In the past one year of Coronavirus (COVID-19), we have seen it all: An ailing world economy, dramatic changes in the political structure of many countries, and, most prominently, a paradigm shift in how people interact and work.
Businesses, in particular, have embraced a remote working reality. They have shut their office doors and unlocked the potential of a work-from-home model.
However, remote working has its set of drawbacks, such as:
To overcome these shortcomings, Desktop as a Service (DaaS) comes into the picture.
DaaS is a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) service. In other words, companies employ the services of a third-party cloud provider that offers customized, virtualized desktop solutions.
Here is how leveraging DaaS can solve the challenges faced during remote work:
When working in an organization, your desktop holds a crucial set of information that you need for regular business operations. A local system requires your physical presence in order to access the data. This setup reduces work efficiency and impacts the serviceability of the firm.
The challenge, here, is to access the system from any remote location and make real-time changes virtually.
The use of the DaaS solution allows you to access a cloud-hosted virtual desktop from anywhere and at any time. Virtual desktops are created in remote cloud servers that you can access through any device (smartphones, tablets, or laptops). You can easily meet project deadlines and serve your clients better, all from the comfort of home.
Moreover, reliable DaaS providers also ensure that their services are always up and running. Time is not a hurdle; you can access your desktop whenever you want. Many DaaS providers guarantee the maximum possible uptime by achieving redundancy of backed-up information on servers.
Taking care of the business resources and their fluctuating demands can be stressful. Depending on the time of the year and busy seasons, you might need to increase the required resources and eventually decrease them thereafter.
Furthermore, it is challenging to provide software and hardware to employees when they are working from home or any other remote location.
DaaS implies instant provision of virtual desktops for any number of employees. You just have to contact the service provider and quote your requirements. You can then take advantage of fully-managed services wherein you can set up groups to deploy particular desktop configurations for your remote workforce as per need.
You don’t need to worry about the changing dynamics of the business as your cloud provider will take care of all the installments and maintenance.
The cloud-hosted VDI solution also allows you to upscale or downscale various resources, such as the number of users, RAM, and storage spaces. Therefore, you can easily increase them during a busy season and remove them after it is over.
Data is the backbone of any industry. However, your business data is under constant threat from cyber attacks, accidental losses, and hardware thefts. These threats can compromise the availability, confidentiality, and integrity of the business. Furthermore, a work-from-home scenario tends to make the information more vulnerable to different attacks.
However, if you choose a competent DaaS provider, you will be assured maximum security at physical, network, and end-point levels. Various safety measures implemented by the DaaS provider include:
In addition to the measures mentioned above, regular backups are also stored at remote servers. Most of the cloud service providers offer disaster-recovery solutions by replicating your business apps and files at multiple locations in geographically-isolated data centers.
Therefore, even if one of the servers is down for maintenance or is facing some issues, you can easily retrieve data from another location.
One of the most significant challenges you would probably face while implementing remote work is adhering to the company’s budget. The cost of installing personal systems, wifi routers, and software upgrades for each employee can burn a hole in your pocket.
Additionally, you would also need to hire experts to troubleshoot various IT-related issues.
Opting for DaaS Solutions ensures budget-friendly implementation of the working system. There is no need to invest your money on hefty hardware resources like laptops, desktops, or in-house servers.
Hosted virtual desktops enable you to work from any portable device and there are no compatibility issues with this setup. You just need to connect your device to the Internet and log in to your desktop. Moreover, as the data is stored on remote servers, there is no need to house on-premise servers for local backup.
Also, DaaS providers take care of all your IT needs. Therefore, the need to hire a dedicated team for the same is eliminated.
Communication between teammates is crucial for achieving the company’s targets efficiently. However, remote working has made it challenging for employees to collaborate with each other. Sending emails back and forth often leads to confusion in the work process that can lead to many errors.
DaaS offers a solution: your teammates can collaborate over a common platform. It enables you to access, edit, and share information in real-time. Therefore, you don’t need to wait for your colleagues to finish a task to work on it, you can simply edit the file simultaneously.
Hosted virtual desktops also provide the opportunity to hire the best candidates from a global talent pool. It breaks down physical barriers and helps you build a global organization that has employees from different corners of the world.
Remote work has become a necessity in today’s world. Even though it poses many challenges, leveraging DaaS can help solve these shortcomings. The benefits mentioned above show the flexibility and mobility of this technology.
Therefore, consider it a rule of thumb to adopt DaaS in order to stay ahead of the competition.
Dr. Sangeeta Chhabra
