Windows 7 Evidence - ROI, Best Practices, KPIs

Published Research/Testimonials Used in the Windows 7 ROI Tool

Page 1 - Direct Benefits: IT Labor, Infrastructure and Software Avoidance, and Power Savings

Page 2 - User Benefits: User Labor and Productivity Improvements

Page 3 - ROI, Deployment Costs, Best Practices, and other Key Performance Indicators

Additional source information can be found here

Implementation/Deployment Cost Data
		• “Deployments on new PCs have been 25 percent faster than with previous operating systems. “Migrations of existing computers have been up to 75 percent faster than in the past. It will ultimately be 70 percent less expensive for us to upgrade to Windows 7 than previous systems because we can use existing hardware and reduce staff time necessary to handle the process.” [Case Study: CDW, IT Services, United States, 6,400 employees] • We expect no difference in cost to migrate from Windows XP directly to either Windows Vista or Windows 7. Organizations that deploy Windows Vista will spend 66% to 75% less to get to Windows 7 as they spent migrating from XP to Vista, but will spend more overall because they did two migrations. [Gartner, "Cost Model: Migration to Windows Vista and Windows 7", 14 May 2009] • Thirty percent of global organizations reported that their per-PC cost is $300 or more for deploying a new desktop operating system companywide [Forrester Research; "The Costs And Challenges Associated With Supporting Today’s Information Workers"; September 2009] • Preparation is essential for a successful migration. Most organizations will require 12 to 18 months to prepare for a Windows 7 migration. Organizations that have tested or prepared for Vista and have good management systems and processes could complete the preparation process in 12 months. Complex environments will face additional issues and require more time. [Gartner, "Prepare for Windows 7 in Three Phases", 1 October 2009] • You will now have to consider your existing system's age, licensing investments, and how Software Assurance impacts initiatives like desktop virtualization to ensure your move to Windows 7 is cost-effective now and throughout its life cycle at your company. [Forrrester Research, “Plan Now For Licensing Windows 7”, July 22, 2009] • Optimizing the Getronics operating system deployment program reduced IT labor costs by €19 (U.S. $27) per PC per year, a 60 percent reduction in IT labor and a 29 percent reduction in deployment time. [TCO Study: Getronics, IT Services, Netherlands, 14,100 employees, Sept. 2009] • improvements in deployment processes are calculated to save Baker Tilly more than £37 (U.S.$61) per PC per year, a 55 percent improvement in deployment labor costs. [TCO Study: Baker Tilly, Financial services, United Kingdom, 2,200 employees, Sept. 2009] • 24% of those costs go toward third-party vendors that assist with application and hardware compatibility testing and remediation, as well as assessment, deployment, and management and security services. [Forrester Research; "The Costs And Challenges Associated With Supporting Today’s Information Workers"; September 2009]
	Design, Engineering, & Management
		• “In the past there could be months of lag time. The MDT and the Security Compliance Management Toolkit will significantly speed up the timeline for completing the migration to Windows 7 across the organization.” [Case Study: Eiden Systems, IT Services, United States, 55 employees] • “In the past there could be months of lag time. The MDT and the Security Compliance Management Toolkit will significantly speed up the timeline for completing the migration to Windows 7 across the organization.” [Case Study: AES, Architecture, Engineering, and Related Services, United States, 10 employees]
	Hardware Costs
		• ReadyBoost. The company has a number of legacy machines that were not powerful enough to run previous operating systems but now can be "supped-up" with USB sticks providing temporary RAM. Approximately a third of our machines can be re-purposed saving us an estimated $15,000." [Case Study: essentialapparel.com, Retail Industry, United States, 25 employees] • “Because Windows 7 is so lean and features link ReadyBoost can instantly add cheap RAM, we'll be able to extend the life of some of the computers. This alone saves enough to justify the machine operating system refreshes,” [Case Study: Gamewear, Consumer Goods Manufacturing, United States, 24 employees]
	App Compat Testing & Remediation
		• "It just works better out of the box for application compatibility. We tested 147 applications and the return was 100 percent compatibility. Vista had a 20 to 30 percent incompatibility rate for the line of business stuff." ["Windows 7 improvements driving enterprise adoption", 30 Jun 2009, www.SearchEnterpriseDesktop.com] • We've found very few application compatibility issues. Up to 98 percent of our applications run well on Windows 7 without any work on our part, and it's been easier to mitigate or resolve the few issues that have arisen than it was with previous operating systems. [Case Study: CDW, IT Services, United States, 6,400 employees] • "Windows 7 Compatibility Troubleshooter Wizard allows me to run my line of business accounting application and trouble ticket tools. I can install it under Windows XP and run it under Windows 7, essentially solving any near-term compatibility issues with legacy software." [Case Study: Lexcom, IT Services, Canada] • Two-thirds of firms require three to 12 months for application compatibility testing and remediation prior to deploying a new desktop operating system [Forrester Research; "The Costs And Challenges Associated With Supporting Today’s Information Workers"; September 2009] • Users have an average of 16 applications installed on their work PCs, but this doesn't take into account the proliferation of applications that some users install on their own - often without the consent of IT. [Forrester Research; "The Costs And Challenges Associated With Supporting Today’s Information Workers"; September 2009]
	End-User Costs
		• With Windows 7 the training takes than half the time because it’s easier and more intuitive. [Case Study: Correcol, IT Services, Colombia, 150 employees]
	Installation/Deployment Labor Costs
		• “The shorter installation process and automatic installation support for most of the drivers made it easy to install Windows 7, cutting installation time by an average of 20 percent,” [Case Study: GlobalSoft, Professional Services, Korea, 14 employees] • "Creating and deploying Windows 7 using a single USB drive image took 16 minutes per machine rather than the traditional one and a half hours for one of our employment agency clients." [Case Study: District Computers, IT Services, United States] • Capabilities delivered with Windows 7 and associated deployment tools enable the city IT staff to reduce deployment tasks by up to 50 percent, resulting in a direct savings of at least $28 per PC per year. [TCO Study: City of Miami, City government, United States, 3,900 employees] • “We’re seeing 60 percent faster deployment times” [Case Study: Softvision, Professional Services, Korea, 27 employees] • “We reduced our installation time by 50 percent because of the easy formatting and setup of Windows 7 and the excellent driver recognition.” [Case Study: Pronet Soft , Specialty Retailing, Korea, 26 employees] • "Windows 7 took 25 minutes to load on a laptop compared to 60 minutes for Windows XP.” [Case Study: Pearl Logistik, Retail Industry, Germany, 50 employees] • "By using Windows 7 the installation process took about 45 minutes, about half the time of XP." [Case Study: itSynergy, IT Services, United States] • “We estimate Windows 7 installs take about half the time as Windows Vista® did.” [Case Study: DeploIT, IT Services, Venezuela] • By using User State Migration Tool 4.0, Crayon was able to easily preserve user settings and deploy Windows 7 more quickly. We are saving 30 minutes per computer over previous operating system installations,” says Johansen. [Case Study: Crayon, IT Services, Norway, 230 employees] • Migration and deployment tools such as the User State Migration Tool (USMT) 4.0 and the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010, along with improved scripting support streamline the process of deploying an image to a PC. In addition, file hard-linking is a new feature of Windows 7 that helps reduce IT effort by eliminating the need to back up data before deploying the new operating system. [TCO Study: Getronics, IT Services, Netherlands, 14,100 employees, Sept. 2009] • Using System Center Configuration Manager 2007, Dell will be able to deploy Windows 7 to thousands of users overnight. [Case Study: Dell, High Tech and Electronics Manufacturing, United States, 78,000 employees] • “With the new User State Migration Tool, we migrated 30 gigabytes of data in approximately six and a half minutes. Normally, this would have taken more than an hour.” [Case Study: Pella Corporation, Manufacturing, United States, 9,000 employees] • "The benefit is that we can now better manage Windows images (WIM) along with Virtual Hard Disk Files…powerful install and on-going maintenance tools make deployment at least twice as fast. I'm running Windows 7 side-by-side with Windows Vista and I'd estimate it's at least 40 percent faster similarly configured," [Case Study: MPECS, IT Services, Canada] • With PCs averaging a hefty 53 GB of corporate data, we learned that for 44% of firms, user data migration takes 30 minutes or longer per PC. [Forrester Research; "The Costs And Challenges Associated With Supporting Today’s Information Workers"; September 2009] • The current process takes approximately three hours per machine. When used with the Microsoft® System Center Configuration Manager and the User State Migration Tool (USMT) 4.0, the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit radically simplifies and automates the deployment process for Windows 7 and enables city IT technicians to significantly decrease IT labor. [TCO Study: City of Miami, City government, United States, 3,900 employees] • Getronics estimates that Windows 7 improvements will reduce PC migration times by 30 minutes per computer and reduce IT labor cost by 60 percent and IT staff time by 29 percent, saving an estimated €19 (U.S. $27) per PC per year. Considering that Getronics had already invested heavily in optimizing its deployment processes, this is a significant and tangible benefit. [TCO Study: Getronics, IT Services, Netherlands, 14,100 employees, Sept. 2009]
Best Practices
		• IT labor cost reductions result from the streamlining of IT operations through the use of best practices and more common software stacks across desktop systems. The IT labor costs fall by 56% from a Basic environment ($1,320/desktop/year) to a Standardized environment ($580/desktop/year), and then by an additional 61% to $230/desktop/year when moving from Standardized to Rationalized. [IDC, "Optimizing Infrastructure: The Relationship Between IT Labor Costs and Best Practices for Managing the Windows Desktop", Oct. 2006] • Organizations can reduce annual IT labor costs by improving their infrastructure optimization levels. Moving from Basic to Standardized optimization reduces IT costs by $233 per PC. Moving from Standardized to Rationalized optimization reduces IT costs by $280 per PC. The total savings of moving from Basic to Rationalized optimization can reduce IT costs by $513 per PC. [Microsoft/GCR, “Infrastructure Optimization: Driving Down Costs of the Business Desktop” April 2006] • Organizations can reduce annual IT labor costs by up to $226 per PC by adopting best practices. [Microsoft/GCR, “Infrastructure Optimization: Driving Down Costs of the Business Desktop” April 2006]
	Standardized Desktop Strategy
		• Standardizing on a single desktop operating system reduces costs by $52 per PC. [Microsoft/GCR, “Infrastructure Optimization: Driving Down Costs of the Business Desktop” April 2006] • Adopting “Standard desktop strategy” best practices can result in savings of $110/PC: Deploying a standardized desktop by minimizing hardware and software configurations. (No or limited administrative rights assigned to end users, Use of group policies to prevent users from changing system settings that jeopardize PC reliability and security, Use of group policies to ensure that users only install IT-sanctioned software, and Push/pull automated software distribution) [IDC, "Optimizing Infrastructure: The Relationship Between IT Labor Costs and Best Practices for Managing the Windows Desktop", Oct. 2006]
	Centrally Managed PC Settings & Configurations
		• Adopting “Centrally managed PC settings and configuration” best practices can result in savings of $190/PC: Keeping deployed PCs standardized by preventing users from making changes that compromise security, reliability and the application portfolio. (Enforcing PC procurement policies for hardware, software, and system configurations, Standardizing upon the latest Windows operating system within 18 months of release, and Using a minimal number of corporate images) [IDC, "Optimizing Infrastructure: The Relationship Between IT Labor Costs and Best Practices for Managing the Windows Desktop", Oct. 2006] • Ensuring that users install only software sanctioned by their IT department reduces costs by $50 per PC. [Microsoft/GCR, “Infrastructure Optimization: Driving Down Costs of the Business Desktop” April 2006] • Ensuring that users can change only PC settings that do not jeopardize reliability or security reduces costs by $30 per PC. [Microsoft/GCR, “Infrastructure Optimization: Driving Down Costs of the Business Desktop” April 2006]
	Comprehensive PC Security
		• Adopting Comprehensive PC security best practices can result in savings of $130/PC: Proactively addressing security with antivirus, antispyware, patching, and quarantine. (Notebooks and desktops equipped with antivirus utilities, Notebooks and desktops with antispyware/malware utilities, Notebooks protected by Centrally Managed PC firewalls, Network Access Control (NAC) used for PCs entering the network, Automated patch distribution system in place for all notebooks and desktops) [IDC, "Optimizing Infrastructure: The Relationship Between IT Labor Costs and Best Practices for Managing the Windows Desktop", Oct. 2006] • Managing PC firewalls with a centralized, comprehensive security program reduces costs by $39 per PC. [Microsoft/GCR, “Infrastructure Optimization: Driving Down Costs of the Business Desktop” April 2006]
	Automated User Provisioning
		• Automating password resets so that users can reset their passwords without IT assistance reduces costs by $29 per PC. [Microsoft/GCR, “Infrastructure Optimization: Driving Down Costs of the Business Desktop” April 2006]
	Software Packaging & Distribution
		• Automating software distribution methods that use policies to install PC applications and security updates remotely reduces costs by $26 per PC. [Microsoft/GCR, “Infrastructure Optimization: Driving Down Costs of the Business Desktop” April 2006]
Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Improvements
	Risk/Compliance/Governance
		• With BitLocker® and Bitlocker To Go™, AppLocker™, Network Access Protection (NAP) client, Getronics estimates that these capabilities drive a 10 percent improvement in compliance with its desktop security policies. This important best practice should also result in a decrease in the number of service desk calls arising from faulty configurations. [TCO Study: Getronics, IT Services, Netherlands, 14,100 employees, Sept. 2009] • Approximately 5% of removable storage devices are lost or stolen every year. [Forrester Research; "The Costs And Challenges Associated With Supporting Today’s Information Workers"; September 2009] • Seventy-six percent of firms are investing heavily in PC encryption solutions in order to avoid the potential damage to their organization's reputation, the replacement costs for hardware and software, legal expenses, compliance fines, refunds and compensation, and extra staffing and postage costs associated with the average of 55 lost or stolen PCs annually. [Forrester Research; "The Costs And Challenges Associated With Supporting Today’s Information Workers"; September 2009] • As a result of improvements in Windows 7, including greater granularity in User Account Control (UAC), the city IT staff estimates that they will be able to reduce the number of users with local administrator rights to approximately 5 percent without constraining user flexibility. [TCO Study: City of Miami, City government, United States, 3,900 employees] • The Windows Firewall Client, improved in Windows 7, together with AppLocker and Group Policy improvements, extends a layer of security beyond current practice. As part of Windows 7, the city will be able to add a layer of security to all city PCs, without incremental cost. [TCO Study: City of Miami, City government, United States, 3,900 employees]
	Service Level
		• Getronics estimates that overall PC user desktop satisfaction has increased nearly 20percent as a result of their Windows 7 experience. [TCO Study: Getronics, IT Services, Netherlands, 14,100 employees, Sept. 2009] • The number of PC users who reported high levels of satisfaction with their PC environment increased by 15 percentage points due to Windows 7, and other related improvements. For example, faster access to information at branch offices, less restrictive security policies, and improved self-help capabilities made their desktop experience more efficient and less frustrating. [TCO Study: City of Miami, City government, United States, 3,900 employees]
	Agility
		• App-V enables the Getronics IT staff to reduce the time involved in application delivery from an average of 10 days to less than 7 days. [TCO Study: Getronics, IT Services, Netherlands, 14,100 employees, Sept. 2009] • Time to deploy a new business application (evaluation, procurement, and deployment) can be reduced by advancing IO maturity levels. Time to deploy by IO Level: Basic: 5.4 weeks, Standardized: 5.2, weeks, Rationalized: 4.3 weeks [IDC, "Optimizing Infrastructure: The Relationship Between IT Labor Costs and Best Practices for Managing the Windows Desktop", Oct. 2006] • Although the 35 percent cycle-time savings is significant, Application Virtualization helps us deliver the right applications to the right users with fewer process obstacles. The result is greater agility for our global business." [TCO Study: Getronics, IT Services, Netherlands, 14,100 employees, Sept. 2009]
ROI - Summary of Costs/Benefits
		• Based solely on direct IT benefits, when the Windows 7 migration is completed, Getronics expects to realize a strong positive return on investment, with a net present value (NPV) of €149 (U.S. $215) per PC with a payback period of less than six months. [TCO Study: Getronics, IT Services, Netherlands, 14,100 employees, Sept. 2009] • Organizations that want a homogeneous environment with a single operating system may decide to skip a version of Windows, but this can result in hidden costs and complications. [Gartner, "Homogeneity in the Client Operating System Can Increase Hidden Costs and Risks", 2 July 2009]• Benefits include direct IT cost savings averaging £116 (U.S.$191) per PC per year, made possible by improved network access, automated deployment, desktop management tools, and PC power cost savings. [TCO Study: Baker Tilly, Financial services, United Kingdom, 2,200 employees, Sept. 2009]• The city expects an estimated return on investment (ROI) of 151 percent and internal rate of return (IRR) of 78 percent with payback in less than 15 months based on direct IT labor savings alone. [TCO Study: City of Miami, City government, United States, 3,900 employees] • Using only direct cost benefits, the results included a net present value (NPV) of $119 per PC, a return on investment (ROI) of 151 percent, and an internal rate of return (IRR) of 78 percent with a payback period of less than 15 months. [TCO Study: City of Miami, City government, United States, 3,900 employees] • Using only direct cost benefits, the results included the following financial returns: Net present value of £124; (U.S.$204) per PC; A 67 percent return on investment; A 39 percent internal rate of return; A payback period within 19 months [TCO Study: Baker Tilly, Financial services, United Kingdom, 2,200 employees, Sept. 2009]