Is Windows 8 the Marmite of OS’?

Love it or loathe it, Windows 8 has taken the consumer world by storm, with celebrity

endorsements, TV adverts and billboards all revering its ‘fast and fluid’ interface,

personalised tiles and global sharing potential; but with just under a month since its official

launch, the jury is still out as to what impact it will have on the world of Business IT.

There’s little doubt that Windows 8 is bristling with a mountain of easily customisable tools

and options that will inevitably make life easier for the end user – displaying content of

pinpoint relevance, keeping people connected to friends and family and enabling them to

pick up where they left off when on the move - and we believe that it won’t be long before

benefits like these will begin to apply to forward-thinking businesses looking for a better way

to work.

The potential of what can be achieved with Windows 8 is what’s key here. While touch-

screen monitors may not be the norm at the moment, it won’t be long before they start hitting

offices, allowing people to make the most of W8’s new ‘Metro’ styling; not to mention that the

speed of Windows 8 is undeniable and will prove a very welcome change for businesses

suffering with their current ‘bogged down’ OS. We all know that ‘time is money’ when it

comes to business and Windows 8’s new interface and customisable tiles will inevitably see

significant time savings when it comes to searching for the info you need and accessing your

most-used applications at the tap of a key (or a touch screen!).

When applied to home workers or mobile sales forces where flexibility is a priority, Windows

8 really will come into its own. One example being Windows To Go, which allows employees

to work from anywhere on any device – making logging in and re-synching a thing of the

past. Instead, you will simply be able to roam seamlessly from your PC to your tablet to your

phone and how can that be a bad thing? W8 and tablets go hand in hand and the increased

efficiency brought about through the use of intelligent apps and the ability to share data

between them will quickly be realised by businesses, whether they decide to implement a

BYOD policy (that’s Bring Your Own Device!) or supply their staff with company tablets.

The most important thing we believe businesses can do right now is start thinking about how

Windows 8 could help to improve the way they work; IT departments will want to consider

which employees or areas of the business would be likely candidates for deployment based

on the nature of the job at hand and perhaps how sophisticated the staff are technologically.

New opportunities for the implementation of Windows 8 will continue to grow as

manufacturers fall in line and begin to spec up their products accordingly, so a ‘watch and

wait’ approach is very much the order of the day for those of you unsure of the benefits W8

can bring to your business.

In these early stages, it’s not difficult to see why there are equal numbers of people on each

side of the love it / hate it fence, but what’s clear is that while the benefits of W8 may not yet

be so obvious for some, businesses would do better than to dismiss it straightaway.

To hear more of our views on Windows 8 or to talk about its potential for your business, give us a call on 01473 835281 or contact us via our website.