And most SMBs can’t justify a return on investment in terms of “value for the money” because they don’t have dedicated IT departments to manage Windows 10 Enterprise deployments like a large enterprise does. As much as the owner of a five or fifty-employee company wants those Windows 10 enterprise features, the cost of an EA was always more than the Pro version that comes with a new laptop. Until recently, most SMB owners have balked at buying Enterprise licenses because of the cost.

The special enterprise version of Windows 10 that large companies get with an EA is essentially like the Professional version but has features enabling Windows to be easily deployed and managed on multiple types of computers with added data security protections. This differs from most large enterprises that buy Windows licenses in bulk separately for their laptops as a capital expenditure-a program called an Enterprise Agreement (EA). When most SMBs buy laptops today, they come pre-loaded with Microsoft Windows 10 Professional. But what brought about such a major change in how SMBs upgrade their IT? Enterprise vs. For decades, large companies could buy a special enterprise version of Windows to make this process relatively easier for their IT staff-and thanks to a new program now SMBs are doing it, too. For example, most SMBs dread the cycle of upgrading old laptops and desktops every few years (IDC notes that PC sales in 2017 are the strongest they’ve been in five years) to keep up with the latest version of Microsoft Windows.

Owners of small-to-midsized businesses (SMBs) view their information technology (IT) as a necessary evil.