Indian companies running on Microsoft’s platform may take a while before they decide to migrate to the new operating system.
“We are not looking to migrate right now. Currently, we’re using Windows 7 and Windows XP. We need to know the price tag for new licenes as well to assess the implications,” said Rajiv Singh Sehgal, Chief Information Officer, Fortis Healthcare, told Business Line in response to an e-mail questionnaire. “We will consider migrating about two years from now,” he added.
Gartner Research Director Peter Sondergaard said despite the prospects looking good for Windows 8 in the consumer market or for tablets, there are no compelling business imperatives to drive legacy devices in business towards Windows 8. “Therefore, 90 per cent of enterprises will bypass broad-scale deployment of Windows 8 through at least 2014,” he said.
Companies such as Fortis are looking for features such as mobile productivity, end-to-end security and management features in the new operating system. Other companies which move faster on upgrading technology are weighing their options. “Yes, Tata Motors has plans to consider Windows 8. Currently, the company is on Windows 7,” said the automobile company’s IT team. “All upgrades have a cost consideration, and deployment plans will be linked to affordability. Tata Motors still needs to analyse this aspect,” it added.
Tata Motors said that any consideration of migration to Windows 8 is equally a function of adoption assessment, including appropriate testing of enterprise applications. “Ability of enterprise applications to work with Windows 8 will be one of the drivers of Windows 8 adoption,” the auto maker said. According to the firm's IT team, the most important features in the new OS will be the ability to provide unified user experience across multiple types of devices improved battery life during non-usage periods and USB 3.0 and its higher speed.