Hands down, the number one thing our customers tell us they are most worried about in their Windows 7 planning is making their applications work. For many, the worry also extends to knowing how many apps there are, unraveling the licensing and usage details and finding the media.
Of all the aspects of the Windows 7 migration, this is the one that can trip you up the most. It is detail intensive, requires focus and planning, and is the most common reason migration deadlines are missed.
This is why we say, START NOW!!
Let's face it, looking at how you manage your apps can be a painful exercise. Sure, you meant to manage them more effectively after the XP rollout but budget cuts and tight resources turned this from a "need to have" to a "nice to have" and now you wish you had stayed on top of it. That's the bad news.
The good news is, you can get a handle on this. By making some smart decisions early in the planning stages you could lay the groundwork for better app management going forward.
Doing a detailed inventory and assessment NOW can save you money down the road - and it can force you to look at redundancies (do you REALLY need three PDF viewers?) - underutilized apps (why are we paying for licenses we don't use?) - and undervalued tools.
Everyone we have spoken to that has done this exercise says they have reduced the number of applications in their environment and streamlined their initial list. And that equals savings, both in manpower (less packages to build and test), licensing costs and operational management.
Sure, it's not the coolest part of a Windows 7 migration (although virtualizing apps is pretty awesome) but it is one of the most important. And when you take the time to do it right and TEST, we guarantee you will sleep better and worry less (at least about your Windows 7 migration.)
