Using the power of VDI to enable your hybrid workforce

With analysts predicting that at least 48% of the global workforce will be operating remotely, at least part of the time, going forward,[1] mobilizing and managing this new hybrid workforce has become one of the highest priorities for today’s IT leaders. Ensuring that your workforce has the right tools will significantly impact its ability to thrive in these changing times, and a hosted Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solution could hold the key to your success.

Chris Orlando, CEO of ScaleMatrix, looks at the requirements of a hybrid workforce and some challenges IT leaders face while setting up successful remote teams.    

[1] 9 Trends for HR Leaders That Will Impact the Future of Work After the Coronavirus Pandemic

The emergence of a hybrid workforce

Over the last few years, we have seen an enormous evolution in technology. No longer satisfied with the restrictions of monolithic IT platforms, organizations looked for more flexibility and agility, choosing a hybrid road-map, which allowed them to get the best out of every critical technology service being used by their organization. Looking at this trend, it is no surprise that many workforces around the world have followed suit, adopting a hybrid workforce support model, capable of leveraging on-premises, cloud-based, and hosted services to achieve optimal results.

One of the inherent challenges of enabling a mobile workforce, however, is the diversity of users and their requirements, which is why a VDI Desktop-as-a-Service solutions has become such a popular and relevant tool.

More users, more data, more power

Businesses today are made up of a patchwork of user types. There are the traditional productivity users who need the general tools and office products which many of us are familiar with, and then there is an evolving mix of more advanced users who are becoming a larger part of the hybrid-workforce reality. 

Traditionally these advanced users would be comprised of members of the executive team, top researchers, or similar high-demand contributors. However, the explosion of data over the last decade, and our ability to leverage hybrid-tools to make better use of that data, has changed the user dynamic. This change has been driven in part by organizations realizing the competitive advantage that proper access to, and management of this data can provide, as well as the myriad of new applications which allow a more diverse set of users to consume, manipulate, and take advantage of this data. 

New data visualization tools allow workers better insight into their business, so we’re seeing more workers requiring access to better ‘horsepower’ at their desktop or at whatever tool they are using to interface with their corporate systems – be it physical or virtual. This new era of high-performance user wants better graphic processing, overall performance, and advanced computing solutions to dig into the data available to them and derive real results and strategic advantage for their business. 

This need makes a powerful, hosted VDI Desktop-as-a-Service offering one of the first considerations when crafting a remote workforce management solution. This critical ability to provide access from any location becomes your workforce’s gateway for using business resources, interacting with co-workers, and engaging with their customers

Performance, security and on-going support are table-stakes qualifications

Leaders looking to enable a hybrid workforce with remote capabilities, while ensuring optimal performance for every user type must focus on three key factors.

The first non-negotiable requirement is performance. As your workforce begins to adopt more remote practices, or as you consider supporting more categories of workforce tiers, you must consider the performance requirements of each of the workplace environments.  Nothing irritates users more than an interface that doesn’t respond immediately, or which introduces delays into their normal productivity. Performance is a hard and fast requirement for any VDI solution – whenever, and wherever, your employees may be located.  

The second major consideration is security. Some companies are supporting hybrid workforces using a bring your own device (BYOD) policy with laptops, mobile phones, tablets all being used as interfaces to your organization’s critical business data. Using these devices’ native operating systems and remote connections tools is not an easy security or operational challenge to overcome. With the correct VDI solution, managing a myriad of operating systems, device types, and security threats are simplified, while additional control and data security features are enhanced. Most companies today will only consider a hybrid workforce solution if it comes with security built right into the platform.

The third factors to consider are IT overheads and support. IT leaders should be careful to evaluate the overhead that comes with some remote work solutions, as they can become a burden on existing IT teams. In addition, the task of successfully onboarding users to a remote workforce solution should be done thoughtfully and with care, to ensure the best experience for each user. Once onboarded, the seemingly mundane tasks of supporting general IT users can be significant, but by choosing a solution provider with build-in support for everyday VDI demands, users can help ensure the best possible outcome for their remote workforce. 

Overcoming the connectivity challenge

Many early versions of VDI Desktop-as-a-Service offerings, or other remote working solutions, are highly dependent on the quality of the users’ internet access. Through our partnership with HPE, ScaleMatrix has developed a best of breed infrastructure that doesn’t just deliver blazing-fast user experience; it takes the larger hybrid nature of the workforce variables into account. Our solution uses advanced data management to help buffer the connection between the user and the host application for optimal user experience. We use technology to improve data transfer between the remote host location and the end-user interface. This feature is critical to user performance and is a great advancement in today’s VDI Desktop-as-a-Service offering.

Futureproofing your business by empowering your hybrid workforce

What’s unique about ScaleMatrix, and specifically our secure VDI Desktop-as-a-Service platform, is the full-service managed support offering which takes care of every level of an organization’s VDI needs.

It begins with a scoping engagement, where we aim to understand the needs of your hybrid workforce, so that we can customize the parameters of our solutions to your specific requirements. We then move into a managed onboarding engagement, where we build out your catalog of services, applications, and user types. From there, we define and establish your security and regulatory settings. In fact, one of the main benefits of using a VDI Desktop-as-a-Service is that access to your data and applications are enabled via our cutting edge ScaleMatrix Data Centers, ensuring that your hybrid workforce can operate safely from any location, with reliable 24/7/365 support.

The scale and scope of our organization and our relationship with our partners, like HPE, means we don’t just have the best technical solution, but that we are always here and available to help our users whenever they need us. We are also able to deliver this enterprise-class service at a price point that is not only competitive, but which also drives value for our customers.