In the last 6 months, Windows 11 was rolled out to the public. It came with a brand new look, and lots of great new features. But even though Windows 11 is now out, support for Windows 10 is going to continue until 2025 – and many people feel that Windows 10 was the best operating system for business and work so far; this is definitely reflected in it being the longest running version of Windows ever released.
If you own or work in a business that uses Windows 10, you might be debating whether you should upgrade to the next generation of the OS. To get some insight on it, we spoke to a managed IT services company that have made the switch to Windows 11 themselves – TechQuarters, who themselves are partnered with Microsoft, is so far very satisfied with the new version of Windows.
If you’re wondering whether to upgrade to Windows 11 at your work, below are some of the top benefits of the OS that may help you decide.
Productivity & Collaboration
Windows is well known for being a great OS for productivity and for Microsoft this was one of the primary focuses when building Windows 11.
Organisations that already use the Microsoft 365 suite of apps and services will definitely feel this. For example, Microsoft Teams and Windows 11 have next-level integration and interoperability. If you’re unaware, Microsoft Teams is the unified communications platform that is ideal for remote work, working from home, and communication across an entire organisation – it integrates with SharePoint and OneDrive, Word, OneNote, and Outlook to provide a perfect platform for your day-to-day tasks. Now, with Windows 11, you can easily launch Teams chats and meetings from the taskbar, and you can even share windows simply by hovering your mouse over the icon.
These aren’t the only new productivity features. The Snap function that allows you to arrange windows on your screen has been upgraded to be more intuitive – allowing you to use pre-set layouts, and Windows will even remember your snap layouts when you have minimized them. This makes organising your virtual workspace much easier.
Security (with Hardware)
Security will always be one of the top priorities of a business, and Microsoft have worked hard with Windows 11 to help ensure all users within a business are upholding a standard for cybersecurity. For instance, Microsoft have developed a chip to cloud level of security. What this means is that PCs must achieve the minimum specifications for hardware security in order to run Windows 11 – this ensures that all PCs running Windows 11 have a high level of security built into them. Several other default hardware-based security measures are enabled with Windows 11, isolation, encryption, and malware prevention.
With Windows 11, Microsoft’s passwordless solution – Windows Hello – will be much easier to deploy for businesses. Most tech experts agree that passwordless encryption is a much more secure way of managing access to a device, because it relies on data that cannot be easily replicated or stolen – namely facial and retina recognition.
Performance
Microsoft have also worked hard to ensure that Windows 11 helps users get more out of their PC, with certain performance improvements. For example, according to Microsoft, Windows 11 boot times are much faster than those of Windows 10. Authentication for Windows Hello is allegedly also much quicker, and navigating the internet and web-based apps and services are also much faster and more responsive.
Another improvement is that Windows 11 is said to be less energy intensive. It uses your PC’s power more efficiently, which will be a great benefit to any workers that use a laptop over a desktop – it will mean they get more time out of their battery, which can come in handy if they need to work while travelling.
