As been widely communicated by Microsoft and others, Microsoft will officially end of life Windows XP and Office 2003 on 4-8-2014. It is really more than just Microsoft not continuing to provide security patches for Windows XP and Office 2003. It really enables the entire PC eco-system to finally stop supporting Windows XP for things like Virus/Malware protection, Browsers, new hardware, drivers, peripherals and other commercial hardware & software. Vendors can say… “Hey, Microsoft doesn’t support it so why should we?” We are already seeing this with folks like McAfee, Norton, and Trend Micro.
Somewhere between 25%-30% of small business are still running Windows XP. This is absolutely true in our customer space. Many XP machines are still chugging along doing good work, day in and day out at some of our integraSoft customers. However, the risks associated with future XP/Office 2003 security threats, system vulnerabilities and future incompatibilities are real. Combine that with the benefits & value realized through using current technology innovations from Microsoft, integraSoft and other technology vendors it is really a question of how soon to move not if.
Maximize your Technology Spend
How do your customers see you using technology? A recent Microsoft survey indicated that 90% percent of respondents said they would – or would consider – taking their business elsewhere if a company uses outdated technology. About 60% of respondents said they consider a 5-10 year old operating system or desktop computer to be “outdated.” Windows XP was introduced over 12 years ago in 2001. Are you still on TechGap or Legacy integraSoft? Is it time for a technology refresh?
Just like you want to see that integraSoft is keeping up with the latest in technology trends, your customers & employee’s want to make sure your staying current with the latest technology in your business. At integraSoft we’ve been working to position our company’s products and services to help you get current, stay current and maximize the return on your technology investments enabling you to grow. We have been making many investments in our products and services over the last year focused on modernization, cloud offerings and tighter integration with Microsoft products. We’ve been helping customers take advantage of Office 365 and acquiring new tablet hardware. We are excited about our new Self Service Business Intelligence offering that makes use of the #1 reporting business intelligence tool in use today, Excel and the rest of Office 365.
Below is a list of the typical technology needs of our customers and ways we can help:
| Your Technology Needs | Let us help you… | How? |
| Windows XP PC /New PC Hardware | Acquire & configure the right hardware aligned with our future software. Technology Refresh | Latest Dell Windows 8 PC’s or Tablets enabled for Touch UI experiences for mobile users (Ex: Mobile Sales Reps). |
| Office 2003, Office Productivity, hosted email/Web & collaboration. | Improve your office productivity Lower your overall spend for Office, Email and Web Hosting. | Office 365 – Improve Office Productivity. Includes Hosted Email, Sharepoint, Lync , Office, etc.) |
| Reduce Credit Card Cost & Risk | Reduce your CC processing costs Reduce CC risk by not storing credit card numbers on systems. Eliminate IC Verify running on XP systems | CenPOS – Web based Credit Card Gateway. Reduce risk with no credit card numbers stored on your systems.Reduce CC interchange fees. |
| Server Hardware & Administration | Eliminate server hardware failures Reduce administration cost by moving to the cloud. | Cloud Hosted Servers with service level agreements. |
| On Premise to Cloud Backup Administration | Reduce risk & time of dealing with backups. No more tapes, everything offsite. | Backup2Cloud – Automated Cloud Backup service with point in time backups. |
| Reporting & Business Insights | Gain new insights about your business. Interact with data visually in a way you can manipulate easily to meet your specific needs. | integraSelfServiceBI with Microsoft Office 365 Power BI. Uses the latest version of Excel and SharePoint along with Sales, Inventory, etc. data models from integraSoft products. (Available Q3) |
| Sales Force Enablement | Increase sales & improve service to customers enabling field sales reps have “in hand” order history, product catalog & inventory status. Reduce errors on orders by securing customer signature. | integraRep – Put your product catalog and electronic order taking into the hands of your sales reps online or offline using the latest Microsoft and Apple tablets. |
What Now?
We want to help you plan for an orderly transition from Windows XP helping you develop a technology roadmap that lets you get more out of your technology, reduces your business disruptions, aligns with our innovation investments and helps you grow.
Contact us today for a technology roadmap strategy session with one of our technical pre-sales resources by clicking here and filling out the “contact” form or emailing sales@integrasoft.com or your sales rep.