Migration to the 2007 Microsoft Office System: A Roadmap for Success

Introduction

Microsoft has updated its flagship product sets with the release of the new operating system, Microsoft Vista, and the productivity suite, the 2007 Microsoft Office system, to businesses. Microsoft is calling the launch of this new operating system and business application suite the most significant in its history.

Although this is a simultaneous launch, many organizations will find that application deployment of the Office Suite before or independent of the Microsoft Vista operating system (OS) makes sense due to a lack of compelling drivers for the new OS. Even without the new OS, upgrading to the 2007 Microsoft Office system is a difficult and costly process that will benefit from the application of both best practices and automation.

This white paper will examine the issues presented with a migration to the 2007 Microsoft Office system including which organizations should be first movers and why. Next, the unique nature of this migration along with best practices specific to migrating to the 2007 Microsoft Office system will be examined. Last, the benefits of IT automation derived from use of a KBOX appliance will be highlighted through the case study of one mid-sized company who saved over $90,000 on single software distribution of 1600 PCs to a new version of Microsoft Office.

Table of Contents

Introduction

3

Who Should Deploy the 2007 Microsoft Office System?

3

Attrition Versus Forklift Migrations

3

Migration Best Practices: 2007 Microsoft Office System

4

Automating Migrations with KBOX appliances

6

KBOX in Action

9

Conclusion

9