 Enterprise Impact Survey, an annual survey of IT progress and challenges in the migration to Windows 10. This year’s survey shows that almost a quarter of respondents will not be ready for Microsoft to terminate public delivery of Windows 7 security updates on January 14, 2020, the official end of support date. Organizations will be increasingly vulnerable to cyberattack until they move to a secure, supported OS. 

“Our survey shows that although companies have made progress in their migration process over the past year, less than 15% have completed the move to Windows 10,” said Jim Souders, CEO of Adaptiva. “Security ramifications for not meeting the deadline are significant, and Microsoft shows no signs of extending support for Windows 7 past January. The clock is ticking and IT departments are exploring all of their options, particularly how automated solutions can help them meet their goal.” 

Over 450 people completed the survey. More than a third of the respondents come from enterprises with more than 10,000 endpoints, and another 21% come from organizations with over 30,000 endpoints. This year’s survey yielded a number of key insights into Windows 10 migration. 

The State of Migration 

• Surprisingly, only 14% of organizations have completed the migration process to Windows 10.
• Twenty-two percent of respondents expect their companies to have systems still running Windows 7 after January 14, 2020.
• Large organizations will have the option of purchasing Extended Security Updates (ESUs) for Windows 7, which Microsoft offers as a last resort option that includes Critical and/or Important updates for up to three years. 

How Much Longer? 

• Forty-five percent of respondents indicated that their company will complete Windows 10 migration in six months or less, while another 29% expect it to take six months to a year.
• Just over a quarter (27%) plan to take more than a year to move all their systems to the new OS. 

Hurdles to Migration Completion 

• More respondents than ever indicated that their staff is stretched thin, an increase of approximately 6% from last year (28% in 2019 vs. 22% in 2018).
• The time-consuming nature of the migration process along with cost are also significant barriers to new OS adoption. 

Migration Motivators 

• Windows 10 offers a number of enhanced security features that help IT teams, which figured prominently in migration decisions (72%).
• Organizations are primarily moving to Windows 10, however, because it is the only Windows OS that will be supported by Microsoft in the future (89%).
• As companies try to shore up systems and reduce vulnerabilities, they realize that unsupported systems pose far greater security risks.
• Interest in features like the touch interface and Cortana are waning slightly.

 To review Adaptiva’s 2019 Windows 10 Enterprise Impact Survey in its entirety, please visit www2.adaptiva.com/survey/2019-windows-10-enterprise-impact.