Desktop Transformation, a strategic trend for 2010, was at the top of the agenda during a Virtualization Roundtable hosted by Soroc Technology Inc, a technology solutions provider, for senior representatives from Canada’s top financial institutions.

The roundtable discussion focused on a number of the key challenges facing a desktop virtualization rollout ranging from how to best migrate applications, to how to maintain a consistent user experience to how to devise data management, storage and security policies. These were just a few of the topics discussed around the importance of creating a comprehensive roadmap that addresses the impact of virtualization across an organization’s IT infrastructure, processes and procedures.

Soroc Technology has developed a holistic framework for Desktop Transformation, called the DT 360, that looks beyond the desktop and supporting infrastructure with the goal of providing an organization’s employees with reliable, secure, on-demand access to any corporate information resources, from anywhere, with any device, over any network. This ultimately allows an organization to be more agile and responsive to customer needs.

“With the increasing number of mobile users within an organization, there’s a greater need to maintain and manage the steadily growing volume of desktop applications, security risks and compliance regulations,” says Rob McGill, COO, Soroc. “With these and other organizational IT challenges, there’s never been a time more crucial for methodologies such as the DT360 to an organization’s success.”

Soroc’s DT 360 uses a proprietary evaluation system that determines the impact of a desktop transformation across a company’s entire IT environment to include application profiling and broader infrastructure requirements, operations and maintenance, and security and governance. Soroc leverages this system to develop a solid business case and roll-out strategy to ensure: consistent/ quality user experiences; optimal operational efficiency; increased responsiveness; ongoing business continuity and scalability for its clients.

This approach ultimately leads to greater user acceptance as well as increased efficiencies that can reduce Total Cost of Ownership – in some cases from up to 35 per cent to 40 per cent.

When it comes to business value, one panel participant suggested virtualization helps organizations focus more on the value of applications, data and collaboration and less on the low value add of managing desktop infrastructure. They went on to suggest that when it comes to time to market, their expectation is that applications will be updated in minutes versus the weeks or months it can take with traditional upgrades.

“According to a recent Gartner press release, virtualized client computing is a top 10 strategic technology for 2010, and this is no surprise to Soroc based on the feedback from our roundtable discussion,” said Alex Topitsch, Director Advanced Solutions. “We’ve worked with a number of leading financial institutions using the DT360 to develop their desktop virtualization business case and rollout strategies and we’re excited to see where the coming year takes us.”