Microsoft Corp.’s efforts to showcase Windows 10’s security credentials appear to be paying off, as enterprises deploy the operating system at a much faster pace than they did when shifting from Windows XP to Windows 7.

Gartner Inc.’s latest survey on Windows 10 migration shows that 85 percent of companies are set to deploy the OS in production by the end of this year. When firms were asked why they were doing so, the most common response was to boost security, Gartner said.

The survey follows an announcement from Microsoft in January reminding customers it plans to stop providing security patches for Windows 7 in 2020. However, Microsoft’s German subsidiary controversially said at the time that even with the patches, Windows 7 is no longer able to meet the security requirements of many organizations.

No doubt Microsoft’s comments prompted many businesses to take a closer look at Windows 10. Gartner’s survey found that 49 percent of organizations moving to the platform cited “security improvements” as the main factor behind their decision. Other reasons for switching include Windows 10’s cloud integration capabilities, Windows 7’s upcoming end-of-life support, the ability to run Universal Windows apps on personal computers and mobile devices, and better touchscreen experiences.

The survey findings suggest that organizations recognize there’s “a need to move to Windows 10,” Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner, said in a statement. “Large businesses are either already engaged in Windows 10 upgrades or have delayed upgrading until 2018. This likely reflects the transition of legacy applications to Windows 10 or replacing those legacy applications before Windows 10 migration takes place.”

The research firm quizzed 1,014 respondents from companies in the U.S., the U.K., Brazil, China, France and India for its survey, which took place between September and December.

Some 46 percent of respondents said they would deploy Windows 10 in production by the end of 2016, while 23 percent said they would do so in the first half of 2017, and 16 percent in the second half. Only 13 percent of organizations said they planned to deploy Windows 10 later than that.

Meike Escherich, a principal research analyst at Gartner, said many companies were also interested in buying new devices as they are better optimized for the OS. He said organizations were keen to benefit from features such as a longer battery life, improved touchscreens and better performance.

“The intention to purchase convertible notebooks increased as organizations shifted from the testing and pilot phases into the buying and deployment phases,” Escherich said.

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