Windows 7 Cuts Costs Significantly, says Report

Windows 8 may still be a few years away from reality, but according to a new study, small and midsize businesses can get a real financial boost by switching to Windows 7 right now. The reasoning has to do with a reduction in support costs.

"Businesses with 250 or fewer PCs that are deploying Windows 7 are gaining more than happier users," said a report by researchers at analyst firm IDC. "They are lowering support costs, improving security, and making end users more productive." (Source: informationweek.com)

Support Savings as High as 65%

Some support cost cuts have been higher than 50 per cent -- and in some cases, IDC found that small or medium-sized companies that made the switch from either Windows XP or Windows Vista to Windows 7 saw their service desk support costs go down an incredible 65 per cent. In dollar figures, that means an annual savings of $129 for each user.

Other savings: PC/OS support costs were cut 55 per cent, for a reduction of $108; deployment costs were down 45 per cent, meaning savings for each user were $40.

Productivity Also Boosted by Windows 7

IDC also said Windows 7 was a key tool in boosting the productivity of office employees. "End users spend considerably less time dealing with malware, downtime, and reboots when using Windows 7 compared with previous Windows products," said the report.

Speaking on cost savings, the report added: "The greatest percentage reduction comes from a decrease in service desk support burden. This indicates that Windows 7 is less time consuming for IT professionals to manage."

IDC estimates that an employee gains an entire week's worth of time over the course of a year when using that Windows 7 versus XP or Vista. (Source: pcworld.com)