Forty-eight percent of respondents said they would choose Microsoft technology as their corporate mobile standard, up from 44 percent in a similar survey three months before, according to a research note from ThinkEquity financial analyst Yun Kim. Google's Android OS dropped to 8 percent from 11 percent, while Apple's iOS grew from 10 percent to 14 percent.

The survey polled 100 U.S.-based IT managers, including CIOs, technology vice presidents and IT directors, from a variety of industries. More than 75 percent of the respondents worked for companies with more than 500 employees.

A big factor behind Microsoft's strong showing is the "strength and longevity" of its Office productivity suite. "With this continued confirmation of this surprising finding six months ago, we have increasing confidence that [Microsoft] is well positioned to leverage its Office franchise to perhaps continue to dominate the corporate PC environment as the platform shifts from desktop/laptop to mobile device," Kim wrote.

In addition, strengthening its enterprise position could help Microsoft improve its chances in the mobile consumer market, according to Kim.

Microsoft OSes have only a small share of the smartphone and tablet markets, trailing Google's Android and Apple's iOS. Microsoft hopes to improve its position with the upcoming releases of Windows Phone 8, Windows 8 and Windows RT, the latter being the Windows 8 version for tablets based on ARM chips.