Today, every company has multiple locations from which employees are working. The work-from-home mandates that have been put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic have created a scenario where employees are unable to work from one central location. However, it’s likely that location is where their files and applications that they need to do their work live. So, how do companies maintain the central location of their corporate environment, thus preserving the security, yet still give their employees what they need to do their job remotely?
The answer: Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) or Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS).
VDI and DaaS allow companies to deploy virtual desktops to employees over a network while centrally hosting those desktops and applications for easier management and governance. Employees can access their corporate environments from any device, anytime and anywhere as long as they have some type of internet connection. From their home PC, a tablet or even a cell phone, employees can enjoy similar access as working from the office on their company’s secure network.
What does this look like?
There are a number of providers that offer VDI and DaaS solutions to businesses. One of the leaders is Amazon Web Services (AWS) with its WorkSpaces solution. Amazon allows companies to provision either Windows or Linux desktops in just a few minutes and quickly scale to provide thousands of desktops to workers across the globe. Imagine being able to roll out thousands of “virtual laptops” to your employees that have all been professionally configured and secured for the end user.
With updated recommendations from the CDC stating current guidelines remain in place through April 30th companies need to continue implementing and improving upon remote work solutions. Internal IT teams are being taxed like never before to maintain the day-to-day operations while also rolling out these added capabilities (and let’s not forget, keeping it all secure). Finding a partner to help you roll out and manage VDI and DaaS can make all the difference. A partner can manage your entire administrative portal, provide 24/7 monitoring, help with restoring backups and allow you to get the maximum benefit from your VDI and DaaS solution.
Looking to the future
While VDI and DaaS can be a quick fix for the current work-from-home climate, it can also be a long-term investment that aligns with your company’s growth projections. When considering VDI and DaaS, think about this:
- Where do you find your workforce environment headed?
- How will you accommodate modern workforce environment demands?
- Do just employees need this type of access or do your customers need it too?
Whatever else is impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, you can be sure that the working landscape will forever be changed. Make sure that the things you are implementing now are sustainable for the post-pandemic world.
