As the world continues to move to a remote and hybrid workplace, companies must find ways to keep employees productive and connected in a safe and affordable manner. Desktop virtualization is one obvious answer, allowing both on-premise and off-site employees to use just about any device to access all the power, data, and applications needed from a secure and centrally governed system. Although there are many concrete and soft advantages, here are the top six desktop virtualization benefits.
1. Lower Costs
The potential cost savings for cloud desktop virtualization may be significant, depending on several factors. Here are the primary cost-saving areas:
Labor. By centralizing the installation and management of operating systems, software, applications, and data, you’ll no longer need to spend time physically managing and updating individual desktops.
- End-Point Devices. Most end-point devices in a virtual desktop system cost much less than a conventional desktop or laptop, meaning outfitting new employees with equipment will be more affordable, quicker, and easier. This cost may drop even further if you have a Bring-Your-Own-Device policy in place.
- Capital Equipment. Who wants to pay for and manage a centralized data center if you don’t have to? By working with a third-party solution provider, desktop virtualization will eliminate the need to do so; instead, a desktop-as-a-solution (DaaS) provider will charge you an affordable monthly fee and pay for all needed hardware, rack space, power, cooling, physical security, and the myriad of other considerations when self-managing a data center..
- Energy. Again, if you are working with desktop virtualization vendors, you will not be responsible for paying the regular energy bills required to run the servers and other equipment necessary for the system. Your share of this will be rolled into monthly subscription fee, which is divided among all the vendors’ customers.
2. Higher Productivity
One of the most significant challenges of a remote or hybrid workforce is keeping employees productive. Unreliable connections, complex user experiences, and the inability to communicate and collaborate effectively with co-workers can slow down employees, which then affects the company’s overall productivity.
Desktop virtualization software that’s fully integrated with industry-leading communication and collaboration tools such as Microsoft Teams, Cisco Webex, and Zoom can alleviate this problem, giving employees everything needed to do their jobs right at their fingertips.
In addition, working with proven third-party solution providers usually guarantees a high level of uptime; the majority of leading DaaS providers have more than a 99.99 percent uptime rating. Reliability, connectivity, and redundancy are built-in, helping to boost productivity across the board.
3. Greater Security
Cybersecurity is one of the top concerns for many businesses today, and one of the most important desktop virtualization benefits is a built-in level of security. Since all applications, software, and data are centrally located, they are more easily protected from bad actors. Conventional desktops can be points of vulnerability for an entire IT infrastructure; a breach on a desktop computer can make its way into a network; however, end-point devices in a virtual desktop system are usually accessed through a secured client application, and easily-integrated security components such as Multi-Factor Authentication and Single Sign On mean only authorized, verified users can access their provisioned desktops.
Multi-layered security features such as anti-virus, remote monitoring and management, and firewalls are also centrally managed and controlled in a hosted DaaS solution. DaaS providers are also always on the lookout for advanced protection to stay ahead of sophisticated cybercriminals, and in the worst-case, DaaS solutions are also often configured with built-in local or global redundancies, enabling continuity and recovery should a breach ever occur.
4. Ease of Scalability
With conventional desktop computers, adding or removing employees from the IT infrastructure could be challenging and time-consuming. Frequently, new desktop machines had to be purchased, commissioned, and completely set up for every new employee. When individuals leave the company, it could take time to remove access and secure those individual computers, resulting in greater vulnerability to breaches from angry workers. In addition, unused computers could be sitting in storage, able to become a future threat vector if lost, stolen, or brought back online.
Desktop virtualization makes scaling up or down much easier, quicker, and more efficient. Upon onboarding new employees, an IT professional simply needs to set up the appropriate provisioning and access levels in the system, allowing that employee to access all needed files, data, operating systems, and applications from any device upon login. Removing access is just as simple. This is particularly helpful to companies that have seasonal needs of fluctuating volumes, allowing them to add or remove contract or short-term assistance quickly, efficiently, and securely.
5. Increased Agility
Agility is key to success in today’s competitive marketplace, and although smaller organizations may not have as many resources as larger ones, they are often extremely agile. Desktop virtualization can increase that agility for larger organizations by centralizing maintenance, governance, and security and allowing easy scaling. That means when new opportunities present themselves, large companies can move to take advantage of them faster than in a conventional system.
6. Global Access to Talent
The labor crisis is an ongoing one, and businesses are fighting for talent. Having a desktop virtualization system in place means that you can reach out to a larger, worldwide pool of talent to find the best and brightest and those best fit for your organization.
Since location and time zones do not matter in a virtual workplace, pulling in diverse talent from around the world is easy. Offering a system that’s integrated with popular communication and collaboration tools can make it simple to virtual train, mentor, and build culture online while still securing your systems, data, and intellectual property despite a global, decentralized workforce.
To learn more about desktop virtualization benefits, reach out to Evolve IP. We have years of experience and have been consistently recognized by Gartner in its DaaS market guide. We’d love to learn more about your organization and help you succeed in desktop virtualization.
