Case Studies Global Windows 10 Readiness & Deployment

Global Windows 10 Readiness & Deployment

Overview
Our client, a U.S. based multi-national industrial company, requested our assistance with a Windows 10 readiness and deployment project. The project scope encompassed tens of thousands of employees and their devices running both Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.

This project’s specific type was an “in-place upgrade,” in which the goal was to upgrade employees’ existing devices without losing their user data or applications. Working closely with our client’s internal IT team, we established and proved out a plan for handling the upgrades.

Solution
One of the most significant demands—as is typical in Windows 10 projects—was the need to review and update Active Directory policies, some of which were inappropriate going forward. Attempting to carry forward product-specific policies that aren’t compatible with the Windows 10 platform can waste computer-processing power and time during login and, worse, can cause system failure.

Another area of focus was preparing our client’s device-management system, System Center Configuration Manager, to monitor and handle the actual upgrades. A third area was working directly with third-party software vendors to help ensure application readiness for the new Windows 10 environment.

Our hands-on work and, later, supporting guidance paved the way for our client to upgrade 1,500 devices “in place” with no loss of data and no catastrophic failures. This pilot program, in turn, kicked off a longer-term plan to refresh all hardware around the globe to Windows 10 over a four-year cycle.