Virtual desktops are a natural evolution in cloud infrastructure. They grant organizations a high degree of flexibility, security, and continuity while (often dramatically) cutting costs. The concept is simple: rather than hosting employees' desktop environments locally, IT departments can move them to the cloud, alongside their windows, folders, settings, wallpapers, and more.
Though it sounds like a small change, it opens up a new world of flexibility. Virtual desktops can deliver major gains for security, IT efficiency, costs, disaster recovery, and more. Here are four key scenarios in which a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) can have a major impact:
1. Flexible and Remote Workforces
If we've learned anything over the past two years, it's that remote working hasn't nearly been the disaster many businesses expected. Indeed, a survey by Airtasker reveals that employees that work from home spend less time avoiding work, amounting to 1.4 days extra per month despite taking more breaks.
Regardless of the productivity statistics, however, it's clear that a more flexible work environment is something that employees want. It allows them to avoid lengthy commute times and better take care of their family, ultimately leading to a happier life (and therefore more effective work).
Virtual desktops are an important tool to seamlessly enable this kind of work. Remote workers can gain access to powerful software despite low-spec home computers. Those who work at home a few days a week, meanwhile, can connect seamlessly to the same desktop environment no matter where they are.
This flexibility doesn't just extend to office jobs, either. Industries, where employees venture into the field, can ensure that employees can have the same experience no matter where they are.
2. Mergers and Acquisitions
Mergers and acquisitions must happen quickly to avoid loss of continuity and revenue. Typically, this is hindered by the need for the acquiring company to purchase new hardware, onboard dozens or hundreds of users, and set up their desktop environment.
Virtual desktops make this process much more streamlined. Instead of expensive and time-consuming physical hardware, the companies can shift business-critical processes over to a virtual desktop infrastructure. In the background, testing and integration can continue, with a focus on long-term solutions rather than quick fixes. Once the process is complete, the VDI can either be phased out or used for disaster recovery.
3. Overworked IT Departments
The persistent IT skills shortage has left many IT departments struggling to keep on top of the volume of tasks on their to-do list. Virtual desktops can prevent a major headache in this scenario. Virtualization enables fast and easy provisioning of desktops for users at any time, from any location. Further, rather than worry about managing multiple business devices for each employee, admins can rest assured that they're able to securely access a business desktop from any home PC, smartphone, or tablet.
More time yet can be clawed back due to the centralization of software maintenance. IT workers no longer have to install application and OS updates or scan for viruses on individual client devices. Instead, they can do so remotely for all devices via intuitive web portals.
4. Security and Compliance Adherence
Most organizations have data that must be kept from the outside world at all costs. This is most common in the finance and healthcare sectors but applies to any firm that handles customer information, contracts, or confidential meeting notes.
It's one thing to secure this data in the office, but control slips once users start to bring devices into the wider world. A virtual desktop infrastructure can be utilized to meet compliance and security standards by ensuring that data never leaves the virtual desktop environment. Using compliance controls, admins can restrict the download of data to local devices and therefore close off many avenues of virtual or physical attack. Employees are no longer "carrying around" valuable data – instead it's held in a secure cloud that's backed up regularly.
A Helping Hand with Virtual Desktops
Regardless of your reason for needing a virtual desktop infrastructure, it helps to have a managed service provider behind you. VirtuWorks' virtual desktop offering brings all the security, flexibility, and cost-saving benefits of a VDI without the technical overhead. 24/7/365 support and powerful security options can be at your fingertips starting at $39.99 per user/month. Get in contact today to find out more.