By Chuck Brady, VP of the Americas, Liquit

THE BIG CHALLENGE

It started with Wi-Fi access and boomed! Then the work life balance generation came on strong, and now COVID-19. Working remotely, although not a new concept for some of us who's role requires travel, has exploded and is now a necessity due to the recent pandemic. Companies went from an average of 80% of their workforce required to operate in an office environment (on-prem), to 100% remote in an instant. IT teams should be commended for facilitating the process so quickly with some having limited resources at their disposal. Nonetheless, the biggest challenge now is that what, companies thought would be a temporary setup is not going away anytime soon. Some Silicon Valley organizations are instructing their workers to work remotely until at least the late Fall timeframe; Google plans on keeping workers remote until as late as October of 2021 and potentially longer.

Another challenge for organizations is now that some organizations and workers alike have a taste of the productivity gains in working remote, According to Inc. Magazine, A 2-Year Stanford Study Shows the Astonishing Productivity Boost of Working From Home and a $2,000 per employee savings, this may be the new normal! Having a taste of the flexibility of waking up, grabbing a coffee and taking your first call in your PJs, will only leave some employees wanting that lifestyle as a permanent setup. So much so that according to a recent survey by S&P Global Market Intelligence, 67% of enterprises will keep work-from-home policies in place indefinitely. So, the question becomes... how does the enterprise manage deliver a productive, secure, and compliant working environment for a large (and in many cases HUGE) remote workforce permanently?

IS VDI/DaaS/WVD THE ANSWER?

According to a recent article in ZDNet, Microsoft officials say the company has seen a 775% increase in demand for its cloud services in regions enforcing social distancing and/or shelter-in place initiatives due to COVID-19. Microsoft has also stated that the demand for its new Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) usage has grown by more than six times over last year. Both Citrix Systems, Inc. and VMware Inc. are reporting record increases in VDI as well. That is a huge jump in such a short time. Anytime an organization implements technology that quickly, it puts an overwhelming burden on internal IT resources and efficiency is typically a very low priority on the list. Everyone suffers and its usually a high cost in both time and resources.

For most companies, the temporary fixes applied as short-term solutions, have created challenges for the long-term. Accessing applications in multiple environments (i.e. on-prem, private cloud, and SaaS applications) and the strain on infrastructure (i.e. testing, VPNs, Gateways, Routers, licensing etc.) were not anticipated. Adding that many remote users in a short period of time with temporary fixes has not only introduced an element of risk within the organization, it has also taxed IT to the point where they can no longer efficiently manage such an environment. When users begin to experience issues with licensing and limited access to their applications and systems, productivity suffers and so does the entire organization. If this continues, efficiency will begin to decline rapidly as the risks and costs continue to soar.

THE BIG SOLUTION

With the increase in Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) implementations and the high demand for DaaS, VDI, etc., bringing the desktop to the cloud without the right tools and resources is a formidable task for any organization, particularly difficult for mid-size and large enterprises. Moving complex Windows infrastructures and applications to the cloud permanently, with all the right pieces in place (i.e. compliance, security, bandwidth, etc.) to efficiently enable a large remote workforce can take a long time to implement, cause significant disruption, add a high-level of risk, and a great amount of cost to the organization. The pressure is on IT to come up with a long-term solution that will facilitate the secure, compliant, and efficient access of critical business applications on every platform to every user.

The remote workforce requires 24/7 access no matter their location, device, or application, but also, the added flexibility and value of limited or no disruption when any unforeseen instances or back-end infrastructure changes arise in the future.

Luckily, as a certified WVD integration partner, Liquit helps accelerate the transition to the cloud without all the time, risk, and cost associated with the typical rip-and-replace process. Liquit enables the delivery of a user's workspace independent of the type of end point device they are using, the type of application the need, or where they are working from. The Liquit Workspace delivers a single login (SSO) to a web-based portal connecting users directly to their public, personal, and private environments as well as any legacy or on-prem applications they need as well. Functionality, content, and resources are all delivered intelligently, and launched with a simple click on the application's relevant "Smart Icon" (designed exclusively by Liquit). When IT publishes Liquit's Smart Icon, Liquit decides where to start the application based on the customer's location, device, and profile rights. If there is an application that they require that's not already part of their workspace, the user can simply scroll through the Service Catalog (App Store) and request access. One of the key benefits to the IT team from this level of consumer-style working environment is by automating the approval process and instantly delivering the application to the end-user.

The Liquit Workspace provides an organization with a consistent, customizable end-user experience and control of their applications no matter where the end-users are. The ongoing value and flexibility of the Liquit Workspace for future updates and infrastructure changes is immense. Any changes to applications or the backend environment/infrastructure are transparent to the end-user. Simply tell Liquit where to retrieve the application and it will deliver it. Automated deployment of applications makes it easy to prepopulate physical and virtual devices. Administrators have full control over the end-user environment, while allowing the user to customize and personalize their own workspace via a preapproved self-service catalogue of applications and services. Liquit provides IT with an easy way to update and keep current, providing end-users the latest applications and services they need to stay productive, and one step ahead of their competition.

Liquit provides simpler and faster on-boarding of new users as well with the ability to deliver pre-populated workspaces based on policy and their job role within an organization. Further still, these tasks can even be scheduled so as not to impact the end-users during their workday. Liquit provides the most consistent experience for both the end-user and IT Administrator alike, with single sign-on and a single administrative console management and access are a breeze.

Liquit accelerates your move to WVD and the migration to the cloud from legacy platforms cost effectively and without disruption by allowing any of those changes on the back end to be transparent to the users.

Liquit saves time by simplifying the delivery of critical business applications to users no matter where they are, what device they use, or where the application resides. Liquit eliminates the disruption of any environmental or infrastructure changes by providing an uninterrupted, consistent end-user experience regardless of what changes may be made on the backend significantly reducing the cost of disruption to the business and shielding users and their applications from any changes or infrastructure modifications in the future.  

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About the Author

Chuck Brady, Vice President of the Americas at Liquit

Chuck is the newest member of the Liquit executive team. He has 20+ years of successfully starting and transforming technology organizations. Chuck was one of the original co-founders of AppDNA, a UK startup where he helped grow the company to nearly $30 million in revenue in just under four years. In his role at Liquit Chuck is working closely with our Americas partners to help them demonstrate the unique value Liquit Workspace brings to both the line of business and IT in major corporations throughout the Americas.