COVID-19 has caused a mass shift from in-office work to remote work. It’s part of the social distancing we are participating in as a society to help prevent the spread of Coronavirus. It’s inspiring to see everyone doing their part, adjusting to a whole new way of work. As a business, you’ll want to ensure that you set your employees up for success at home, providing them a smooth transition and everything they need to work remotely.
One way organizations are helping their employees with this move to remote work is by providing company devices. However, this isn’t possible for every business. So how can you create a BYOD policy that still gives employees access to all of the tools they need, while making it effortless for them and still secure? The answer is in the cloud with virtual desktops.
What is a Virtual Desktop?
A virtual desktop is exactly what it sounds like — a desktop hosted in the cloud. A virtual desktop looks and acts just like the desktop you would use every day in your office. But, because it is in the cloud, you can access it from anywhere on any device.
A virtual desktop offers all of the benefits of the cloud and can make life much easier for any workers transitioning to remote work. Let’s examine how it supports these remote employees specifically.
Ability to Access Virtual Desktops From Any Device
With a BYOD policy, employees will be using whatever personal device they have at home. It might be a Dell laptop, or a Mac Desktop, or even a Surface tablet. With virtual desktops, it doesn’t matter what brand or type of hardware an employee is using. They will be able to quickly and easily access their desktop. Individuals can even access it on a smartphone.
End users will connect to a portal on their personal device that is completely encapsulated in the cloud. Once they have connected, their desktop will appear with all of the tools, software, and resources they need. If an employee’s device breaks or they have to use a different device, they won’t have to set up anything. This flexibility is extremely beneficial for employees. This means they can get up and running in no time on their device at home.
No Need to Download or Install Software
Because virtual desktops are hosted in the cloud, employees won’t have to download or install a multitude of software on their personal computers. Think software like Adobe or Quickbooks. It’s all accessed through the cloud.
Firstly, this benefits employees because they don’t have to take up storage on their personal devices for work-related items. But, on top of that, it saves organizations time and money. IT staff can work on bigger projects instead of spending time on expensive installs.
Along these lines, any processing power a virtual desktop uses is from the cloud, not a user’s device. This is great news for employees because it means they don’t need precise hardware specifications or need to worry about overwhelming their personal device.
Setup is Familiar
Although this may seem of small significance, familiarity with desktop setup can make a big difference. Employees can get more done when they aren’t searching for the programs or tools they need. With virtual desktops, users will have the same look and placement of all of their files, making working on a different device much easier.
More Centralized and Efficient IT
Last but not least, using virtual desktops to support a BYOD policy makes it much easier for your IT staff. They can control the organization’s cloud environment centrally, which will extend to virtual desktops. With BYOD policies that don’t use the cloud, IT departments often have to worry about each device separately.
However, with virtual desktops, central IT can read and write permissions to files, set up firewalls that operate natively within Azure, and push patches and updates in the cloud. With all of your data stored in one system, it becomes much easier and more secure for IT technicians to manage.
Microsoft Azure: Windows Virtual Desktop
If your organization wants to set up virtual desktops, one solution we recommend is Windows Virtual Desktop through Microsoft Azure. With this service, you can deploy and scale virtualized desktops and apps in a matter of minutes.
It’s also the only virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) that delivers simplified management, multi-session Windows 10, optimizations for Office 365 ProPlus, and support for Remote Desktop Services (RDS) environments. And don’t forget, with Azure, you get built-in security and compliance features.
Windows Virtual Desktop is also deployed on a pay-as-you-go basis. This means your only paying for what you use. Your costs can be kept to a minimum while ensuring peace of mind.
In Conclusion
Because of the technology many of us have access to today, working remotely can seem like a no-brainer. If you have a laptop or desktop at home (which many individuals do), it might be incredibly easy to logon and continue working as if nothing ever happened.
However, the truth is that personal devices are rarely set up with the level of security businesses need in 2020 to stay safe. Even more, it can take a lot of time and effort on the part of your IT staff to get each employee’s personal device ready. That’s where virtual desktops come in. Virtual desktops allow your employees to use their own devices while keeping all of your data centrally managed in the cloud.
If you have any questions about virtual desktops or want to get started setting your organization up in the cloud, contact Executech today. Our engineers are certified and familiar with various cloud solutions and are sure to find the best fit for your business. Our managed services staff can even optimize, monitor, and maintain your cloud environment, so you don’t have to.
