Now that the dust is beginning to settle, we might ask what we’ve learned from the pandemic and what should we do to address future potential disasters. Several of the IT leaders who presented at BraveIT 2020, TierPoint’s technology and leadership conference, shared their thoughts on how Covid-19 is changing IT.

Held September 16-17, BraveIT showcased a wide range of technology innovators, experts, and IT executives speaking on topics such as cloud and multicloud infrastructure, disaster recovery planning, cloud security, and the future technology trends.

In a session on Enabling a Remote Workforce, TierPoint’s Matt Brickey and Nutanix senior director of product management, Param Desai talked about the main ways in which sudden, major disruptions impact how CIOs manage technology and work in their organizations.

Brickey and Desai identified three major ways in which IT managers will change their approach to workforce and technology management.

Embracing new tech to support remote employees

Companies that have embraced new technologies often have more options for surviving disruptions and disasters. That was borne out last March 2020, when the organizations that had already rolled out cloud services, mobile devices for employees, VPNs, and collaborative applications were most able to support remote workers.

“Businesses that have been on the forefront of adopting newer technologies were able to deal with this pandemic better,” said Desai, noting that just about every remote workforce technology currently in use already existed prior to the pandemic, including telemedicine, remote video conferencing applications, remote payment services, contact-less shopping and delivery, and cloud-based applications and storage.

Also read: Equip Your Workforce with the Right Remote Working Tools

Small organizations with limited budgets often had the fewest options, but even many large companies lagged behind in new technology adoption, often due to corporate culture or industry practices that favor the status quo. Those organizations may use out-of-date enterprise applications that are well passed their end-of-life services, continuously patch aged legacy systems, or use cloud services for small, point applications only.

Adopt an outcomes-based approach to problem solving

As TierPoint’s Brickey noted, IT departments traditionally provide products not outcomes or results.

“An employee needs a new server; you provision a new server,” said Brickey. “But IT needs to be an enabler of business outcomes not just things.”

That products-based approach was evident during the pandemic when IT leaders issued thousands of purchase orders for laptops, home desktops, headsets, VPN licenses, WIFI and ethernet routers, and other remote work equipment.

However, Desai explained that they could have considered alternatives such as TierPoint’s Virtual Desktop Services and Nutanix’ XiFrame desktop-as-a-service, both of which can securely enable distributed workers to access critical applications from any location, over any device or browser.

Also read: 5 Reasons Businesses Choose Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

“Instead of looking for point solutions, they should look for wider solutions to a more general problem,” said Desai.

Disaster recovery (DR) is another area that calls for a broader perspective. For instance, IT departments are used to handling server outages. But what if the entire server farm suddenly goes dark? Or a flood or fire takes out the corporate data center? You can’t simply replace hundreds of servers.

“IT needs to proactively look for larger global sets of problems and solutions, not just small, short-term ones,” said Desai. “For instance, we’ve had a lot of fires in California that forced people and businesses to relocate. If your data center were impacted by a massive fire, could you switch access to your data to another data center?”

Greater collaboration with IT services providers

Outsourcing parts of your IT operations is common in companies of all sizes. CIOs will often outsource activities that are either outside of the experience of in-house IT staff or take up too much of the IT staff’s time. Examples include cloud storage and compute resources, software as a service, security monitoring, and managed Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS).

Desai predicts that outside service providers will continue to be a key resource for IT organizations. Outsourcers such as managed services providers offer a cost-effective alternative to building out data centers or hiring additional IT staff.

Service providers can also give organizations access to new technologies that they wouldn’t have the time to research or implement on their own.

“IT will need to rely on outside experts like TierPoint more than they used to,” said Desai. “A good IT provider can enable a remote workforce for any organization. Think of them as part of your team.”

Watch the full BraveIT 2020 Nutanix session

Learn more about the BraveIT Conference and watch more sessions

Want to hear more advice and insight on surviving and thriving in the face of rapid change and potential disruptions? Watch all of the presentations by IT industry leaders at BraveIT 2020.

Learn more about TierPoint’s new Virtual Desktop Services powered by Nutanix Frame.

What is VDI?

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure or VDI is the hosting of desktop environments on central servers. It is a form of desktop virtualization—the desktop operating system (OS) images run within virtual machines (VMs) and are delivered to clients over a network. Those client endpoints can be PCs, tablets, thin client terminals, and even zero client devices with neither storage nor operating system. The endpoint devices do not need to be preinstalled with the OS or applications—only a browser.

Why VDI is good for employees

VDI puts the power of your enterprise IT infrastructure at the fingertips of your remote employees without the hassle of company-owned machines. Workers get location flexibility and mobility benefits with secure access to powerful hardware and software applications. Not only can they work at home securely on a personal laptop or other type of device, but they can also get work done anywhere securely on a borrowed device.

Why VDI is good for businesses and IT departments

The business as a whole and IT operations specifically reap big benefits from VDI, including potential cost reductions and improved security controls. Plus, VDI expands workforce mobility and the company’s pool of potential employees.

Concerns about the cost, complexity, and performance of VDI have held many companies back in the past but that has changed with advances in technology around the Desktop as a Service (DaaS) model. Previously, a large capital investment and do-it-yourself (DIY) overhead discouraged the use of virtual desktops. Now, improved technology lowers the cost per resource, and managed service providers like TierPoint offer a more economical OpEx-based (operational expense) delivery model while lifting operational responsibility from your IT organization.

Similarly, VDI performance was hindered in the early days but that is no longer the case. Ten years ago, VDI desktops could not match a normal desktop experience.  Now, network speeds and physical and virtual resource performance are much higher, so the best VDI solutions deliver performance that rivals locally installed applications.

How hosted private cloud & VDI add more value

VDI is a cloud-based solution to desktop infrastructure. A private cloud hosted by a data center provider offers many benefits for virtual desktop infrastructure: predictable spend, security controls, performance, flexibility, and less overhead.

Predictable spend

No variance monthly for usage or transport and the use of existing licenses makes for a predictable spend. As a bonus, there is no additional bandwidth charge when VDI is accessed point to point.

Security controls

Private cloud infrastructure is under your control and part of your network. IT is secured with the level of encryption you want and by your firewall. Workers can use networks under your control, such as a point-to-point network when on site and the corporate VPN when remote.

Performance

Single-tenant cloud infrastructure eliminates performance degradation due to noisy neighbors while enabling you to shift and upgrade resources as needed without increasing recurring per-user costs.

Flexibility

Private cloud architecture is yours to modify as needed for security, compliance, performance, and any other reason.

Less overhead

When a third-party data center provider hosts your private cloud, your IT team can spend less time managing the infrastructure while benefiting from a secure, resilient facility. Your organization controls the management of data, applications, databases, and operating systems. That said, most private cloud providers also offer an array of managed services that relieve your team of day-to-day tasks as well as providing services such as disaster recovery.

Virtual desktop services powered by Nutanix Frame

As a cloud and managed services provider, we deliver one-stop support from design to configuration and from deployment to monitoring and lifecycle maintenance of your enterprise virtual desktop solution. Plus, your managed VDI solution can be combined with security, disaster recovery and productivity features such as managed multi-factor authentication (Managed MFA), Managed Office 365, and more.

Learn more about the value of a TierPoint private cloud for VDI and how our Virtual Desktop Services powered by Nutanix Frame can get your remote workers the tools they need.

Why VDI? Companies choose VDI for these reasons:

1. VDI keeps your workforce working, no matter the disruption

Cloud-based desktops promote business resilience during disruptions. Hurricanes, power outages, and pandemic WFH (work from home). Primary PC out of service? Can’t get to the office? Is your office not fit for habitation? Working from home for the foreseeable future? Not a problem. VDI is ideal for employees who need an alternative mode of access to their corporate desktop and familiar apps. An enterprise virtual desktop solution can serve users in any location and on any device that has a browser.

VDI is a popular remote desktop solution for a variety of scenarios: employees and contractors working from home, while traveling, hot desking, and in co-working spaces. A fast, full desktop experience and secure access to critical information and applications from a company-owned or bring-your-own device (BYOD) is available anywhere with internet connectivity.

2. VDI can improve your employee retention and acquisition initiatives

Your ability to support a remote or mobile workforce with virtual desktops enables your company to retain valued employees when they relocate or require a work-from-home solution. Plus, VDI might make your current employees happier, too. Technology-related factors make up 30% of what drives an engaged employee, according to Forrester.

In the same way, VDI can enable your company to acquire talent from farther afield—in other cities, rural workers, even globally.

3. VDI is device-agnostic and delivers desktops to a range of devices

Physical devices are a never-ending burden for IT. Forrester reports that 67% of organizations expect to replace corporate-owned laptops at least every three years. In contrast, VDI is device agnostic. Users connect to a secure VDI environment with authentication from any device with an HTML5-compatible browser and internet connectivity. VDI can extract valuable years of service from laptops, tablets and thin clients.

With VDI, the hardware on the user’s device does not drive performance. Higher performance in a managed VDI environment is driven by cloud-based hardware. Specifically, optional GPU hardware in a hosted private cloud delivers the higher performance needed for graphically advanced and compute-intensive workloads.

4. VDI creates another layer of IT security

Cloud desktops offer more security than running an OS or workspace locally, especially outside of your organization’s enterprise perimeter. Three advantages of VDI that can improve security are:

1. VDI access is controlled with modern authentication and authorization technologies.
2. Data from the virtual desktop lives on centralized infrastructure hosted in a secure data center, not on the user’s device.
3. A virtual desktop environment is fully and centrally controlled from a data center where administrators can apply software patches and updates, change configurations, and enforce security policies.

Also read: A Strategy to Overcome Cloud Computing Security Risks

5. VDI enables digital transformation and cloud adoption

Digital transformation enables organizations to innovate changes across business processes and technologies to meet evolving market demands. A private cloud is, for many organizations, an integral part of their transformation to a hybrid or multicloud environment.

VDI is one of the many valuable uses of a private cloud. VDI can deliver a Windows workspace service sized based on your current and future requirements. Use cases range from office productivity to graphics-intensive applications.

A virtual desktop service is a win-win solution for users and IT transformation. A managed VDI service promotes business innovation and allows IT teams to shift away from management and upkeep of physical equipment, decreasing IT management overhead. VDI is scalable, so it can adapt as your business needs change or your user base grows to reach employees worldwide.

A managed VDI solution can help you now

While VDI does solve a number of common and immediate challenges, it is not without complexity when it comes to implementation and ongoing maintenance. For enterprises that are new to the concept or just not interested in the ongoing burden of infrastructure upkeep and VDI control plane maintenance the right solution for your IT team may be a VDI service delivered by a qualified Managed Services Provider, also known as DaaS or Desktop as a Service. A DaaS solution provides configuration, deployment, and ongoing administration and support for your managed dedicated VDI solution deployed in a secure, hosted private cloud infrastructure — all managed for you.

As a leading cloud and managed services provider, TierPoint delivers one-stop support from design to configuration and from deployment to monitoring and lifecycle maintenance of your enterprise virtual desktop solution. Plus, your managed VDI solution can be combined with security and productivity features such as managed multi-factor authentication (Managed MFA), Managed Office 365, and more.

At TierPoint, we are your virtual desktop experts. We take responsibility for design, configuration, deployment, and ongoing maintenance and support for all components. Our service includes proactive monitoring and performance optimization to ensure the utmost availability and best desktop as a service experience for your users. Learn about a TierPoint Hosted Private Cloud with Managed VDI implemented with Nutanix Frame.

COVID-19 has dramatically accelerated the work-from-home movement as employers explore ways to keep employees healthy by keeping them apart. The need to keep the business functioning even when staff can’t be at the office has overridden any lingering sense of mistrust. Many have opted for part-time remote work arrangements to give staff more room to spread out. PWC researchers found that the percentage of employers that allow most of their employees to work remotely at least part-time jumped from 39% pre-COVID to 77% since the pandemic began.

Perhaps most interesting is PWC’s finding that 55% of employers expect to continue to allow employees to work remotely after the pandemic is under control — a figure that is very similar to Global Workplace Analytics’ estimate of the percentage of jobs that could be performed remotely. Moving forward, employers will be looking for ways to allow employees to work remotely instead of reasons to prevent it.

What remote work really means for IT organizations

While employers are recognizing the benefits of a remote (or even semi-remote) workforce, remote working arrangements put additional burdens on IT. IT must evolve their operational and architectural strategies to support the business’s new outlook on remote work. IT must be able to support employees’ technical needs as they move from the office to their homes and back. Data and applications must be kept secure without a sacrifice in application performance or availability. IT must develop new strategies for mitigating risks and responding to incidents based on new IT infrastructure architectures.

These objectives are highlighted throughout many of the sessions we have slated for this year’s BraveIT conference later this month. Read on to find out how to address these challenges. Read more about accelerating digital transformation.

Create remote workforce flexibility

Many remote work arrangements are part-time, rotating employees’ days in the office to maintain face-to-face connections, while giving them room to maintain social distance. For the IT organization, this often means implementing a mix of cloud and on-premises virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) to allow employees to seamlessly transition between the office and their kitchen table, spare bedroom, or whatever corner of the home they choose to set up shop in.

The new NetApp^® Virtual Desktop Service> helps you deploy and manage virtual desktops in the public cloud in just a few hours so that you can scale up and down quickly. NetApp HCI lets you run virtual desktops and other user applications side by side on the same system, giving you flexibility in the data center.

Reduce the risk of cybercrime

Remote workforces are a magnet for cybercrime, as laptops, devices, and home-based networks rarely have the level of security that office-based systems do. According to the FBI, cybercrime has jumped 300% since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The innovative NetApp FPolicy Zero Trust Engine is built into NetApp data management software and uses behavioral analytics to identify and stop malicious activity. NetApp solutions for ransomware help you detect malicious code across public cloud platforms and on-premises environments, prevent that code from spreading, and recover quickly after an attack.

Keep remote IT staff up and running

IT workers need to be kept safe. This requires giving them remote visibility to assess IT performance, optimize applications, and monitor security. Many monitoring tools provide visibility into just one aspect of the infrastructure. NetApp Cloud Insights provides visibility across your entire infrastructure, including private data centers and public cloud providers, so IT engineers can configure systems, monitor performance, and make adjustments remotely to maintain reliability and manage costs. Read more about how you can put the right pieces in place to accelerate digital transformation.

Hear more about the future of IT at BraveIT 2020

The pandemic has forced most organizations to adapt to new ways of doing business. This year at the BraveIT 2020 conference, two sessions will focus on the business impact of COVID-19. The first session will address how businesses pivoted to the changes earlier this year. The second session will address how businesses will pivot for the post-COVID future. See the full conference agenda.

BraveIT 2020 (September 16-17) brings IT professionals, technology thought leaders, and cloud and infrastructure solution providers together for a two-day virtual presentation of workshops, panels, interviews, and peer-to-peer sessions on the future of IT. Register for free tickets to BraveIT 2020.

BraveIT Spotlights are guest blog posts from our 2020 BraveIT sponsors. Kim Stevenson is the SVP & General Manager for FDSBU. NetApp is a global leader in providing data management services and hybrid cloud data services.

Remote working tools and applications for your workforce

To help you navigate this new virtual office reality, we’ve compiled a list of key productivity applications and remote working tools that employees will need to do their jobs.

Remote collaboration tools

Virtually all organizations depend on digital collaboration tools to work with supervisors and coworkers. They’re even more critical in today’s work-from-home environment. Cloud and web-based tools such as instant messaging, web email, and video chat tools are essential one-to-one communication tools and are often platform agnostic. Collaborative suites combine these basic tools with collaboration tools ranging from team discussions and video conferencing to screen sharing and collaborative document creation and editing. For example, WebEx has video conferencing, whiteboards, screensharing, and instant messaging. Slack and Microsoft Teams are also popular remote collaboration suites.

Productivity applications

Productivity application suites combine work tools such as word processing and spreadsheets with collaboration capabilities. For instance, Microsoft’s cloud-based Office 365 provides email and calendaring, Word, Excel and PowerPoint as well as collaborative services such as Microsoft Teams and SharePoint Online. All of these tools are integrated to create a seamless experience for your remote workforce.

Also read: IT Productivity Applications – The Right Tools for the Job

Device & application security

Cyber-attacks are rapidly rising and weak IT security on remote devices puts your organization at risk. Security for remote employees is a critical element of a mobile workplace. The first step is to make sure all remote employees have basic security protections on their laptops, tablets, and smartphones. This includes antivirus software and a firewall. In addition, you’ll want to equip them with enterprise-level protections necessary for secure remote computing. The key security tools you’ll need are:

Identity access management

Cloud-based identity access management (IAM) solutions can ensure that users are only allowed to interact with IT environments that they have authorization to access, including applications, data, and networks. IAM offers IT control over what end users are allowed to do such as read, download, or edit a document. IAM solutions use role-based rules to determine what each worker, job type, or seniority level can do. Two examples of IAM are IBM’s Cloud Identity and Microsoft’s Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) Software as a Service.

Also read: Cybersecurity’s Next Big Thing: Identity Management

Multi-factor authentication

Beyond user IDs and passwords, multi-factor authentication devices and apps can greatly improve security. Authentication fobs are hardware devices that generate random pass-codes for employees logging into a work application. Alternatively, employees can download a smartphone authentication app to generate the codes. Facial recognition tools, such as Windows Hello, are also gaining traction in multi-factor authentication.

Secure transmission

Remote employees need a way to connect securely to their workplace applications. In many cases, this means a virtual private network (VPN). A VPN is useful for employees that may need to use public wi-fi networks, or need access to sensitive data. The VPN encrypts the internet traffic and watches for threats. However, not all remote workers may need a VPN. Secure desktop applications such as Azure Remote Desktop Services and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops may satisfy many organizations’ security needs.

File-based encryption

For securing data and files, our experts recommend using a  file-based encryption solution that follows the file wherever it goes. An encrypted file can’t be opened without authorization. Even if the data is stolen, it remains safe. This technology allows you to grant or revoke access to a file even if it’s already on an unauthorized user’s device.

Mobile Device Management (MDM)

To effectively manage the devices an end-user may utilize in a remote environment, you’ll want a mobile security management or mobile device management solution to establish control over company data. This solution enables IT to monitor and control the laptops, smartphones and other devices accessing the corporate network and applications. MDM usually requires a client agent on the remote device and prohibits non-compliant devices from accessing resources.  There are many MDM options on the market. One is Microsoft’s Enterprise Mobility + Security (EMS) service for Microsoft 365, which includes mobile device management as well as enterprise security functions like identity and access management and cloud security broker for multicloud environments.

Also read: The Strategic Guide to IT Security

Ensure your workforce has the right remote working tools

Security, productivity and communication tools are vital to keeping your business running efficiently, as you adapt to remote operations. Managed Services providers, like TierPoint, can help you migrate to and manage cybersecurity, productivity, and communication tools for your business. Contact us to learn more about finding the right solutions to enable your remote workforce.