How to avoid Office 2010 upgrade pitfalls

Analyst firm Forrester has published advice aimed at the growing number of organisations planning to upgrade Windows software over the next 12 months.

In a report called Pitfalls to Avoid when Upgrading to Microsoft Office 2010, the analyst firm reveals that 88 per cent of firms are planning to move to Windows 7 at some time, with 46 per cent expecting to do so within the year.

However, it said it found that many enterprises are concerned about the disruption that upgrades could cause. For example, it said that many are worried about compatibility problems.

To avoid problems, Forrester advises IT departments to plan upgrades carefully and to involve users in their planning.

“Upgrading Microsoft Office can prove daunting, especially for firms still on Microsoft Office 2003 or previous versions. Although Windows 7 upgrades and hardware refreshes will accelerate the transition, buyers remain wary of business disruptions, ranging from compatibility issues to the transition to a new user interface,” said Forrester analyst Philipp Karcher.

“The recipe for a successful Office upgrade includes a heavy dose of planning, an ample amount of input from the business, a package of training, and just the right amount of remediation to minimise risk.”

Karcher said that Office files, templates, third-party add-ons and integration with other applications must be considered in upgrade plans, and recommended anything that has deep hooks into existing Office software, such as content management and CRM tools, be regression tested, particularly when firms are moving from Office 2003.

Microsoft offers upgrade tools and Karcher said that these, or others from third parties, should always be used. However, he added that they may not be powerful enough for some larger organisations, in which case they may have to be prepared to carry out some manual intervention.

With regards to usability issues, Karcher said that with adequate training most workers could resume full productivity in just a couple of days.

However, those workers who have set their own working styles using old Office interfaces could take several weeks to come up to speed on a new system, he warned.