Providing employees with access to their desktops from remote locations used to be a nice thing to do. Today, it's a requirement to keep employees productive and businesses operating during the COVID-19 crisis. Faced with shelter in place and work from home mandates, many organizations rushed to arm employees with Virtual Private Network solutions (VPN) that allow them to connect to corporate systems. But such offerings have their limitations. A recent Citrix-OnePoll survey of more than 2,000 US employees who work remote found that VPN-based remote work approaches resulted in "slow performance" and "lack of access to all the apps needed to get work done." And further research has uncovered security and privacy concerns.

To provide a more secure and reliable alternative, Citrix Systems, Inc., today announced that it is extending its globally leveraged Remote PC Access solution to the cloud, making it available as part of Citrix Desktop Service and Citrix Desktop Essentials. The move enables organizations of all sizes to deliver a familiar virtual desktop and high-performance experience that empowers employees to safely access all the apps, information and resources they need to perform at their best while working remotely.

"Businesses that rush solutions to accommodate remote work face security risks, questionable impact to productivity, and unknown network issues," said Mark Bowker, senior analyst for Enterprise Strategy Group. "As companies work through addressing any shortcomings, now is an ideal time to consider VDI and other digital workspace technologies that can deliver a secure and productive experience for employees who are working from home."

A Simple, Secure and Reliable Solution

With Citrix Remote PC Access, IT organizations can quickly and easily deliver a full virtual desktop experience to employees by installing a small client (VDA) that allows users to securely remote into their Windows or Linux PCs from anywhere using virtually any device. Remote PC Access does not require a VPN and can enable security measures like multi-factor authentication to keep confidential content secure.

A Familiar Face in Unfamiliar Times

"As employees settle in to the new normal of working from home, it is more important than ever to provide access to a consistent and familiar set of tools that keep them engaged and productive while keeping corporate information safe," said Paul Carley, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Desktop and Applications Group, Citrix.

Expanded Options

Already included in Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops Advanced/Premium and Citrix Workspace Premium Plus, Remote PC Access is now offered as part of Citrix Virtual Desktops Essentials and Citrix Virtual Desktops Service.

With Citrix Virtual Desktops Service, companies can deliver Remote PC Access to physical desktops as well as virtual desktop infrastructure located on-premises or in any public cloud. And with Citrix Virtual Desktops Essentials Service, a month-to-month service option available on Azure Marketplace, they can also deliver to Azure-hosted virtual desktops using.

"The shift to remote work has accelerated the move to the cloud," Carley said. "And we're meeting our customers there with solutions that enable them to create the secure digital workspaces that meet their needs now and in the future."

To learn more about Remote PC Access how your organization can leverage the capability as an alternative to VPN to deliver a simple secure and reliable desktop experience that keeps your employees performing at their best and your devices and corporate systems and information safe, click here.