Windows 8: CIOs Get Enterprise Road Warrior

8 Key Differences Between Windows 8 And Windows RT

While consumers eye the new Windows 8 gadgets that debut Friday, businesses have been experimenting with Microsoft's new operating system for months. Most won't deploy it broadly for years, but that doesn't mean it won't play a big role in the enterprise right away. Companies in a variety of industries are putting the mobile-friendly OS to work in targeted areas in an effort to, literally, get closer to the customer.

"What we saw with Windows 8 was an opportunity to take our customer experience and make it mobile," said Cristina Mancini, senior VP for worldwide marketing in the Television Distribution arm of Twentieth Century Fox.

Mancini's unit at the entertainment giant maintains a b-to-b website, FoxFast.com, that lets the studio show off content to television networks and other outlets. Fox has now developed a Windows 8-powered tablet version that gives reps a powerful tool to pitch programming while on the road. It's packed with photos, video, and production notes about Fox hits like Family Guy, as well as upcoming programming.

"You want to get people excited about your product and your own marketing people excited," said Mancini. "When I saw the [Windows 8] interface, it was exactly what we had been talking about."

Fox's Windows 8 deployment fits with how most analysts, and even Microsoft itself, expect enterprises to use Windows 8 in the early going -- as a foundation for customer-facing apps and services that take advantage of the operating system's slick, touch-friendly interface and enhanced graphics capabilities.

"We believe that Windows 8 will be something that most organizations do not deploy broadly," said Gartner analyst Mike Silver. A recent InformationWeek survey of IT pros found that 47% have no plans to upgrade to Windows 8, while 64% will stick with Windows 7 for as long as possible.

[ Will Windows 8 be hard to learn? Read Windows 8: You Can Handle The Learning Curve. ]

"That's not a bad thing," Silver said, noting that most enterprises will stick with Windows 7 on the desktop while selectively issuing Windows 8 tablets or convertibles to field personnel who can make the most of mobile apps.

One company doing just that is Rooms To Go, an online and brick-and-mortar retailer of home furniture. The company runs a sales application at PC terminals located throughout its stores. It allows sales reps to capture customer information, show products, and complete orders. But CIO Russ Rosen wanted a mobile version that would let reps interact with customers more comfortably, say, while sitting on a couch.

"We were looking for a solution where the customer didn't have to break the engagement," said Rosen. "Something where we could put together the sale sitting next to them on a sofa rather than having to go back and forth to a PC."

Like Fox, Rooms To Go worked with Microsoft to develop a mobile version of its point-of-sale application. The app lets reps start shopping carts, input customer Zip codes, complete a sale, schedule delivery, and more.

Windows: Goofs And Gaffes

Mobile business apps aren't new. Many companies in a wide variety of industries, from hospitality and entertainment, to engineering and healthcare, have developed iPad apps that employees use in the field or on the floor.

But Microsoft has placed a big bet that Windows 8 will prove to be a more popular mobile platform because tablets that run the OS can connect seamlessly to enterprises' back-end Windows security and administration tools. "You can manage these devices as if they are PCs. Anything you can do with a PC on Windows 7 you can do on a Windows 8 PC," said Erwin Visser, head of Microsoft's Windows Commercial unit.

Windows 8 also features numerous tools that will help IT departments ensure that mobile systems don't present a threat to enterprise security. One such tool is Direct Access, which establishes a secure link from tablet or laptop to Windows Server from the moment a Windows 8 client device is turned on, without the end user having to log in to a VPN.

Windows 8's enterprise compatibility resonates with Rosen. "We do our own development. We're a .Net shop and didn't want to have to learn anything new," he said. Running Rooms To Go's retail app on a Windows tablet also means employees have access to the full array of corporate resources. "There's a ton of things they need access to, and they want to be able to run those things," said Rosen.

Fox decided to roll out its FoxFast app on Windows 8 rather than on an iPad or Android tablet for similar reasons. "Security was a big one," said Tanya Tallino, VP for enterprise information technology for the studio. "It was easy to hook into our existing security solutions, which include watermarks and DRM." And, like Rooms To Go, Fox's development staff was already working in Microsoft technologies like .Net and Silverlight. "It was right along the lines of skill sets they already had," said Tallino.

Microsoft believes hybrid scenarios, in which companies run Windows 7 on desktops and Windows 8 on tablets, will become commonplace in the enterprise. "You can manage Windows 7 and Windows 8 side by side. We have some customers who are looking at the desktop, but their first interest is around mobility," said Visser.

Of course, given that it's early in the Windows 8 lifecycle, not everything will go without a hitch -- that's the risk of deploying a brand new, unproven operating system. For one thing, not all third-party software is ready for Windows 8. Tallino said Fox staffers that manage the company's Oracle PeopleSoft environment have reported some hiccups in getting it to work with the new OS. "That team always seems to be the most challenged," she said.

The bottom line, however, is that there is finally a legitimate alternative to the iPad and Android for businesses that want to bring their services directly to the customer. For many companies, Windows 7 will remain desktop bound, while Windows 8 becomes the road warrior.