Case Study
Transitioning 1,422 devices to Windows 11 in 225 days
The Windows 10 end of life meant that security patching would cease on October 14th 2025. With this hard deadline only six months away, our client, a leading North American business, approached us with their non‑negotiable mandate: “No unsupported OS on the network. No exceptions.”
What we did
In late-April 2025, with less than six months on the clock, we started by baselining the estate, twice – using both security and behavioural data. This approach gave us a better view of risk because it uncovered 144 shadow devices and 460 stale records.
Starting from a strong base, and having discovered devices that weren’t even on the inventory, we then developed a phased summer sprint. The aim of this was for zero disruption.
A successful enterprise Windows 11 migration is equal parts logistics, sequencing and diplomacy.
Our phased rollout balanced speed, user experience and risk:
- May: Pilot (200 devices, two rapid image revisions)
- June: HQ power users (onsite swaps, 2‑hour SLA)
- July: Remote teams (VPN pre‑staging and white‑glove delivery)
- August: Store and field staff (thin‑client deployment for locked‑down desktops)
- September: Desktop fleet (399 aging desktops replaced with T550 thin clients)
- October: Global cleanup (re‑imaging and exception handling)
This approach meant that 96% of users experienced less than 20 minutes of downtime and only a minimal number of support tickets were issued due to the upgrade.
Technology in scope
Windows 10 to Windows 11 OS.
Results
We successfully migrated over a thousand devices in 225 days while real‑time security scans and compliance controls remained fully operational. Our process also identified 250 Windows devices that users had been quietly holding onto, we organised hardware collection and blocked Windows 10 to overcome this hidden risk.
The migration was handled in such a way that to the user it felt more like a system upgrade and there was zero business disruption during the programme. Communications throughout the process were key to its success and the multi-channel outreach we conducted tripled response rates.
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