Imagine your company's next strategy session. Your CEO wants to drive digital to the core of your company's business model. Your CIO wants to be a strategic partner in driving transformation forward.
It all sounds great, until the conversation turns to your company's desktop infrastructure.
The good news is that your employees are using collaboration and productivity tools.
The bad news is that your traditional desktop infrastructure isn't keeping pace with change. Your devices and operating systems are out-of-date and insecure, the user experience for your on-the-go workforce is challenging, and your IT team members are spending all of its time managing and fixing old systems when they could be creating new products.
Frankly put, desktops are a 1:1 IT management challenge in a world that favors speed and scale.
So what are the options?
Preserving the Status Quo
You can maintain the status quo, which reinforces current problems and likely worsens them. Aging systems also have more gaps and vulnerabilities, which will keep your CISO up at night. Ransomware, anyone?
Implementing a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
You can implement a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), which is loaded with all your applications, provides a great user experience, and protects data and systems. However, it requires that you continue to manage infrastructure at a time when you're looking to shed that burden. You've seen the value, great capabilities, and flexibility of ordering everything "as a service" and you'd like to gain those advantages. If you pivot to cloud-based desktops, then your IT teams can shift time, budget, and resources to critical projects like innovating with Agile and DevSecOps processes and protecting the enterprise with the latest generation of cybersecurity tools.
Implementing a Modern Desktop
Your third (and hopefully best option) is to implement a Modern Desktop, a cloud-based desktop platform with integrated solutions that is always up-to-date.
Microsoft is leading the Desktop as a Service (DaaS) drive across industries with the Modern Desktop, a cloud-based desktop experience that provides all the tools you and your teams need to drive results.
- Business leaders win with an infinitely scalable desktop platform that links all talent, including employees, partners, and contractors, to collaborate and innovate.
- IT leaders win with a platform that's constantly upgraded with great new features, more stable than aging desktops and operating systems, and available on a pay as you grow pricing model.
- User experience teams win, with the ability to provide teams with a customized experience and an intuitive user interface that's constantly evolving to meet the latest trends. They can deploy a Microsoft resources and any third-party SaaS apps they want, rather than being locked into a rigid, pre-defined solution suite, such as with VDI.
- Teams win with a near-native experience and ability to work the way they want to, across any device or location. They gain access to the latest generation of Microsoft collaboration and productivity resources, tools they already use and enjoy.
Let's see how the Microsoft Modern Desktop solves pains you're currently experiencing:
- New employees - One of the greatest pains companies have today, is onboarding new employees or contractors. Business units and HR teams collaborate to get great new talent onboard swiftly for mission-critical projects, and new hires wait hours or days to get devices and desktops. This broken process is costly for companies and increases staff dissatisfaction. With the Microsoft Modern Desktop, you can provide instant, cloud-based access on employees' own devices.
- Mobile/dispersed teams - Why wait to provision new desktops or resources? Once the team is assembled, they can access a customized desktop on their own devices. Add your own SaaS apps to the Microsoft suite to give teams everything they need for a fast start.
- IT teams - Windows as a Service, part of the Modern Desktop experience, helps removes the strain of deploying and servicing the Windows operating system. When you are migrating from previous versions of Windows, an easy upgrade process automatically preserves all apps, settings, and data, meaning that IT teams don't need to rebuild them. Once you have Windows 10 in place, updating features is simple.
Similarly, Windows 10 simplifies compatibility testing with apps and devices, because it is compatible with most hardware and software running on Windows 7 or later.
When it comes to device management, IT teams can use Windows AutoPilot to set up operating systems on new devices with ease. They can unpack devices, power them on, enter credentials, and let the cloud automatically configure and manage them moving forward. Imagine the satisfaction your team will feel to be released from low-value configuration work.
Executives on the go - Busy leaders need to make the most of every minute. Simplify log-ins, ensure access wherever there is Wi-Fi, and enable leaders to use Skype for Business and other collaboration assets wherever they are.
Take This Quiz about the Modern Desktop
Is the Modern Desktop for you? Answer yes or no to these five questions to find out.
- Does your IT team spend more than X% of its time on your desktop infrastructure?
- Are you facing end-of-life issues on desktops, laptops, and operating systems?
- Does your business lose time due to employee onboarding challenges, desktop provisioning, or application access and password issues?
- Do your employees want to use their own devices to access corporate resources?
- Would you like to free up IT dollars for other initiatives?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may benefit from Microsoft's Modern Desktop.
Interested in moving your organization to a Modern Desktop? Your organization may be eligible for a Microsoft-funded Assessment or Proof-of-Concept. Contact Intellinet today to learn more.