What does this really mean for you? Well for one, there will no longer be any support from Microsoft. Microsoft will also discontinue supplying security patches to PCs running Windows XP. This also means if a hacker or virus writer finds a new hole in Windows XP, Microsoft will not fix it, leaving your PC vulnerable to attack.
For those of you with a Point of Sale or other payment systems running on Windows XP after April 8, 2014, you will no longer be PCI compliant, which may create a legal liability. Your line of business application support, may also no longer troubleshoot issues if the program’s installed on Windows XP machine.
April 8, 2014 may seems like plenty of time to upgrade, it’s important you begin to strategically plan for this transition. It’s possible some, or many of your key business applications will not function seamlessly with Windows 7. You may need to upgrade in other areas, or even move some of your core applications to the cloud.
Although having to upgrade may seem complicated or tedious, it’s realistically a valuable opportunity to review your entire IT infrastructure. What can perform better? Would it improve productivity if your employees could access work from anywhere? How can you eliminate waste and streamline your processes? These are just a few questions to consider when making such a transition.
