Windows XP won’t be around forever, and the anticipation for commercial adoption of Windows 7 is reaching a boiling point.

Ultimately, the pace of your organization's Windows 7 deployment will depend on three factors: 1) application readiness; 2) hardware readiness; and 3) budget plans and priorities. Application readiness includes application compatibility testing, image development, and application packaging and testing -- processes that should not be skipped by any company.  Finally, you'll have to determine the relative importance of PC upgrades compared with other key IT initiatives, such as business continuity/disaster recovery, security, compliance, and green IT.

If you haven't started planning your Windows migration yet, it is time. 

Specifically, you should:
• start or accelerate application compatibility testing on Windows 7;
• plan for rolling out Windows 7 in small batches on new hardware initially;
• weigh the costs and benefits of upgrading existing machines with at least 2 GB of memory;
• start developing training sessions and tips and tricks guidance; and
• prepare for — and embrace — empowered users who want to be early adopters.