
About a third of Americans are now working from home, more ever than
before. And quite simply, that's due in large part because of COVID-19
and the pandemic that was unleashed across the globe this year.
In this latest VMblog #WorkFromHome Series,
we're exploring what technology means in this current paradigm shift of
working remotely. And in order to do that, we're reaching out to
industry experts to help shine a light on the subject. We're asking
these experts to offer up their opinions and advice on what's taking
place now and where things go in the future.
In this Q&A, VMblog connected with industry expert, Michael Kent, CTO at Login VSI, to get his opinion on the work from home topic and at
the same time, find out more about how Login VSI can help companies achieve a positive work from home shift.
VMblog: How has this pandemic changed the way
companies are dealing with their workers? And are you hearing from
customers that they got caught by surprise here, or were they putting things
into place already, perhaps for some other business continuity reasons?
Michael Kent: Everyone was caught off-guard, even companies that had some
plan in place, because of the nature of what the pandemic is, and how it
presented, BCP plans were built to address shelter in place orders. As for how
companies are dealing with their workers, most are approaching with
communication and understanding, and relying on the technologies at hand, while
rapidly adopting new tech and the culture that comes with it.
VMblog: For many companies that are
continuing to push forward, they've migrated over to a work from home
model. Before we go too much into the technology side of things, just in
general, how has this affected people, connectivity, infrastructure, etc.?
Kent: In
many cases, migration is not the term that I would use for most organization's
transition to work from home. It was more of a scramble...not as methodic as I
would associate with the term "migration". Even now, companies are rapidly
trying to assess and remediate the ramifications of getting workers back in the
saddle - first and foremost - and everything else after. Enormous demand has
shifted from Enterprise-grade networking, support, infrastructure (with SLA's,
etc. to consumer-grade tech and infrastructure (no SLA) and that has left a lot
to be desired. I think the infrastructure, applications, and culture are
adapting rapidly.
VMblog: How does your solution or offering
enable work from home?
Kent: We
help customers understand what their users are experiencing. With so much
change, the last thing they need is more barriers to productivity. Login VSI
gives customers a way to test their rapidly adapting virtual desktop
infrastructure and find issues before those users are impacted through
Acceptance and Load Testing. The platform can also continuously test from
multiple locations to let customers know when and where poor user experience is
detected.
VMblog: What are some of the big questions
you're being asked to answer from customers shifting to work from home, and how
are you answering those questions?
Kent: The
biggest question is a capacity question, can my systems/infrastructure handle
the load in this new form? As soon as that is answered, the next question is what
are my options and how can you help to test those options to augment/supplant
infrastructure (i.e. Cloud) so my end-users can work effectively with this new alternative.
VMblog: Are there security challenges that
companies aren't thinking about when quickly migrating from everyone in the
office to everyone from home?
Kent: Absolutely, and hackers, thieves, and malware are already targeting these
challenges. The mixing of work and home life means that these technology
contexts mix as well, and that creates more opportunities for security
breaches. Compliance reporting is also becoming a challenge, and this has a
tremendous ramification for companies that rely on that compliance to operating
(Medical, Financial, etc.).
VMblog: What are some of the key technologies
that people need to be using with this work paradigm shift?
Kent: Collaboration tools, video conferencing, and/or chat are key. Technologies that
facilitate communication are also key. With so much distance, it's easy to lose
touch. I also feel that virtual desktops are very important. They represent a
great potential to close gaps and present an environment that is compatible,
secure, controllable, and similar in experience to what they had. There are
many applications that were never designed to run remotely or over VPN,
printing hurts and getting help is a long and lengthy process (what bad hard
drive? Ship it and wait 5 days). VDI can address these issues. Last, SaaS is
important, but now you have 15 logins to 15 apps...so ultimately it is getting
the right mix of these key technologies for your organization.
VMblog: Do you have any tips and tricks on
what people should be doing now to better prepare for this to either continue,
or happen again down the line?
Kent: Honor
your end-user experience, it is what drives your company...that productivity.
Understand what the technology means to your end-users, how it affects them and
adjust accordingly. Manage your changes through testing. Don't leave the
companies productivity to chance.
VMblog: Will workers decide they want to go back to the office when this thing passes, or is there a small or large percentage of workers who
will demand to continue to work from home? Or is there a cost savings for
them to keep people at home instead?
Kent: I think that the effects of the pandemic are going to run
longer than anticipated. There is an opportunity. I think the mode of work is
being proven now. If folks can get back to productivity, organizations can save
on real estate and resource in developing areas allowing them to save money and
recoup a competitive edge. I think if a company has strong work from home
programs, they can leverage some of the changes to their benefit.
VMblog: Where can folks go who want to learn
more about your company? And what sort of resources do
you have that specifically answers or targets work from home?
Kent: Of
course, the Login VSI website:
We also have some resources specifically for
work from home: