With one-third of organizations yet to upgrade to Windows 7/8, opportunity exists for IT departments to evaluate other applications

SAN FRANCISCO—March 24, 2014 –Nitro, a leading provider of document productivity and workflow solutions, today announced an initiative to help educate organizations as they evaluate their current operating systems in preparation for the conclusion of Microsoft Windows XP product support.

On April 8th 2014, Microsoft will cease product support for its popular Windows XP operating system after 12 years. However, a recent study by Flexera Software found 29% of organizations have yet to migrate from Windows XP despite the fast approaching deadline. A number of IT departments are struggling to move from the obsolete platform for a variety of reasons including incomplete inventories of current applications, an inability to test those applications, and a lack of visibility into their end-user practices.

"Organizations in the process of migrating from Windows XP should take the opportunity to do a complete inventory and revamp of all the applications used by employees," according to Mimi Hoang, Vice President, Product at Nitro. "New desktop and cloud-based solutions over the past few years especially in document management can boost employee productivity and deliver immediate ROI."

To help businesses navigate the migration of their operating systems, Nitro has produced an educational guide to provide support and best practices as the April 8th deadline approaches. The whitepaper, Best Practices: Migrating from XP to Windows 7/8, authored by Mimi Hoang, not only provides strategies for IT departments as they upgrade from Windows XP but also highlights the importance of evaluating new applications such as document management solutions.

Immediate considerations before preparing to migrate from Windows XP include:

• Updating your inventory - IT professionals are constantly dealing with budget headaches, while end users need to have access to the right solutions. Now is the time to not only plan ahead but begin updating the entire inventory of hardware, applications and users with latest, most effective solutions.
• Consider new options - For many IT departments, software and system solutions were last updated when Windows XP was deployed. In that time, new solutions optimized for Windows 7 and 8 were developed that can significantly improve productivity and back office processes.
• Evaluate core productivity apps and solutions - Plenty has changed over the past decade in how we manage our documents. From document creation and electronic signatures to document storage and retrieval, something as basic as PDF software can have an immediate impact on employee productivity.

Best Practices: Migrating from XP to Windows 7/8 provides common struggles, important considerations, and best practices for IT departments as they evaluate their current deployments. It’s available for download here.

About Nitro

Nitro is changing the way the world works with documents. From the desktop to the cloud, Nitro makes it easy to create, edit, share, sign and collaborate – online or offline. The goal: make businesses more productive.

More than 500,000 businesses run Nitro, including over 50% of the Fortune 500. Nitro is the PDF software partner of choice for Lenovo, and our award-winning products, including Nitro Pro and Nitro Cloud, are used by millions of people around the world every month.

Australian-founded, Nitro is headquartered in downtown San Francisco with offices in Melbourne, Australia; Dublin, Ireland; and Nitra, Slovakia. One of the fastest-growing private companies in the world, Nitro is also a multiple Inc. 500/5000, BRW Fast 100, Deloitte Technology Fast 50 and Software 500 award winner.

More info: www.gonitro.com/about.