How VDI and DaaS are Powering Hybrid Cloud Digital Workspace Environments

Businesses are at a turning point where they need to reconsider and reimagine their business infrastructure. This involves creating an environment that improves workforce capabilities, facilitates the use of modern applications and virtual solutions, and enhances security, all while remaining simplified in a way that reduces the complexities of using modern technologies, the costs of resources, and helps to remove the challenges that stand in the way of progress and innovation.

Outdated business infrastructures, that consist of traditional desktop environments, are becoming increasingly difficult to manage. According to a Citrix Solutions Enterprise Strategy Group report, software licensing, procurement costs, and compliance are weighing heavily as the top challenges in managing traditional desktop environments. As a result, IT environments are overburdened and overcomplicated.

Businesses are turning to hybrid cloud environments so they can move past traditional desktop environments and look to capabilities that help them recreate infrastructures with new solutions that are powered by Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS). 

VDI and DaaS usage and adoption are growing exponentially, as they’re not only powering hybrid cloud environments in a way that enables businesses to overcome infrastructure challenges with new digital workspace environments or virtual desktops, but also helping business expand and scale, better collaborate, improve productivity and security and help IT professionals balance their responsibilities.  

Ronald van Loon is a Citrix Solutions partner, and as a prominent industry figure for over 20 years, is able to gain an insider view into new emerging processes and solutions that address organizational challenges and augment the workforce.

Ronald had the opportunity to speak with Safi Obeidullah, Field CTO from Citrix, about how to improve workforce productivity and security with virtualized apps and desktops. 

Companies need the capabilities to facilitate their transitions from traditional desktop environments, choosing to host their workloads anywhere and on any devices that they want, and are creating new workspaces that use virtual desktops to access the work applications that they need to succeed and keep pace with the demands and expectations of employees and IT departments.

Setting up a Digital Workspace Environment in the Cloud

Cloud deployment is a main growth driver for the desktop virtualization market, which is approximated between $6 to $8 billion U.S. dollars today and is expected to continue to grow in the next few years.

Business environments need to be:

• Agile 
• Flexible 
• Secure

People need to be able to work wherever they are on the devices that they want to use. IT teams need to be free to focus on core responsibilities. These reasons are at the heart of the transition to digital workspace environments, and as more and more businesses turn to hybrid cloud based infrastructures as the foundation for new digital workspace environments, they are using VDI and DaaS solutions to power those digital workspaces. 

It is becoming increasingly apparent that digital workspace environments are empowering and propelling organizations towards new levels of productivity. According to Citrix Solutions, “that’s why businesses of all sizes, from SMBs to enterprises are adopting DaaS so fast that the market is growing at an impressive 49.38% CAGR” and that “four in ten organizations have deployed VDI.”

Whether you are managing finances, or interacting with customers, you need to be able to work to the best of your capabilities, and that should not be limited to only when you are working at your high powered desktop on-site at your businesses location. You should be able to step away, use your laptop, tablet or mobile device at work or at home and still securely deliver the solutions in a simplified way that sets your business apart from the competition.

Different devices, employee preferences, improving security, and frequent new features are really driving the need for digital workspaces where the cloud can be used to create a centralized and secure IT management environment that really focuses on the end user experience. That’s why VDI and DaaS are so sought after because OS landscapes are evolving to the point where digital workspace strategies are being implemented and deployed. People now have the virtual solutions and capabilities that drive improvements to their own work experiences.

Virtual apps and desktops have a lot of advantages, and DaaS helps to simplify IT environments and networks so people can access workplace apps and traditional desktop solutions from the cloud on any device.

Digital workspaces have a lot of benefits:

• Simplified desktop management that improves efficiency 
• Reduced end user downtime related to management and security issues
• Streamlined application and patch management

Digital workspaces are ideal because the devices that regular everyday people in the workforce use to access their work from do not store company information. Instead, business apps and company data are stored in the cloud which not only improves security, but also does not require expensive hardware capabilities or incredibly fast and powerful internet when you are accessing these applications on your everyday devices as an employee. It makes things easy for the everyday end user.

Users will be able to access the data that they need to do their jobs on a traditional browser or application, and companies do not need to fret over constant security threats from systems being installed on personal devices.

Addressing the Challenges of Traditional Desktop Environments

As the world moves more towards digital, traditional desktops are creating challenges that can be addressed with VDI and DaaS. 

Top challenges include:

• Software licensing and compliance
• High procurement costs
• Keeping up with changes in technology
• High operational costs
• Desktop updating

Businesses are creating exceptional experiences for the end user with applications and virtual desktops and they need the right protocols that help them to deliver these great virtual experiences, especially in a world where remote work becomes the new normal for organizations in all industries and where it becomes commonplace for people to use personal devices to work from.

As Safi stated, “what virtualization solutions, like Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, allow organizations to do is securely provide access to all of the different applications and data that they need, as well as delivering an experience that performs really well under any type of network connection and on any device.”

Being able to support devices and collaboration tools is an essential part of creating exceptional experiences, and as businesses look to furthering sustainability, efficiency and security VDI and DaaS strategies are coming to the forefront of new initiatives.

DaaS helps businesses in a variety of capacities, such as with seasonal hires or freelance contracts so that you can scale as needed. Also, as your business expands to new regions and countries you can give your workforce access to virtual desktops without using IT resources to individually setup and manage traditional desktop environments. This is also useful for mergers and acquisitions, creating a unified access to resources. Even in the face of disruption people are able to work anywhere and IT costs will remain manageable due to subscription based models. 

VDI and DaaS help to address the major challenges of traditional desktop environments, prioritize collaboration, help to set conditions for managing data access that further visibility and make it easier for IT to manage risks and security.

Improve Productivity and Innovation with VDI and DaaS

Organizations can better manage the complexities and costs of reshaping traditional desktop infrastructure with digital workspace environments or virtual desktops that are built in hybrid cloud environments powered by VDI and DaaS solutions.

"From what we’re seeing from our conversations with different organizations, is that they want the flexibility to choose the best resource locations for their infrastructure and applications,” Safi asserts.

Expanding beyond traditional desktop environments is an important step in empowering end users creativity, productivity and innovation and building an infrastructure that evolves alongside the workforce’s digital demands and a business’s needs to scale, reduce costs and resource allocation, and balance the complexities of IT environments.  

Be sure to check out more from Citrix Solutions to discover how VDI and DaaS are powering hybrid cloud environments.