Digital Workspace

Windows 11: Why It’s Worth the Upgrade

Extended support for Windows 10 is running out, and its successor offers an array of advantages.

Brian Belongia is a CDW Solution Specialist, Windows OEM & Autopilot. He started his career at CDW in 2009 as an Account Manager on the South Florida Medlar team. After a couple years he joined the Lenovo team. Brian spent 10 years on that team in both the partner specialist and solution specialist roles, and in 2022, he joined the Microsoft team as a solution specialist for Windows OEM and Autopilot.

Kalila Bell

Kalila Bell is a CDW Microsoft OEM Pro Device Brand Manager. She started her CDW career on the Small Business ITS Team and Marketing team as a Sales Ambassador for Microsoft M365. It was there she was able to familiarize herself with Microsoft’s suite of products and deliver assistance for sellers’ M365 needs. She then moved into her current role. In her work she strives to bring ease to IT members by providing best-in-class technology and services that help automate processes.

Windows 11 was released on Oct. 5, 2021. Its predecessor, Windows 10, was made generally available on July 29, 2015. Adoption, however, remains heavily skewed in favor of Windows 10, which has a 71.9 percent market share. In part, the preference for this previous Windows version stems from familiarity.

Why fix something that isn’t broken? Why introduce potential issues around installation, deployment and adoption when frontline staff, IT teams and C-suite executives are comfortable with Windows 10?

Put simply, Windows 11 offers significant benefits for businesses willing to make the switch. In addition, Windows 10 is rapidly approaching the end of its Microsoft-supported lifecycle, meaning that while businesses can continue to use Windows 10, there will be no more updates or support.

Here’s a look at why it’s worth considering the switch from Windows 10 to Windows 11.

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The Benefits of Windows 11 Over Windows 10

Windows 11 offers multiple benefits over its previous-generation counterpart, including:

Enhanced productivity. Windows 11 comes with several features that help improve productivity. From small changes such as the taskbar being centered at the bottom of the screen to a universal mute button, quick access to VPNs and Bluetooth, and the ability to create separate desktop instances for different projects, Windows 11 empowers work.
Improved collaboration. With Windows 11, collaboration comes standard. For example, the OS supports live captions for videos in real time, making it easier for staff working on the road or in noisy environments to join meetings and contribute to discussions. In addition, Microsoft replaced Windows 10 Meet Now powered by Skype with direct integration of Teams into the taskbar.
Increased security. The addition of features such as the Trusted Platform Module, which allows the OS to leverage multifactor authentication for improved access control, is one of the key security upgrades to Windows 11. Another is UEFI secure boot, which ensures that systems only boot with code that is signed by Microsoft, the silicon vendor or the device builder to reduce the risk of compromise. Finally, virtualization-based security enables hypervisor-protected code integrity, which prevents the injection of dynamic code into the Windows kernel.
New admin features. To help streamline the implementation and management of Windows 11, the OS supports zero-touch deployment, which leads to an average time savings of 30 percent when setting up Windows Pro. In addition, the combination of familiar features and new controls results in fewer service desk tickets, in turn providing more time for admins to focus on business tasks.
Ongoing support. While both Windows 10 and Windows 11 are still covered by Microsoft support, mainstream support for Windows 10 ended on October 13, 2020. Extended support remains in effect until October 14, 2025, and version 22H2, released on October 18, 2022, is the last version of this OS.

Windows 11, meanwhile, remains fully supported by Microsoft, with no mainstream or extended support end dates yet announced.

LEARN MORE: Check out this guide to Windows 11.

Making the Move to Windows 11

Moving to Windows 11 is straightforward. According to Microsoft, the upgrade is more like a feature update than a full-on replacement, meaning there’s a smaller chance of unexpected issues, such as compatibility or integration problems.

And while Windows 11 does introduce new features such as zero-touch deployments and better security out of the box, it’s not a massive departure from the previous version. Businesses get the benefits of a modern IT experience delivered with the familiar, functional Windows interface.

This article is part of BizTech's AgilITy blog series. Please join the discussion on Twitter.