Ann All spoke with Katherine Spencer Lee, executive director of Robert Half Technology, a provider of IT professionals on a project and full-time basis.

All: Many folks are obviously preoccupied with getting the technological details of a Vista upgrade right. But what about related staffing issues — are they getting enough consideration?

Spencer Lee: The customer exposure to Windows Vista Beta has been unprecedented. More than 2 million Beta/RC versions have been distributed to developers and IT pros. I have seen very little in the media about the staffing questions that a Vista deployment will introduce, such as:

1. Is your current in-house staff adequate to roll out Vista to your entire organization?
2. Or does it make more sense to contract out this deployment to Microsoft-certified project professionals?
3. How long will this effort take?
4. What kinds of skills will be required for this initiative?
5. What type of ongoing support and maintenance issues will a Vista environment introduce?
6. What compatibility issues will this deployment introduce?  

I think that companies are looking back toward deployments of previous operating systems and realizing that these staffing questions need to be planned out on a long-term basis, with assistance from project professionals.

All: What staffing areas associated with Vista do executives seem especially concerned about?

Spencer Lee: Will dedicating in-house IT specialists to these tasks take them away from their everyday jobs to such an extent that it will be a detriment to the enterprise? Deployment of a new OS to an entire organization is a massive undertaking. I make the analogy of a magazine re-design: It's like a separate, full-time job that requires great attention to detail by a specialized professional. But, during that same time, the rest of the magazine needs to be laid out, designed and sent to the printer. That job isn't going to get done on its own.

All: Because Vista differs markedly from previous iterations of Windows, is it safe to assume that users will require more formal training than they have typically received for OS changes in the past? How can execs ensure that staff get the training they need?

Spencer Lee: According to my contacts at Microsoft and based on demos we've seen, the learning curve on Windows Vista is not dramatic. End users can still elect to use the operating system as they do with Windows XP and make the decision to take advantage of the Vista features as they get more comfortable with the new OS. The training gap is really targeted at IT pros (deployment tools, image management, etc.) and developers (application compatibility), a subset of people who are more familiar with this technology and have seen beta versions for quite a while.

All: Two of the obvious areas that will likely require more human resources are application testing and user support. Are there any other areas that will likely require staffing changes?

Spencer Lee: I agree that the area of applications testing may require additional resources for full support. Microsoft has tools in place (App Compat Toolkit 5.0 and Upgrade Advisor) to help customers address those needs. Microsoft is working with their systems integrator partners to prepare customers in this area.

All: How long should companies of various sizes plan for the Vista rollout to take and what are the human resources and skill sets required for deployment?

Spencer Lee: It's hard to pinpoint a number because this widely varies by customer. Some customers can deploy immediately and others may require more time based on their size.