Maintaining workstations’ operating systems within manufacturer’s support window : an organisational impact analysis

Abstract

This dissertation analyses the investment and effort required by an organisation to keep its workstations’ population at an operating system version that is supported by the manufacturer. With the advent of Microsoft Windows 11, and the prevailing operating systems Microsoft Windows 10 reaching its end of life before end of 2025, and others such as Windows 7 having already done so, organisations are taking measures to upgrade their machines to supported versions. This is because using supported operating systems comes with a range of benefits; the most important of which being reduced risk of experiencing security issues. A set of research questions were devised to focus the study. Literature Research was carried out in order to examine the secondary data available regarding the investment and effort required by an organisation to keep its workstations’ population at an operating system version that is supported by the manufacturer. The field research revolved around a qualitative study in the form of semi-structured interviews. The data collected was then analysed, compared and contrasted in order to gain further insight. From the study it results that organisations experience more benefits than pains when upgrading to Windows 11 and that NGOs, government and private organisations are prioritising the upgrade to Windows 11 differently from each other. In addition, Windows 11 is helping Microsoft to strengthen its position in the market. Finally testing should be carried out prior to upgrading to Windows 11 and then the upgrade should be carried out in order to benefit from the latest security features.