Liquidware, the leader in digital
workspace management and
IGEL,
provider of IGEL OS, the endpoint operating system designed for VDI and DaaS, announced the results
of a study authored by independent analysts
Freeform
Dynamics that shows how the rapid migration to work-from-home (WFH) during the
COVID-19 pandemic made it harder, more complex and costly to deliver, support
and secure digital workspaces, while at the same time creating new
opportunities to turn disruption into transformation, today and in the future.
The report, "Modernizing the Digital Workplace" looks at what organizations
are doing today to prepare for the future of work with new desktop
delivery models and a set of platform and management solutions designed to accommodate
change quickly and efficiently.
Key findings from the study confirm that the short-term success of the switch to WFH came with
longer-term costs - technical and governance ‘debts' that must now be ‘repaid.'
Yet, IT departments that choose to
adopt modern desktop delivery models and platforms are more likely to see
better outcomes in areas such as user satisfaction, cost of ownership,
manageability, and security.
Need to Act Quickly Drove
Most WFH Transitions
The COVID-19
pandemic, according to the report, created a ground swirl of activity for
enabling WFH that was significantly influenced by the following factors:
-
The need to act very quickly to keep the business running - 80%
-
Pressure to keep additional costs and overheads to a minimum - 73%
-
Supplier shortages of equipment limiting options - 72%
-
Need to minimize end user training requirements - 72%
-
Keep things as simple and supportable as possible - 70%
-
Short-term pragmatics trumping long-term strategy - 68%
Majority
of Organizations Today Are Adopting or Planning Modern Desktop Delivery
Solutions
Additionally,
the report explores the different ways organizations delivered digital
workspaces to users and what stands in the way of progress today, including
technical debt, employee resistance to change and senior managers priorities
lying elsewhere.
The
vast majority of respondents (>65%) are either considering or are implementing
the following tactics to move their end user computing environment forward:
-
Reduce dependency on ‘fat-client' computing model
-
Automate more of their delivery, monitoring and management
activities
-
Adopt platforms designed to support modern desktop/application
delivery.
"Our research confirms that the rapid shift
to hybrid working has left IT teams - and especially desktop admin teams - more
over-worked and stressed than ever," stated Bryan Betts,
Principal Analyst at Freeform Dynamics. "It
also shows that if you carry on trying to do desktop delivery the old way, but
in a hybrid world, there are clear risks that you'll see higher costs,
increased security challenges, decreased flexibility and agility, and
ultimately lower user satisfaction. Fortunately, when we dug into the data, our
research also suggests a potential solution: use the hybrid transition and the
need to pay back technical debt as an inflection point - as the opportunity to
transform and modernize the desktop delivery process. There's a whole raft of
ways to do this, such as thinner desktops and automated user management, but
essentially they boil down to using modern technologies to build in greater
consistency, flexibility, and security."
IGEL
and Liquidware will be hosting a webinar on Tuesday, April 12 at 11am (CST)
with Bryan Betts, Principal
Analyst at Freeform Dynamics; Simon Townsend, Chief Marketing Officer, IGEL and
Jason E. Smith, VP Products and Alliances, Liquidware; to discuss the findings
from the report, lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, and
opportunities created by the WFH, work-from-anywhere (WFx) and hybrid working
revolutions. Register at: https://info.liquidware.com/2022-04-12-Modernizing-Digital-Workplace_Registration-Page.html
Resources
The report is available from Liquidware at: https://info.liquidware.com/New-Freeform-Digital-Workplace-Whitepaper_Whitepaper-Landing-Page.html
and
IGEL https://www.igel.com/freeform-report/.