How do I choose a network? Which system is best? How can I reduce costs? The article found below answers some common questions for business owners. Maintaining a business is hard, but we strive to bring you our best expertise. Any additional questions can be addressed by Roan Solutions at 877-774-4647.
Optimize the Desktop: Greater Security, Enhanced Productivity and Lowered Costs
used with permission from the Microsoft Small Business Center
Roger is a CIO at a mid-sized organization. He is planning his organization’s migration to Windows 7, and discovering he has a lot of questions that weren’t necessarily on the radar last time he deployed an operating system across his company. For instance, he is wondering:
>How do I keep my mobile users productive?
> Should I embrace cloud services?
> How do I manage costs?
> How do I keep my data safe and applications secure?
> Should we go with rich clients or thin clients?
> How do I take advantage of virtualization?
> Should employees bring their own PCs for work?
When it comes to his applications, his key challenges are managing the application lifecycle, providing access from anywhere, and knowing what the full scope of applications. For operating system and browser, he is thinking about his operating system migration, image management and access from anywhere. Regarding his data and user settings, he needs to consider data protection and compliance, the ever increasing volume of data from multiple sources, plus anywhere access to data and user settings. On the hardware front he is looking at ways to handle the growing mobility of end users, addressing consumerization, and managing the hardware lifecycle.
Roger is realizing that he needs is a comprehensive desktop optimization strategy that takes into consideration – and can improve – each of these four main areas of his infrastructure.
The Complete Desktop Strategy
The Windows Optimized Desktop delivers client, server, security and management flexibility by combining forces of these powerful tools from Microsoft:
The Windows Optimized Desktop also delivers significant annual cost savings per PC:
Implementing Your Desktop Strategy
However you choose to implement your desktop strategy, there are 4 essential capabilities your strategy should support:
1 End-to-End management (physical and virtual and native, on premise or in the cloud).
Management is the most effective way to reduce desktop TCO: According to the core IO research conducted by IDC, moving from a basic or unmanaged environment to a well-managed environment can save nearly $1100 annually per PC (from $1320 to $230) And with the additional considerations posed by desktop virtualization technologies, the ability to cut TCO with good virtualization management makes this capability even more important.
2 Security and Data Protection.
The average cost of a data security breach is $6.6M, and the total cost of a data breach continues to increase every year, according to a survey conducted by the Ponemon Institute in 2009. Of course this doesn’t even count the effect of loss of customer trust and the subsequent losses customers experience due to their personal information being compromised.
3 Anywhere Access for Users.
Remote and mobile workers are expected to increase 28% in the 5 years from 2007 to 2012 (IDC). Given this trend, it is essential to provide end users access to applications and data from anywhere, or those highly-paid knowledge workers will not be fully productive.
4 Business Agility and Continuity.
In a joint study by Forrester Research and The Disaster Recovery Journal of 250 disaster recovery decision-makers and influencers, 42% of respondents indicated that a power failure was the cause of their most significant disaster declaration or major business disruption. In many industries, a service interruption is simply an excuse for a customer to jump to a competitor. The ability to execute a plan for all contingencies – whether related to power, weather, disasters, or simply routine disturbances such as moving – is essential for business growth and for regulatory compliance.
Roger is finding that a flexible desktop strategy gives him the ability to deliver on these capabilities and provide the right resources at the right time to the right users. But the more power you have to be flexible, the greater your capacity for control must be. Imagine driving a very powerful car with very bad brakes and no steering wheel. You wouldn’t have that car for long. But with precision steering and great stopping power, that car would be unbeatable. Similarly, the power and flexibility needed to support a robust strategy needs to be matched by robust management tools. This makes both your business more competitive and helps your people achieve their full potential.
