Microsoft Windows 10 End-of-Life Migration: Lessons from Hitachi Energy’s Successful Transition to Windows 11

As the clock ticks toward October 14, 2025, millions of organizations and consumers worldwide are confronted with a monumental crossroads for their computing environments: the end of mainstream support for Windows 10. By this deadline, Microsoft will no longer provide free updates or security patches, creating an urgent need for users to transition to Windows 11 or risk being exposed to potential vulnerabilities and falling behind on functionality. With close to 60% of Windows machines still clinging to Windows 10, the world is staring at an IT migration mission of historic proportions—one rife with both overt and hidden challenges.
Yet, amid this global swirl of uncertainty, Hitachi Energy, a $13 billion multinational enterprise, has emerged as a remarkable case study of how to navigate the transition. Spanning 12 countries and boasting over 40,000 devices, Hitachi Energy's migration to Windows 11 showcases both the complexity and the promise of large-scale OS upgrades. Their journey, powered significantly by automation tools and risk-based application testing, offers essential insights for IT leaders, project managers, and anyone vested in enterprise endpoint management.

Navigating the Countdown: Why Windows 10 End-of-Life Is a Big Deal​

The looming Windows 10 EOL (end-of-life) date is more than a technical deadline—it’s a seismic shift in the global digital landscape. After October 2025, without security patches, every unpatched endpoint becomes a potential vector for exploitation. This scenario not only leaves businesses in regulatory peril but also opens the floodgates to malware, ransomware, and data breaches. For organizations with thousands or even tens of thousands of devices, orchestrating a seamless, timely upgrade transcends simple software deployment; it’s a strategic imperative with direct business implications.

Hitachi Energy’s Migration: The Scale and the Stakes​

Migrating over 40,000 devices across a dozen countries isn’t just a logistical challenge—it’s a stress test for workflows, compatibility assessments, change management, and cross-team communication. For Hitachi Energy, the sheer breadth of their upgrade—starting in March 2024 and concluding just seven months later—matters just as much as the technical achievement itself.
The company began with a comprehensive assessment of its 45,335 endpoints, identifying 43,568 as ready for upgrade. During its peak migration month, the company transitioned an astonishing 10,000 devices. These numbers are more than statistics; they exemplify the transformation possible when automation meets strategic planning.

Minimal Manual Intervention: Automation as the Backbone​

One of the most striking features of Hitachi Energy’s project was its goal of “minimal manual intervention.” Traditionally, large-scale OS upgrades can become bogged down in labor-intensive tasks—individually testing every app, troubleshooting legacy hardware, and herding hordes of users across the finish line via hands-on IT support.
To dismantle these bottlenecks, Hitachi Energy leaned on ManagementStudio, an advanced software platform for workflow automation, project management, and migration orchestration. Integrated into a constellation of enterprise infrastructure services—Intune, Active Directory, Flexera Service, and ServiceNow—ManagementStudio enabled core features like automated compatibility checking, workflow management, and centralized reporting. Notably, the integration of PowerBI for “enhanced data mining” allowed project leaders to generate actionable intelligence and support evidence-based decisions in real time.

Application Compatibility: More Than a Checkbox​

In enterprise environments, the OS upgrade story often pivots on a single pain point: application compatibility. Out of 3,034 applications inventoried by Hitachi Energy, 2,330 were found natively compatible with Windows 11. But what about the remaining 704? Here, the company’s approach deserves closer examination.
Rather than marking incompatible applications as roadblocks, Hitachi Energy chose to “make them compatible,” either by updating apps or embracing a “risk-based approach.” For some PCs, this meant upgrading first and monitoring for issues, then scaling rollouts where no problems were detected. Non-compatible, as the global head of end user computing Marco Rena noted, doesn’t always mean non-functioning.
This willingness to confront compatibility uncertainty—supported by focused pilots and a readiness to adapt—reflects both technological confidence and a level of risk tolerance that, for some, might raise eyebrows. But in the hands of a prepared IT team fortified by automation and real-time analytics, pragmatic flexibility can be a force-multiplier.

The Importance of Pilots and Iteration​

Central to Hitachi Energy’s success was its embrace of phased pilot testing. The company kicked off with a 500-device pilot in November 2023, leveraging ManagementStudio to vet both applications and hardware. Real-world piloting, with an ear tuned for unexpected issues, provides a crucial safety net: it transforms theoretical risk into manageable, actionable information.
Instead of pursuing a rigid, one-size-fits-all migration, Hitachi Energy selected pilot users and extended the rollout iteratively, learning from each cohort to fortify the rollout for subsequent waves. This “by exception” model is an essential strategic lesson: when dealing with complex IT environments, the ability to adapt on-the-fly beats a dogmatic, checklist-driven approach every time.

When Historical Pain Drives Innovation: The Role of TSA and ManagementStudio​

The story of Hitachi Energy’s OS migration is inextricably tied to the lessons learned during its prior divestment from ABB—a move requiring the company to disentangle itself from Transition Service Agreements (TSA). In these scenarios, as ManagementStudio’s co-founder Justin Pickup explained, the stakes escalate: TSAs penalize companies financially if post-divestiture IT support deadlines aren’t met.
Navigating out of a TSA is an IT marathon, not a sprint. Companies are forced to inventory every asset, map user roles, catalog key applications, and ensure a seamless transition from a shared IT environment to operational independence. According to Pickup, decommissioning legacy services, devices, and contracts was made dramatically simpler by ManagementStudio’s capabilities: automation, workflow, change governance, and communication through tailored reporting.
Lessons from TSA transitions—where overrun costs bite hard and delays mean literal money lost—fuel the urgency to streamline and automate any future project. For Hitachi Energy, these hard-won battle scars set the backdrop for a no-nonsense, high-velocity upgrade to Windows 11.

"Data With Context": The Underrated Key to Migration Success​

One of the subtler, yet perhaps most important, insights from Hitachi Energy’s migration is the critical value of “data with context.” Most enterprises sit atop data goldmines—device inventories in Intune, user info in Active Directory, asset maps in SCCM—yet too often this data is siloed, unaligned, or stripped of its real-world relevance.
For successful endpoint migrations at scale, raw data isn’t enough. Organizations need to cross-reference data: who is using which device, with what apps, in what business unit, at which physical location. As Pickup points out, “linkage of info” transforms amorphous lists into actionable intelligence, giving project leads the power to allocate deliverables, track issues, and communicate progress to disparate teams.
ManagementStudio’s portal, tailored reporting, and centralized dashboard model serve as a connective hub. Whether pushing updates, tracking anomalies, or managing post-upgrade support, access to context-rich data accelerates issue resolution and keeps large, distributed teams aligned and accountable.

Automation, but Not Autopilot: The Human-in-the-Loop Factor​

It’s tempting to believe that with enough automation, complex migrations become plug-and-play operations. Yet, as Hitachi Energy’s experience underlines, automation works best when it empowers—not eliminates—the expertise of IT professionals. The company’s decision to proceed “by exception,” inviting pilot users to test and provide feedback, reflects an understanding that automated workflows need to remain responsive to on-the-ground realities.
Automation drove speed and consistency, but it was human decision-making—choosing where to tolerate risk, where to adapt pilots, and where to escalate or halt—the dictated the true success of the project. This careful blend of technology and teamwork gave Hitachi Energy the agility to move fast without courting disaster.

Lessons for Other Organizations: Blueprint or Lucky Outlier?​

With Windows 10’s end of mainstream support less than 18 months away, organizations are hungry for migration roadmaps that don’t demand high-risk heroics or endless overtime. Does Hitachi Energy’s experience offer a true blueprint, or is it an outlier made possible by unique circumstances? Several lessons stand out with wider relevance:

• Start Early, Finish Early: Waiting until the last minute is a recipe for resource contention, unexpected blockers, and an exhausted IT team. Hitachi Energy’s timeline—months in the making, with final cutover completed a full year before the Windows 10 deadline—shows the payoff of proactive planning.
• Invest in Automation, not Shortcuts: Automation isn’t just a time-saver; it scales workflows, enforces consistency, and provides real-time insight, but must be coupled with a willingness to intervene and adapt as pilots reveal new information.
• Prioritize Data Integration: Siloed data is an obstacle, not an asset. Pulling together endpoint, user, application, and geographical data into a single contextual flow gives management teams the visibility and agility required for success.
• Embrace Incremental Risk: Waiting for every app to be “officially” compatible creates bottlenecks. Judicious risk-taking—upgrading and monitoring, then scaling only after confirming stability—can accelerate transitions, provided robust mitigation plans are in place.
• Iterate and Listen: Feedback from pilot cohorts is gold. Organizations should resist the urge to scale rapidly in favor of iterative learning, adjusting workflows and support mechanisms as new issues surface.

Risks Below the Surface: What Could Go Wrong?​

The sheer size and speed of Hitachi Energy’s migration make for a compelling headline, but such transformations harbor risks that, if unaddressed, can ripple long after the project’s official closeout. Key concerns include:

• Shadow IT and Unmonitored Endpoints: In any large enterprise, there are likely to be “shadow” devices—endpoints not correctly inventoried—which may miss the migration wave and become future liabilities.
• Long-Term App Issues: Applications marked as “non-compatible but working” today may break after future Windows 11 updates. Without an ongoing program of testing and vendor engagement, today’s green lights can become tomorrow’s crisis calls.
• User Training and Change Fatigue: Large-scale migrations often focus on the technical lift, sometimes at the expense of user education and support. While automation minimizes labor, hands-on user support remains crucial for adoption and productivity.
• Dependence on Automations: Over-reliance on any single automation platform can create monoculture risk. If workflows depend deeply on a specific third-party tool, process continuity plans should be maintained for the unlikely case of vendor failure or sudden support changes.

The Future Is Automated, but Vigilant​

As the deadline for Windows 10 support draws closer, the blueprint offered by Hitachi Energy is both inspiring and sobering. It’s a demonstration of how automation, contextual data, and flexible project management can empower organizations to execute migrations on a truly global scale. Yet, this success is no blank check: vigilance, ongoing testing, and organizational agility remain essential well past the migration finish line.
For enterprise IT leaders and digital strategists, the key takeaways are clear: Don’t wait. Invest in the data unification and automation tools that enable “data with context.” Embrace pilots, foster feedback loops, and create a culture where calculated risk is not just tolerated but leveraged for speed. And above all, remember that even in a world of self-updating devices and automated workflows, it is the expertise and judgment of IT professionals that turns uncertain upgrades into well-orchestrated success.
The march away from Windows 10 is unstoppable. But, as Hitachi Energy demonstrates, with the right mix of preparation, tooling, and collaborative spirit, the leap to Windows 11 can be a showcase of innovation—not just a race against time. In an era where digital transformation is constant, those who start early, automate wisely, and never lose sight of their people and processes will shape the next chapter of enterprise IT—with or without Windows 11.

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Source: www.thestack.technology Hitachi Energy wraps up 40,000-device Windows 11 migration