Is Windows 8 the Marmite of OS’? Love it or loathe it, Windows 8 has taken the consumer world by storm, with celebrity endorsements, TV adverts and billboards all revering its ‘fast and fluid’ interface, personalised tiles and global sharing potential; but with just under a month since its official launch, the jury is still out as to what impact it will have on the world of Business IT. There’s little doubt that Windows 8 is bristling with a mountain of easily customisable tools and options that will inevitably make life easier for the end user – displaying content of pinpoint relevance, keeping people connected to friends and family and enabling them to pick up where they left off when on the move - and we believe that it won’t be long before benefits like these will begin to apply to forward-thinking businesses looking for a better way to work. The potential of what can be achieved with Windows 8 is what’s key here. While touchscreen monitors may not be the norm at the moment, it won’t be long before they start hitting offices, allowing people to make the most of W8’s new ‘Metro’ styling; not to mention that the speed of Windows 8 is undeniable and will prove a very welcome change for businesses suffering with their current ‘bogged down’ OS. We all know that ‘time is money’ when it comes to business and Windows 8’s new interface and customisable tiles will inevitably see significant time savings when it comes to searching for the info you need and accessing your most-used applications at the tap of a key (or a touch screen!). When applied to home workers or mobile sales forces where flexibility is a priority, Windows 8 really will come into its own. One example being Windows To Go, which allows employees to work from anywhere on any device – making logging in and re-synching a thing of the past. Instead, you will simply be able to roam seamlessly from your PC to your tablet to your phone and how can that be a bad thing? W8 and tablets go hand in hand and the increased efficiency brought about through the use of intelligent apps and the ability to share data between them will quickly be realised by businesses, whether they decide to implement a BYOD policy (that’s Bring Your Own Device!) or supply their staff with company tablets. The most important thing we believe businesses can do right now is start thinking about how Windows 8 could help to improve the way they work; IT departments will want to consider which employees or areas of the business would be likely candidates for deployment based on the nature of the job at hand and perhaps how sophisticated the staff are technologically. New opportunities for the implementation of Windows 8 will continue to grow as manufacturers fall in line and begin to spec up their products accordingly, so a ‘watch and
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