The Trouble With VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure)

Last week, I delved into why business leaders must push for better end-user technology . Today, let’s talk about why sticking with on-premises VDI is like clinging to phone booths while everyone else is chatting on smartphones. Spoiler: it's a dead-end street that needs a U-turn.

Here’s the deal: on-premises VDI is a nightmare to scale and maintain. It’s like trying to impress with a flip phone in the era of iPhones. Decision-makers see it as just delivering a PC, and they’re right—it’s boring, dated, and lacks the wow factor it had back in the mid-2000s. The folks funding these tech teams have little to no clue, nor do they care about the blood, sweat, and tears that got us here. Consequently, these teams are starved of needed investment, buried under tech debt, and barely managing upkeep. Innovate? Forget it. These teams are stuck in maintenance mode, killing morale while leadership yawns through status quo reports.

Now, look around: Microsoft’s M365, Zoom, mobile devices, Apple’s ecosystem—they’re all updating constantly. Windows is moving faster than ever, modern apps need the latest OS, legacy image management is a pain, and security threats are escalating. Meanwhile, SaaS is on the rise, offering myriad ways to connect to productivity tools without VDI. So, as you brace yourself for another on-premises VDI hardware refresh budget defense, locking yourself into a finance-led depreciation model, ask: will this help you keep pace with a modern workplace? Will it drive agility, or are you just kicking the can down the road with long-term service branch deployments of your VDI stack on out-of-date depreciating hardware?

To truly innovate, you need to simplify and bring in fresh perspectives. Start with a smarter approach to DaaS (Desktop as a Service). And by smart, I mean simplicity and future-proofing. If your VDI team’s grand plan is to lift and shift to the cloud, pump the brakes—they’re setting up for failure. Transplanting the same mess to the cloud achieves nothing. Cloud solutions must be simpler. Microsoft’s AVD ?is a playground for VDI geeks with cost dynamics that’ll give you a migraine. It's fine for service providers, but for enterprises? Hard pass. Instead, look at Microsoft Windows365 DaaS, or Amazon WorkSpaces Core —they simplify life and are evolving in the right direction at cloud speed.

Let’s face it, the hyper-scalers are keen to hook you on their cloud services, with enterprise software agreements as their bait. Pair these with InTune -managed configurations for your desktops and ditch image management. Aim for one cloud management solution for both DaaS and laptops, updating frequently to ensure a seamless and modern M365 and SaaS experience.

But don’t stop there. Enterprise customers rarely buy hardware from a single VDI provider—concentration risk, anyone? As you transition to the cloud, regulatory watchdogs will probe your operational risk. Be prepared to answer tough questions like what happens if your cloud email fails, your data collab solution fails and similar questions for DaaS should be anticipated. Trusting a single hyperscaler for multi-region, multi-geo solutions is like betting on one horse in a race full of thoroughbreds. This is no different to not locking into a single LLM provider to build your AI initiatives upon. ?For DaaS, my firm belief for enterprise customers is that you will require multi-cloud solutions and possibly hybrid options as you migrate.

Thankfully, the industry is innovating with simplicity and multi-cloud/hybrid solutions in mind. Innovators like Sonet.io , Workspot , Dizzion (Frame) offer multi-cloud and hybrid solutions engineered for simplicity. Google’s acquisition of Cameyo targets a simpler market segment. Citrix and VMware EUC (now Omnissa ) also offer multi-cloud solutions but tread carefully—they’re balancing a large on-premises customer base with private ownership pressures, so evaluate how well their solutions stack up against the new contenders. AWS’s WorkSpaces Core champions cloud choice through third parties. Microsoft still pushes its vertical stack on Azure but would benefit from something akin to WorkSpaces Core to enhance customer choice, or customers can just use Azure directly via other offerings. And let’s not forget IGEL , simplifying endpoint infrastructure for both DaaS and VDI.

A modern cloud desktop opens doors to enhanced user experiences: intelligent desktop sizing, predictable costs, modern hardware, streamlined cloud management, rapid provisioning, dynamic business continuity, and more.

Yet, expect the beaten-down VDI faithful to drag their feet. They’ll whine about image management, legacy app dependencies, and maintenance resource cuts while clinging to outdated network and security designs. Claudio Rodrigues aptly describes this as teaching old EUC dogs new tricks —they’ll look for a one-size-fits-all solution that doesn’t exist. But with much of your productivity suite already in the cloud, you can confidently move large segments of your workforce to better-performing cloud configurations. Start small and iterate, knowing that in a modern workplace, there is no reason not to have more than one desktop solution. Bold targets and incentives will outpace thumb-twiddlers.

Gartner's excellent Stu Downs notes:

“Gartner forecast that annual spending on Desktop as a Service will rise above $3B in 2024, up 13.1% from 2023 spending. Growth rates are much lower than we saw during the 2020-2021 work from home mandates but spending has not declined, i.e. people who invested in DaaS for a crisis have maintained that investment for their modern workplace. As we move through 2024 and 2025 it will be another super interesting period for DaaS as AI enabled applications start to run on physical PCs and within virtual desktops.”

?Also review the public table from Gartner below and ask yourself where you expect the industry to invest more: DaaS or VDI? Of course, the on-premises vendors will try to please their existing install base and extend the life of their cash cows, but for you is that investment taking you where you need to go?

Using phone booths while everyone else uses smartphones is like relying on on-premises VDI when the world has moved on to DaaS. Smartphones offer mobility, ease, and advanced features, just as DaaS brings flexibility, scalability, and streamlined management compared to the static, maintenance-heavy on-premises VDI.

I’ll go further and say DEX initiatives are a waste of time under the classic VDI umbrella—starved for investment and innovation, they won’t scale. I’m not knocking DEX vendors; the issue is customer readiness. DEX innovation is better suited to a modern cloud DaaS platform where it adds more value. As cloud platform providers integrate deeper infrastructure insights, standalone DEX vendors will need to innovate even faster. Will Microsoft jump into DEX via acquisition or development? Time will tell.

Of course, you can ignore all this and stick with cloud-managed Windows/Mac laptops or browser-based solutions. But in a modern workplace, more choice is the way forward—because one size never fits all.

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