The majority of financial services firms in the UK have no plans to migrate to Microsoft's new Vista platform, according to research conducted by Vanson Bourne and released by IT consultancy Camwood.
CTOs and IT directors at 64% of the 100 financial services firms surveyed had no plans to move to Microsoft's new operating system.
Additionally, less than a quarter (24%) anticipated migrating to the Vista platform within the next 12 to 18 months.
But Camwood says almost a third of the respondents (32%) expect to implement the new platform when they revamp their existing hardware.
Commenting on the survey, Camwood's CEO, Frank Foxall, says: "Given the size and complexity of many financial companies' systems, we're not surprised that many are waiting for their next hardware refresh before moving to Vista. Moving to a new platform takes time and is a very detailed process, so it's not something that they just jump into."
Whilst considering Vista as part of their next hardware refresh, CTOs are most concerned about any compatibility issues that may arise when moving to the new platform.
Compatibility was ranked as a very important factor in decision making by more than half (52%) of those surveyed. This compared with 36% of respondents who cited cost and complexity as the most important issues, while the time taken to switch to the new platform was rated as the most important factor by 28%.
The majority of CTOs and IT directors in financial firms (64%) would consider using external consultants to manage Vista migrations, says Camwood. However 60% of those questioned said their own IT team had the expertise to manage the migration.