CMIT Solutions GM Ian Miller on IT Challenges as Windows 10 Free Security Updates End

Hey guys. Thanks for the throw. We're here with Ian Miller, who's general manager for CM IT Solutions, and we're talking about, well, the impending deadline for end of support for Windows 10 and whether or not folks will be moving to Windows 11.

Ian, welcome to the show. Thank you very much. It's great to, great to be here.

Thank you. Companies especially have been somewhat resistant to migrating to Windows 11. I think most of 'em are probably still running Windows 10 and there's a, uh, pending support deadline coming up.

Will people pay attention to this support deadline or will they ignore it and just kinda keep going ahead and hope for the best 'cause? Um, for whatever reason, windows 11 just doesn't seem to do the trick for a lot of 'em. Well, I think people will make the transition, uh, in most cases.

Uh, obviously the deadline is getting much closer. We're coming up to, uh, the deadline, which is, uh, October, uh, the 14th. So, uh, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're running short of runway right now, but, uh, UL ultimately, I think most people are starting to become aware of the fact that without ongoing security updates from Microsoft, um, they're exposing themselves to cybersecurity risk.

They're exposing themselves to things like their cybersecurity insurance policies, not paying out if they don't stay compliant with things like supported operating systems. And so I think the, uh, the drumbeat is growing and people are now, um, making the transition. Uh, obviously I think they'd like to kind of not spend the money if they can find a way out of it.

Uh, but bottom line is I think most people therefore are waiting till the last minute to, uh, actually commit the capital costs as close to October as they can. So we're anticipating, uh, for, at least from our side as a managed service provider, that, uh, there'll be a big, uh, flow of transactions between now and October. Um, and, and we'll see what happens.

But certainly in the last few months, I would say we've seen a big increase in the number of clients, uh, asking for quotes and actually starting to make the transition. But, uh, some of it is also based on taking systems that can make the transition without having to be purchased. Um, and, and actually just throwing the switch on automating that, um, so that they actually take the Windows 10 systems that have the disc space and the processor and the technical requirements to get to Windows 11 and actually just making that upgrade happen, which isn't a paid upgrade.

So it's not that that's an expense. Um, and, and so again, we've been helping clients all over the country, uh, automate that process so that the infrastructure that can make the migration actually does. What is your sense of the percentage of endpoints that will meet that requirement versus older Windows 10 systems that just aren't really gonna be able to effectively run Windows 11?

I think, I think there's really two things that drive that. One is systems that are maybe four or five years old or more that don't have the TPM two zero chip, that Windows now mandates as a requirement that they can't make the migration. Uh, and so they're orphaned and would need replacing.

Uh, and so clients need to understand how much of their IT estate, uh, just simply cannot get to Windows 11 is step one. And then step two is that the upgrade actually takes quite a bit of disc space. And so again, you need to just make sure that if you're gonna do the in-place upgrade to Windows 11, that the client actually has sufficient disc space to actually do it.

And then I suppose there's a third element as well, which is kind of, is it worth it, uh, if the system's four or five years old, is it performing now as that end user would require or, or need to get their job done? And so is this really a catalyst to say, now I'm gonna replace the older system and just get a new one in place? So there's, there's, there's quite a few considerations as people look at their IT estate.

I think there's two main buckets systems that simply cannot get to Windows 11 and need replacing. And that's what I was talking initially, uh, in this discussion. And then there's the systems that can make that migration and just making sure you have an orderly transition of those devices over to Windows 11.

Will there be a third option? I mean, are folks gonna try to find somebody who will say they will continue to support Windows 10 for a fee rather than, you know, having it as a Microsoft contract? And is that viable, or given your point about security patches, that's not really gonna work out, right?

I don't think that would work out. But there is a, there is a third option, and it's worth mentioning that Microsoft are offering an extended support agreement, um, for clients, uh, where they will support Windows 10 for another year, but then in the second year it becomes even more expensive. The third year it becomes even more expensive.

So clearly Microsoft are somewhat trying to make this a transition point for the majority of the marketplace. But if clients really want to hang on to older equipment, then getting one of these extended support agreements, uh, with Microsoft is a, is a, is a path forward if they really want to do that. Mm-hmm.

Has the migration itself improved? 'cause when I talk to people sometimes they're like, well, I made the migration, but all my data disappeared into some random file and I couldn't find anything and people found it cumbersome, shall we say, if not disruptive, is there a smarter way to do this? Um, I think part of it is the planning.

I think if you do it without planning properly, and again, looking at the estate and making sure that you understand the machines that have the right amount of disc space and, and the right configuration to be able to do it, I think as long as you do that upfront, then the migration does work reasonably well. And as we are a managed service provider and we support our clients using remote monitoring and management tools, uh, we've been able to actually support a lot of our clients by using those tools to distribute the upgrade and kind of do it all remotely. Uh, and in a, a very high percentage of of cases that works pretty well.

Where it doesn't work is whether where, where it's not sort of analyzed upfront for disc space hardware requirements, et cetera, and you get a low memory machine or a low disc space machine, in which case then people are scrambling to get through the migration and sometimes can accidentally delete files. And that's where you end up in a mess. So I think as long as you actually do the planning upfront and the machine has the capacity, uh, from, uh, both a storage memory and the other requirements point of view, then then it can automate reasonably well.

But certainly we've also seen, to your point, that in certain cases, it just becomes a situation where you have to throw bodies at it and get the situ, get the, uh, get the system upgraded by a little bit of extra hands-on help. We're also in the age of ai and these days you're seeing a lot more applications that use ai. It's a little more compute intensive, shall we say.

But rather than thinking about this as a stick kind of situation, is there also a carrot about moving in Windows 11 because it's a little more AI friendly, shall we say? Well, I think that's a really great point, and, and, and I do think that there is a big upside to actually making the Windows 11 migration now, um, not only from a security point of view in the sense of staying current with Microsoft security patches, but also being able to take advantage of copilot and some of the new technologies that Microsoft is building into Windows 11, uh, and using AI that's embedded as part of the Microsoft environment. But of course, you know, there is a huge amount of investment across the industry, not only with chat GPT, but a a a range of third parties are investing in modern tools that will be delivering AI functionality across the wide spectrum of applications that exist.

CRM tools are doing it, PSA tools are doing it all sorts of technologies looking at how do we take advantage of these AI capabilities? And of course, these new tools are building on a foundation of the most modern operating systems, whether that's Windows 11 or MAC OS 26 or, or all the new tools that are coming out. So when you actually end up being orphaned on Windows 10 and, and not actually able to take advantage of some of those later tools, you are missing out on some of the greater innovations that are happening across the IT industry right now.

So I think that's one consideration that makes moving to Windows 11 a real benefit. But there is, there, there is another opportunity here, which is worth talking about as well, which is that, um, you know, if a, if a company is a little behind the times in terms of overall infrastructure, uh, investment, meaning they're on Windows 10, they haven't got to Windows 11, they might have older equipment, et cetera, then this is also a catalyst to start looking at the whole, uh, management of the IT estate and whether you really do have the right security tools in place, et cetera. So as each machine will end up being touched potentially in this migration, it's potentially an opportunity to look at things like endpoint detection and response or security incident and event monitoring or DNS filtering or other technologies that can protect those, uh, those devices better.

And, and using the fact that your IT group or your MSP or whoever will do this migration is actually logging into each machine, is that an opportunity to really refresh the technology and use the fact they're being touched anyway, to just make the whole infrastructure a lot more secure and a lot more manageable? So I think there's a number of opportunities, both AI and overall systems management, uh, which, uh, the Windows 11 migration presents. Will this also be one of those moments in time where people revisit, well, how do they wanna manage it altogether?

Because, um, historically a lot of folks have a internal IT team, but a lot of the processes and things are more automated these days. So maybe more things should be managed by a managed service provider such as yourself, or what's the right balance between what's internal and external? That's a great question and, and certainly I think that, um, there, there is the opportunity to really look at, um, this sort of co-managed situation in with fresh eyes.

Um, the, the way I try to articulate it to, to clients and to prospective clients is that the kind of work that we do, um, in terms of patching devices, keeping them up to date, providing, uh, 24 7 health desk, all those sort of services is what I call the plumbing. It's basically keeping the infrastructure working, keeping the data flowing, but it isn't providing necessarily the vertical solution skills that an end customer may want. So why not have your IT group not worry about the plumbing, but worry about providing better, uh, application support, better specific vertical industry expertise and delivering projects that actually help drive the business forward and help it deliver better functionality for the company.

And so I guess I'm trying to articulate a situation where you outsource the plumbing and, and, and the IT department really becomes much more tightly integrated with the business, providing more value for the business. And I think that produces both an economic result that's stronger because I think, and I obviously have a vested interest in saying this, but I think a managed service provider can provide the plumbing at a lower cost than an in-house team, but still have an in-house team that's actually driving the business forward in their use of it. And I think that's a great kind of co-managed partnership.

Mm-hmm. Do you also think that maybe business folks, they're more IT savvy than they were even three or four years ago, and, uh, clearly more of the business is dependent upon it, but has the, the, the nature of the end customer changed, at least in their outlook than how they think about it because they now see it as kind of something that is core to the business versus something historically that was a support function? Yeah, again, that's a really interesting observation, and I think you're onto something really, really important there.

Uh, and I think a lot of it has come about because of the, you know, massive growth in, uh, mobile devices, mobile phones, uh, tablets, and the like, because you have now, um, executives who are day in and day out using these devices and seeing what the applications can, can produce and, and are very much more literate in their day-to-day use of technology because it's just part of their everyday lives and the way they do their email, the way they want to get, um, business intelligence the way they want to start really analyzing what's going on in their companies. And so, yeah, if you go back 10, 20 years, you know, very much it was this mysterious thing that was done by a group of smart people in a corner. Now kind of, it is everywhere and it, awareness of what is possible becomes everywhere.

And I think that's making business leaders a lot more demanding in terms of what they want to get out of it. It's no longer just the getting the payroll done or getting the invoices out. It's about trying to get more insight into the business and more awareness of kind of how the business can be driven forward through it.

And obviously, AI layered on top of that with the potential to get even deeper, faster insights into where business is going, um, real, really will help potentially those business people, um, take those ideas even further. So I, I think that's a great observation. Certainly I'm seeing a lot more business awareness and a lot more IT awareness from the CEOs and leaders I speak to today.

The one challenge that I consistently hear from folks is when they go looking to figure out who to partner with, who's an MSP, um, they can't really distinguish all that well, what makes one better than the other? And so then they default to leaning on price. And that may not always be the best metric to consider either.

But, you know, from your perspective, what's your best advice to folks about how to maybe assess which MSP is right for them? Yeah. Um, I, I, I think, I think in many ways the, the industry has matured a lot.

And as the industry has matured, I think seeing the light between different vendors does become harder. Um, and, and in the same way when you select a, a major consultancy firm, for example, they can look very similar from the outside when you're looking at them, uh, all offering smart people who will give you advice, you've gotta really look at what your specific need is and, you know, assess the MSP from their completeness of vision and their ability to execute. Um, I think selecting and maintaining an MSP, um, really comes to two or three, I suppose three fundamental things that I really was to break it down.

And, and one is the most basic thing. One is, does the MSP provide strong 24 7 support? Do they actually give the end users a good experience?

Because at the end of the day, the CFO or CEO who selected an MSP will hear from their team. And if the team don't feel that they're getting responses, that they're getting fast effective solutions to their problems, no matter how great that initial relationship was, it'll deteriorate. And you need to therefore be able to maintain the real basics of MSP support, which is great end user support, but today, it then has to layer in cybersecurity, um, as a, as a major second element.

And if the MSP does not have a strong demonstrable ability to do end-to-end cybersecurity support, um, then, then you really are not on a good trajectory. You really need a company that understands the full range of tooling and training that is required to keep a company safe from threats, but also have access to the kind of high level skills that are required if a threat actually ever does get through. Uh, because at the end of the day, the bad guys get smarter all the time.

There are always new attack vectors. And so sadly, no matter how many great solutions you get in place, sometimes an attack will get through, and therefore you need a team that has the smarts to respond to it and get the company back to health quickly, uh, and, and actually be able to make sure that the company can recover, uh, in a very effective way. And then I think the third thing that you really want to be able to look at from an MSP is their ability to guide you, uh, and to take advantage of the newer, uh, technologies that are coming out.

So, you know, how do I take advantage of ai? How do I take advantage of mobile device management or some of the newer technologies, uh, that are coming out? Um, uh, and, um, I, I think if you can get all three, um, that's a really strong, um, really strong deck of cards if you like, in terms of selecting, uh, an MSP.

And, and I suppose I would just put one final thing in there, which is, is that at, at least for us, and I'm speaking very, uh, much about our situation at this point in time, uh, I, I think that one of the other strong capabilities that a company should have is the ability to service requirements across the country. And, uh, in the case of CMIT, uh, where we are operating out of 200 or more offices across the us, our ability to get arms and legs, smart hands all across the country, uh, for, for larger businesses that have multiple offices in multiple states, um, that's a real strength. Uh, and so I think that's the final thing, is the ability to deliver service across the country is needed.

All right, folks, you heard it here. End of life support for Windows 10 is just the first in a series of cascading decisions you're about to make, about concerning, well, just how do we wanna manage it going forward from here. Hey, Ian, thanks for being on the show.

Thank You so much for having me. I appreciate it. All right, and back to you guys in the studio.