The Total Economic Impact™ Of Windows 11 Pro Devices

Improved Security With Windows 11 Devices

• Evidence and data.

  The severity of security breaches can have a longstanding impact. According to a Forrester survey of global security decision- makers, at least 70% of respondents saw their organization’s mean time to detect, respond, eradicate, and recovery to an incident each take longer than seven days on average to complete.⁶ Windows 11 devices are optimized to support the OS’ full suite of security features. Interviewees said they did not see any performance issues when running its security features due to the performance of new silicon chips, and they were able to further strengthen protection of their organizations as a result.

  Interviewees emphasized that the unique architecture of Secured-core PCs (the primary type of Windows 11 device purchased) and, in some cases, Secured- core PCs with a Microsoft Pluton security processor added a layer to the security architecture that made their organizations’ devices harder to target thanks to additional protection against firmware attacks. For interviewees at organizations with teams in privacy and sensitive data-related operations (e.g., finance,healthcare, and government organizations), this extra layer of protection proved especially valuable.

  The security of Windows 11 devices proved itself in a number of ways. The chief technology leader at technology company shared that Windows 11’s HVCI helped ensure the proper binaries were in place to protect memory processes from security attacks. Although features like this are also available on Windows 10, interviewees said they feel that Windows 11 devices from OEMs are more secure because they are built to support these Windows security features turned on by default in the OS.

  The chief technology leader at the technology company said that since Windows 11 devices arrive with chips for TPM 2.0 enabled, it helped on the integration side when encrypting endpoints through BitLocker. Encryption keys are stored securely inside of TPM 2.0 and, when factoring in Windows 11’s Secure Boot feature to prevent malicious attacks during PC boot-ups, confidence around the security of devices grew.

  The chief information security officer at an IT services company said that third-party security solutions their organization leverages work better with Windows 11. With past Windows OS, third-party security solutions could experience conflicts with OS files and generate false-positive alerts. This required time from security teams to heavily whitelist these files. Interviewees reported that since adopting Windows 11, their organizations’ third-party software has not produced false-positive alerts from OS files, enabling teams to avoid whitelisting workarounds. This helped teams focus on areas where there may be real security risks rather than spending time on false positives.

  One interviewee who upgraded their organization’s Windows 11 Pro subscription to a Windows Enterprise E3 subscription said Windows Autopatch is key to helping the organization meet its client service-level agreements (SLAs) in regard to protecting the security client’s devices.⁷ Windows Autopatch is a cloud service that automates updates to Windows software to support its security and performance. Previously, manual patching could take upward of a month placing the organization at risk of failing SLAs.

• Modeling and assumptions

  For the composite organization, Forrester assumes:

  • The company will experience an average of 1.7 material breaches per year.⁸
  • According to a Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) report, eight of the 12 largest breaches in recent reports resulted in financial losses of less than or equal to 0.5% of a company’s annual revenue.⁹ These costs would include investigative and remediation work, as well as cost of compromised data or information.
  • Using Windows 11 devices reduces the chances of a successful security attack by 20%.
  • Windows 11 devices comprise 20% of the organization’s overall security posture. The off- the-shelf inclusion of TPM 2.0 removes the need for employees to enable TPM 2.0 by themselves.

• Risks.

  Differences in organizations that may impact the benefit results include:

  • The amount and severity of security threats the organization faces in a year.
  • The number and types of security solutions in place before using Windows 11.
  • The speed with which the organization’s decision-makers plan to deploy Windows 11’s security features.

• Results.

  To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 20%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $373,000.

IT Device And Security Management Efficiency

• Evidence and data.

  Interviewees said their organizations saw the most benefit from Windows 11 device security features on the security team productivity front. A small, early improvement came from Windows 11 support for TPM 2.0 and devices arriving with the chips enabled. Security teams were able to avoid relying on a TPM management console to see which devices carried it and automatically initialize devices’ TPM chips given Windows’ support.

  With Windows 11 devices, interviewees’ organizations also saw performance improvement around virtualization-based security (VBS) as a result of new hardware. VBS worked in tandem with HVCI to virtualize environments to protect parts of Windows OS from compromised bad drivers and harmful system files, which interviewees noted had occasionally caused bouts of slowdown from struggling hardware performance on older devices.

  One area that drove the most significant time savings in security work, specifically for organizations with Windows Enterprise E3 subscriptions, was the Windows Autopatch feature. The chief information security officer at an IT services company shared that with Autopatch, their organization saved upwards of weeks’ worth of time for its security team each month. Teams no longer have to monitor which devices have received patches, which has grown increasingly difficult with hybrid and remote workers working flexible hours while be connected online at odd hours. Now security teams can easily push patches onto machines when connected.

  IT teams also saw productivity improvements from a reduced number of incoming help desk tickets. Adoption of new Windows 11 devices mitigated the number of help desk tickets that came from installation errors when attempting to update an OS on aging technology (e.g., conflicts with third-party software on devices, lack of hardware space to support features). Interviewees said another helpful feature was self-service password reset (SSPR) through AAD, which enabled users to reset Windows passwords on their own.¹⁰ Using passwordless logins was also made possible with Windows Hello enabling facial recognition and fingerprint matching authentication alongside multifactor authentication services to further streamline the login process for users.

  Security and IT teams rededicated freed time toward digital transformation projects, such as identifying automated tools to add for further streamlining work. Multiple interviewees said their organization is migrating more of its operations to the cloud, and this proved particularly helpful for overseeing a smooth transition.

• Modeling and assumptions.

  For the composite organization, Forrester assumes:

  • The full-time equivalent of 10 employees administers patches and oversees device security at the organization.
  • Windows 11 security features and devices’ abilities to run these features drive a 20% increase in productivity.
  • The average fully burdened annual salary of a security user is $120,000, and this increases at a rate of 2% each year.¹¹
  • End users send more than 24,000 help desk requests per year, and 10% of these requests are related to OS/desktop/laptop issues.
  • In Year 1, Windows 11 devices helps reduce the number of OS- and device-related questions by 40% because they operate and run as expected for most new users. That reduction increases to 70% in Year 2 and to 90% in Year 3.
  • The average cost per ticket is $6.¹²

• Risks

  Differences in organizations that may impact the benefit results include:

  • The size of the security team at the organization and the security solutions already leveraged.
  • The number of employees at the organization.
  • The number of help desk requests sent in annually.

• Results.

  To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 15%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV of $529,000.

Device-Deployment And Provisioning Time Savings

• Evidence and data.

  With the power of new-device hardware, interviewees said their organizations’ IT staffs avoided spending a few minutes on each of the incumbent PCs to check if they were compliant with or capable of running Windows 11 security features. As the organizations navigated the migration, Windows management tools enabled admins to monitor and manage Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices because they coexisted. Having visibility over the entirety of the organizations’ devices helped inform who was most ready to receive a new machine, and it made for a smooth transition to Windows 11 devices.

  The planning cycle for adoption was further shortened. With security features turned on by default, interviewees said it took less time to elect whether to turn off some features than to identify which features to turn on and pilot. Previously, decision-makers had to review tradeoffs in machine performance to effectively leverage certain security features and to decide which employees would test them. Now the organizations have the assurance of reliable performance from new machines with a consistent system baseline and a broader pool of employees from which to receive feedback on how features are working for them. Early wide deployment of security features helped workers identify and address any potential security risks before they became larger problems.

  For organizations properly licensed for Windows Autopilot, a helpful factor was OEMs automatically registering devices in Intune or mobile device management (MDM) with Windows Autopilot.¹³ This process helped IT staff avoid manual work in creating a back-end database connecting hardware hashes to customer tenants. From there, through an OEM- optimized version of Windows client, interviewees’ organizations were able to preconfigure devices before distributing them to employees. IT teams avoided manual provisioning of the same preinstalled apps, settings, and policies to each employee. Autopilot also assisted with adding devices to AAD to help users log into devices through single sign-on and have access to their OneDrive files, which increased the speed each employee got up and running.

  With Windows 11 being more friendly towards additional security solutions, security and IT teams at the interviewees’ organizations had less work to do around checking which features to whitelist to avoid false-positive alerts. Windows 11 support for a wide range of solutions also contributed to smooth deployment of the devices.

• Modeling and assumptions.

  For the composite organization, Forrester assumes:

  • Approximately 30% of the organization’s staff (600 employees) will receive a new Windows 11 device in Years 1 and 2 as the organization goes through its refresh cycle. It deploys another 400 devices in Year 3 when 80% of the organization utilizes Windows 11 devices.
  • Before using Windows 11 Pro devices, it took four hours of resource time to deploy each device, and that included registering the device with AAD, installing images, updating policy settings, installing any additional software, etc.
  • With Windows 11 Pro devices, time to deployment accelerates by 25% based on avoided reviews of compliance and capability of incumbent PCs, compatibility with third-party security solutions and with Autopilot-configured devices that arrive to each employee already registered with AAD while including the same set of apps, settings, and policies. The time to deploy each device becomes 3.2 hours.
  • The average fully burdened annual salary of an IT employee is $120,000, and this increases at a rate of 2% each year.
  • The average fully burdened salary of an employee at the organization is $73,000, and this increases at a rate of 2% each year.
  • IT teams rededicate all of the time recouped from greater efficiencies, and they put it toward priority work they would have otherwise had to defer. For end users, 50% of their time recouped from efficiencies is rededicated toward productive work while the rest is spent on longer breaks. This makes for a better employee experience.

• Risks.

  Differences in organizations that may impact the benefit results include:

  • The number of devices deployed and amount of time spent on each device deployment.
  • The assumed salary of IT and end users.

• Results.

  To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV of $93,000.

End-User Productivity

• Evidence and data.

  Interviewees said Windows 11 devices afforded incremental productivity improvements to their organizations’ end users, particularly hybrid and remote workers. Interviewees noted that virtual meetings were of a higher quality with higher quality cameras and microphones in new devices. Windows 11’s Voice Clarity feature further enhanced audio for people to sound clearer when speaking during meetings, which helped them avoid having to repeat themselves. With new cameras, tracking of employees while using virtual backgrounds as their backdrops improved and ensured any real background remained hidden without popping in to create distraction. New processors supported users in smoothly juggling applications and sharing their screens, all while attending video calls, which made for more productive calls.

  With work becoming more mobile, employees took advantage of their devices’ high screen resolution and, in most cases, the touch screen capability to use Windows 11’s snap layouts to group together apps and create personalized screen layouts. This made access to work documents and applications more simplified for touch-screen use, especially when on the go, and created a more pleasing user experience (UX) as a whole. Interviewees said their organizations’ employees quickly acclimated to the new interface and on-the-go executives and that they especially appreciated the flexibility of snap layouts.

  Interviewees said they noticed employees arranging their screens to help with keeping open and juggling multiple apps at a time. With new performant chips, app performance remained stable, and work productivity increased as a result. In addition, devices remembered settings for screen layouts when undocked and docked in different work locations. This helped users avoid spending time rearranging their screens each time they worked somewhere different.

  Meanwhile, support for the latest Bluetooth and Wi-Fi technology, as well as USB-C connections supporting USB 4.0, ensured end users could connect to systems wherever they worked without technical obstacles. Extended battery life on new devices further enabled workers to continue working on the go for lengthy periods of time to complete work.

• Modeling and assumptions.

  For the composite organization, Forrester assumes:

  • Among the total employees at the organization, roughly 30% are power users and heavily impacted by the features of Windows 11 devices with their work. Power users include workers in data-intensive or production roles (e.g., finance and software development) who are especially affected when a computing task takes up processor capability.

  • 25% of tasks carried out by these employees are directly impacted by Windows 11 devices — primarily tasks that involve managing data and require multiple applications open at a time.

  • With Windows 11 devices, employee productivity increases 10% in Year 1 as employees leverage faster processing speeds and other device features while still familiarizing themselves with Windows 11’s features. In Year 2, employees are 15% faster due to greater familiarity with Windows 11 and best practices to follow to get the most out of their machines.

  • The remaining 70% of end users who receive Windows 11 devices recoup 30 minutes each week (1.25% of their time). This is driven by faster bootup, processing speeds, and snap layouts streamlining operations.

    Forrester assumes a productivity recapture rate of 50% for power users to account for time rededicated toward time spent on longer breaks. For end users, a 25% recapture rate is assumed as the broad application of users with devices can influence how likely an employee is to rededicate time toward more work.

• Risks.

  Differences in organizations that may impact the benefit results include:

  • The number of employees impacted by devices.
  • Whether features were already turned on in Windows 10, which might mitigate further gains experienced.
  • The age of the devices replaced and the capabilities of previous hardware.

• Results.

  To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 15%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV of $1.3 million.

Cost Savings From Retiring Software And Applications

• Evidence and data.

  Decision-makers said since adopting Windows 11 devices and leveraging security features that were not turned on with Windows 11, their organizations identified areas for cost efficiency. Specifically, they could offload solutions with duplicative features to those offered in the OS like endpoint encryption and remote logins to devices.

  Each security solution carries its own unique set of capabilities, so decision-makers elected to pilot Windows 11 features and migrate devices as each proved its success. In the case of remote logins, an interviewee reported that their organization saved $500,000 on the technology within Year 1 by relying on Windows AAD for logins. They said they expect their organizations to save as much as $2 million by the end of the three years by moving on from the service.

  Several interviewees’ organizations had recently adopted new solutions as part of refreshes that took place during full remote work during 2020 and 2021. They had yet to identify areas of overlap on features, but they planned to review it. Decision-makers interviewed in the Microsoft commissioned Forrester study, “New Technology: The Projected Total Economic Impact of Windows 11,” spoke to higher benefits in costs resulting from their migration to the new OS.

• Modeling and assumptions.

  For the composite organization, Forrester assumes:

  • The IT spend is 3.8% of the annual revenue.¹⁴

  • The percentage of IT budget spent on security is 35.39%.¹⁵

  • The percentage of security spend that is devoted to software is 19.5%.¹⁶

  • The organization begins to migrate from a piece of software in Year 1, and this saves 2% on the budget. As the organization decreases usage of the software, savings reach 3% in Year 2 and 4% in Year 3.

• Risks.

  Differences in organizations that may impact the benefit results include:

  • The size and scale of budget dedicated to software and applications.
  • The recency of the organization’s refresh cycle and the types of solutions adopted during the refresh that are similar to Windows 11 features.

• Results.

  To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 15%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV of $163,000.

Unquantified Benefits

Interviewees mentioned the following additional benefits that their organizations experienced but were not able to quantify:

• • Consistent admin and end-user satisfaction.

    Interviewees’ organizations maintained consistency in their system integrations and end- user experiences by migrating from Windows 10 to Windows 11. Being familiar with Windows 11 code and infrastructure meant IT teams could easily integrate the operating system alongside Windows 10 devices and with other software and technology without any technical surprises. Staying within the Windows ecosystem also meant IT teams didn’t need to adopt and test new endpoint management solutions they might have needed for an alternative OS.

    When upgrading software or adding technology, it was reassuring for IT teams to use devices with new processors and support for USB-C connections supporting USB 4.0 because they knew the devices could support it. End users welcomed faster boot-up speeds and quality-of- life features, particularly when engaging with clients or third-party individuals to ensure meetings went smoothly from a technical perspective. The familiarity of the user interface also meant they avoided learning how to navigate and effectively leverage a new OS.

  • Deep integration with the cloud, Microsoft ecosystem, and other solutions.

    Interviewees’ organizations adopting Windows 11 devices were in the process of fully moving operations to the cloud, and they looked to the OS to assist with streamlining the migrations. IT teams avoided custom configuration work with Microsoft Intune helping to configure Windows 11 devices to receive the latest patches and updates, be granted application access, sync files from the cloud, and register for with AAD for single sign-on logins. In regard to security around integrations with third-party software, the TPM management console helped employees to monitor integrations and see the root of issues. This helped employees avoid work dedicated toward building APIs or looping in outside support to ensure integrations went error-free.

Flexibility

The value of flexibility is unique to each customer. There are scenarios in which a customer might implement Windows 11 devices and later realize additional uses and business opportunities, including:

• • Future-proofing the organization’s technology.

    Interviewed decision-makers shared that by opting for Windows 11 devices, their organizations are building toward full-cloud operations and securing themselves against phishing scams or security risks. With a large amount of work taking place outside of physical offices, the organizations could securely support hybrid work and provide employees with the most up-to-date software for day-to-day business no matter where they worked. Interviewees also said they appreciate the option of having a variety of OEMs from which to source PCs for employees, which helped them pick devices that would be most cost-effective for their organizations and helpful to the workforces.

    Interviewees knew their organizations would upgrade their systems to Windows 11 before support ended for Windows 10 in 2025. Gradually migrating employees to Windows 11 devices now will help the organizations avoid any hiccups from mass migrations later on.

    Flexibility would also be quantified when evaluated as part of a specific project (described in more detail in Appendix A).