Spiceworks Study Finds Strong Windows 10 Support in Enterprises

New research from Spiceworks shows that the enterprise’s adoption of Windows 10 is on pace and why it could become as popular as Windows 7 in the future.

So far, Windows 10 adoption is about what the corporate world thought it would be, Spiceworks found. In its 2015 survey of IT professionals, Spiceworks found that 40 percent thought they would be running Windows 10 in their offices by now. A year later, 38 percent of IT professionals report they’ve adopted Windows 10.

Windows 10 has earned strong reviews from IT professionals, with 85 percent of current users saying they’re “generally satisfied” with Windows 10. More than half are “very or extremely satisfied” with the operating system’s performance. However, Windows 7 is still tops, with 69 percent of people saying they’re more satisfied with that operating system than with Windows 10.

IT professionals reported that they didn’t find many serious bugs when they deployed Windows 10. In fact, 70 percent of current Windows 10 users who participated in the survey didn’t have any bugs or glitches when adopting the early builds. When they did encounter bugs, they generally weren’t considered major.

The vast majority of survey respondents, 92 percent, reported they have deployed Windows 10 on laptops, while 87 percent said are running the operating system on some of their desktops. Surprisingly, 39 percent said they’re running Windows 10 on tablets and 10 percent have even adopted Windows 10 smartphones.

Looking ahead, companies plan to upgrade more devices to Windows 10 in the next year. In fact, companies said 68 percent of all of their laptops and 63 percent of their desktop PCs will run Windows 10. Windows 10 usage on tablets and smartphones will reach 34 percent and 11 percent, respectively.

So, why are companies looking to upgrade? The biggest motivator for adoption has been Microsoft’s free upgrade, accounting for 66 percent of all deployments. It’s important to note that the free upgrade is scheduled to end July 29. About half of IT professionals reported that Windows 10’s “improved performance and stability” has been a motivating factor, while 48 percent simply moved to Windows 10 because of end-of-life issues with outdated hardware.

The return of the Start menu was enough to get 63 percent of current Windows 10 adopters interested in using the operating system, the survey shows. Not surprisingly, security was another motivating factor, with 60 percent of companies saying they chose Windows 10 because of its enhancements in that area. About a third of companies say they chose Windows 10 because of its improved cloud integration.

Now that some companies have adopted Windows 10, they’re reporting on the features they like and don’t. A whopping 92 percent of respondents said they’re happy with the new Start menu, and 87 percent are quite pleased with Windows 10’s enhanced security. Unfortunately for Microsoft, just a quarter are satisfied with virtual personal assistant Cortana, and only 23 percent have been impressed by the operating system’s biometric features.

Just 7 percent of companies said they faced “management pushback” when deciding to adopt Windows 10. Another 7 percent of respondents said that budget constraints were a concern before adopting Windows 10. The biggest issue they’ve faced in using Windows 10, IT professionals said, is compatibility issues with existing hardware and software. They also would like more control over Windows updates.

Although the IT side seems generally pleased with Windows 10, a surprisingly large number of respondents—42 percent—said they currently have no plans to adopt Windows 10. Just 4 percent of IT professionals said they’ll adopt Windows 10 before the free upgrade expires on July 29, and 2 percent plan to move to the operating system in the next six months. Microsoft still has work to do.