Market Windows 8 to your customers before final release

by Stuart Crawford 

The perfect storm is brewing and you have no excuse to get out in front of your clients, the marketplace or your industry associations and show off Windows 8.

It helps that Microsoft issued the final release preview of the new operating system on May 31, 2012. The release to manufacturing (RTM) date is scheduled for some time in late July with the final release to market scheduled to happen in time for the holidays. 

Side note: Yours truly has been running Windows 8 for about a month. So far it is awesome. Dell provided me with a Ultrabook 13 to run Windows 8 on. What a great combination. Dell continues to wow me with great systems.

Give your clients a gift right now. Plan webinars, in-person events, technical demos and client experience events to introduce not only clients but also prospects to all that Windows 8 has to offer.

You are the IT experts, and your clients come to you for advice. Well, don’t wait for them to come to you with questions about Windows 8.

Be proactive. Get them acquainted with the new operating system by demonstrating how to use it in a ways that are relevant to them. You can hold a special event that’s tailored to each client’s industry. If you serve clients in a wide variety of industries, then focus on the most common uses across all industries.

Those who specialize in supporting Microsoft solutions have a unique opportunity to wow their clients and prospects with their expertise. Remember, a lot of companies have only just upgraded to Windows 7, so introducing them to Windows 8 and helping them get familiar with how it differs from Windows 7 is a good idea.

Why? Because a lot of companies are planning to buy tablets for their employees in the near future, and by October or November of this year, Windows 8 will be the standard operating system offered on new computers, particularly tablets. Windows 8 was designed with tablets in mind.

Don’t wait until it’s time to upgrade your clients’ systems to tell them about Windows 8, Windows Server (whatever the next version is) and Internet Explorer 10.

Start getting them familiar with all these new technologies now, so when it comes time for them to actually start using them, your clients won’t feel like they’ve just fallen down the rabbit hole withAlice.

Stuart Crawford, president and chief marketing officers, Ulistic Inc. After a 9 year military career which saw Stuart rapidly accelerate through the ranks finishing as a Master Corporal in the Canadian Signal Corp Stuart went to work putting into practice the leadership and character traits he learned through his time with the Canadian Forces. He is a member of Editorial Advisory Board of ITBusiness.ca