Designing End-User Experience for Workplace of the Future

1. Designing End-User Experience for Workplace of the Future

2. Designing End-User Experience for Workplace of the Future Executive Summary The success of an Enterprise digital transformation lies in transforming operational processes, driving efficiencies, creating new revenue streams, and enhancing customer and employee experiences holistically. While the focus on leveraging customer-centric technologies and systems have always been a prerogative for enterprises, there is a significant change in how enterprises now perceive end-user computing (EUC) as a key enabler of digital transformation that could enhance workforce productivity and deliver seamlessexperience to their employees. The workplace has completely changed now as employees prefer to use multiple devices with anywhere and anytime computing. This is primarily being fueled by changing business dynamics and IT consumption patterns of workforce. For an enterprise, this means delivering a seamless and secure experience for their end-users is a priority, while they access data and applications in this era of ubiquitous computing. However, this is easier said than done, as delivering an exceptional end-user experience is often a complex and challenging process in an EUC environment. This whitepaper highlights how enterprises can use virtualization technologies to design and deliver superior end-user experience for Workplace of the Future. WHITEPAPER | 2

3. Designing End-User Experience for Workplace of the Future The Evolution of Workplace Research confirms that seven out of ten employees globally, work remotely1) once a week, while more than five out of ten employees work half the week remotely. Employees no longer prefer to be glued to their desktops on a 9 to 5 routine but are more adaptive to an environment that offers them the flexibility to work from anywhere. So, what’s driving this change in the behavior of end-users. Let us discuss the factors that are accelerating the workplaceevolution. Seven out of ten employees globally, work remotely once a week, while more than five out of ten employees work half the week remotely. ▪ Smart Devices – The computing power of devices has leapfrogged in less than two decades, with present day smartphones offering robust computingpower. ▪ End-point Security – Increased focus on data security has resulted in much greater focus on where data resides in an organization, who can access it and how. End points are particularly vulnerable from a security point of view and any modern EUC solution must ensure a fully secured end-point. ▪ Centralization of IT – The consolidation of the technological resources offers multiple advantages including simplification of administrative tasks, enhanced security and improved data management. This permits employees to access all centralized IT resources as per appropriate user privileges withoutany attendantcomplexities. ▪ Increased Mobility – With employees being always connected, Mobility is leading to enhanced efficiency, productivity, and flexibility in customer facing operations2). Enterprises now get to leverage the benefits and flexibility of device diversity, unified consoles and swift deployment—all in one go. ▪ Windows 10 – The versatility and features of Windows 10 continues to retain its appeal among users. The possibilities of working on the same platform without the need for possessing a personal computer makes End User Computingmore convenient. ▪ SaaS Model of Consumption – There is an increasing preference from enterprise users to consume IT (whether software or hardware) in a “pay as you consume” mode and a reluctance to commit heavy upfront capital expenditure as in the past. 1) International Workplace Group: http://www.iwgplc.com/ 2)https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/advantages-and-disadvantages-mobile-technology WHITEPAPER | 3

4. Designing End-User Experience for Workplace of the Future Desktop Virtualization – the Key to Future Workplace The digital workplace today is about empowering users with data and applications while ensuring zero business interruption across locations and devices. This requires providing a highly flexible and agile environment to users, wherein they continue to access data and applications specific to their work, while IT teams can manage frequent updates and patches without any disruption to end-users. This is made possible by Desktop Virtualization, which adopts a user-centric approach to securely deliver data and applicationsto bothinternal and external stakeholdersin an organization. Desktop Virtualization adopts a user-centric approach to securely deliver data and applications to both internal and external stakeholders in an organization. What is Desktop Virtualization? Desktop Virtualization is a technology that empowers end-users with a virtual computing environment across devices (desktops, laptops, tablets, mobile phone, etc.) and locations thereby delivering a consistent user experience. It ensures a secure, highly available, cost effective end-user desktop infrastructure wherein, end-user desktops are hosted on a centralized server, while ensuring maximum control and security over access and usage of desktops by end-users. For enterprises, Desktop virtualization offers the followingbenefits, Desktop Virtualization ensures a secure, highly available, cost effective end-user desktop infrastructure. ▪ Cost Optimization – Desktop virtualization brings down the capex investments associated with hardware refreshes. Virtualization solutions are not only cost effective on a TCO basis, but these solutions come with opportunities to optimize capex and opex depending on the customer requirement. ▪ Device and Location Independence – Virtualization ensure availability of user desktops across several devices and geographically spread locations enabling seamless access to data and applications. This not only helps in improving employee productivity but makes it easier to implement BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy which is essential to manage numerous devices used within the organization. ▪ Robust Security – Virtualization provides a data theft and loss proof computing environment to end-users as all data and applications are hosted on the central server and can be monitored and managed centrally. ▪ Low consumption as Thin Clients /Zero Clients use little processing power and has less electric power and coolingrequirements. Energy Consumption – Virtualization brings down energy WHITEPAPER | 4

5. Designing End-User Experience for Workplace of the Future Desktop Virtualization is not “One Size Fits All” but requires a tailored approach to identify use cases to be implemented across the board. Organizations have the option to choose between in-house Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) or Desktop as a Service (DaaS) before deploying the technology as per their requirement. Let’s outline the two forms of deploymentto understand moreabout the technology. Desktop Virtualization is not “One Size Fits All” but requires a tailored approach to identify use cases to be implemented across the board. Virtual Desktop Infrastructure: For organizations that have already invested in building or owning in-house data centers, VDI as a virtualization solution makes sense as it addresses the challenges in upgrading traditional physical desktops and reduces cost on IT refresh. With the data center situated in-house, organizations have full control over software, hardware and data accessed by end-users via their virtual desktops. VDI minimizes the risk of data theft or loss even if the device crashes or is stolen as all data is stored centrally on a server. However, VDI requires management of various technologies (servers, storage, networking, thin clients, and virtualization software, etc.) provided by different vendors making the implementation a complex and challenging process for organizations on their own. It also requires specialized IT skills to manage the virtual infrastructure, which adds to the complexity further. Organization implementing VDI, often need a partner with a focused approach to implementand manage virtual desktopinfrastructure successfully. Anunta, with its years of experience in design, implementation and management of over 77,000 end-points for over 100,000 users globally assists its customers in delivering unmatched end-user experience across industry verticals. Desktop as a Service: According to an IDC report (2016), Cloud specific spending is expected to be six times more than general IT spend through 2020. This means that the rate of Cloud adoption for enterprises is set to accelerate. Organizations that haven’t yet invested in in-house data centers, organizations that plan to have a hybrid environment or organizations that aim to move their IT spend from capex to opex may have greater propensity to leverage the benefits of VDI on cloud. Available as pay as you go, DaaS reduces the overall total cost of ownership (TCO) of desktop computing as the upfront spend on infrastructure is negated. Further the cost of owning specialized VDI technical skills, desktop maintenance and infrastructure depreciation is eliminated. Cloud hosted Virtual desktops are typically subscribed at a pay per user rate on a monthlybasis. Anunta has been successfully deploying Cloud hosted desktops across Cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure, VMware Horizon Cloud, SoftLayer, and Amazon Web Services for its customersglobally. WHITEPAPER | 5

6. Designing End-User Experience for Workplace of the Future Essentials for Designing the Workplace of the Future While next generation technologies which can provide the workplace of the future are already available, in many case lack of awareness of both the technological evolution as well as clarity in terms of what business needs hinder enterprises from adopting them. It is not just the selection of the appropriate technology, but many other factors are needed to be considered in designing the workplace of the future. Let’s examine some of the key factors that needs to be considered while addressing the requirements of the end-users. Understandingthe User Needs Understanding End-user requirements should be at the center of all activities planned in designing the digital workplace. This typically involves mapping user needs and identifying their work preferences, applications they require, accessibility to devices and how they perform their daily operations. This will help in engineering the workplace transformation that is suited to the needs of end-users. For instance, some of the different work group identified can include, task workers, administrators, on-the-go professionals, remote workers, office professionals, work from home professionals, creative and design professionals, partners, contractors and BYOD workers. The idea of user profiling exercise is to understand how each user group operate daily and accordingly design an EUC architecture that enables their workplace accessibility and enhances superior end-user experience for them. In an EUC environment, the decision on virtualization deployment methods could also be done basis user profiling and understanding user consumption of compute, network and storage requirements. Organizations also need to ensure security of data and applications while provisioning virtualization technologies to their end-users. Based on user profiling, various deployment options can be implemented to ensure end-users receive the right virtualization technology to access their desktops. Some of the commonly deployed virtualizationoptionsare, ▪ Session Based Virtualization: Delivers individual session on a virtual machine or a server where each virtual machine is shared by multiple users. ▪ Non-Persistent VDI: Delivers a virtual machine that where sessions are not reserved or locked and can be accessed by multiple users. The desktop allows users to access their data on different PCs, as systems refresh themselvesonce the user has logged off. WHITEPAPER | 6

7. Designing End-User Experience for Workplace of the Future ▪ Persistent VDI: Delivers a virtual machine like non-persistent VDI except that user sessions are reserved or locked. This type of virtual machine is designed to suit the needs of individual users. ▪ Hosted Shared Desktop: Delivers shared desktops hosted on a server and connected to multiple thin clients. This type of virtualization enables multiple users to access the same desktop screen concurrently. This is also called RDSH (RemoteHosted Desktop). The suitability of these deployment options for various roles are matched only after gathering requirements through an exhaustive assessment of user roles, responsibilities,and organizationalneeds. Anytime, Anywhere Computing (Application Delivery Architecture) Traditionally applications are delivered to users with a device centric approach in which the users are locked to a certain type of desktop/laptop. This leads to major inefficiencies in user experience, performance and IT management. Digital era expects users to have seamless access to the applications irrespective of the end-device they are using. Be it a thick desktop, thin client, mobile devices the user experience should be seamless. Also the expectation goes beyond for a secured access of corporate applications through the personal devices owned by the users (BYOD). Solutions like VDI/DaaS delivers a user centric approach instead of device centric. It provides all the freedom user needs but at the same time gives the control to corporate IT to ensure security, compliance and performance of the application/data. AddressingEUC, Post-Implementation Challenges It is important to realize that a virtual desktop environment is architecturally very different from traditional EUC environments and need to be managed differently to get its full benefit and to obtain optimal performance. Enterprise often fail to manage their newly virtualized environment due to lack of technical knowledge and experience. WHITEPAPER | 7

8. Designing End-User Experience for Workplace of the Future Day 2 (post deployment) services are therefore critical dimensions in implementation of solutions. This include the need for proper and comprehensive monitoring with appropriate analytics and dashboards offering an integrated view of methods/platforms are often unsuitable to offer the kind of monitoring and holistic view of the environment that virtualized environments require. Typically, Day 2 servicesshould ensure that: systems. Traditional monitoring It is time for enterprises to adapt their EUC architecture to address the needs of their end-users while at the same time ensures secure access to data and applications. ▪ End-user experience in accessing applications through virtual terminal are superior. ▪ Proactive monitoring of end-to-end infrastructure which reflects end-user performance metrics. ▪ Problems are quickly isolated, preferably in anticipation of any adverse impacton the end-user. ▪ SLAs focused on end user performance are established and adhered to. Precious IT resources of the enterprise are released to focus on other importantbusinesspriorities. ▪ Hybrid skills of all aspects of technology (desktop, network, server, storage,virtualization)to be available to supportVDI platform. ▪ An environment is created that enables the virtualization footprint to be expanded swiftly if required. ▪ Centralized control on the change management with security and complianceat the highest focus. ▪ Operational governance model focusing on establishing greater end-user experience. Conclusion Desktop virtualization is no longer just a cost saving opportunity over hardware refreshes but is gaining importance in accelerating enterprise digital transformation by enabling digital workplace. With the increase in number of smart devices, delivering seamless experience for end-users when accessing enterprise applications, business data and productivity tools are both complicated and challenging for IT teams. It is time for enterprises to adapt their EUC architecture to address the needs of their end-users while at the same time ensures secure access to data and applications. Most organizations that have adopted virtualization technologies are already reaping the benefits of enhanced employee productivity, increased operational efficiency, higher business performance and creating impactful customer experiences along their digital journey. As Cloud adoption gains momentum, the focus on user-centric approach in order to deliver exceptional end-user experience will become more critical for the success of workplaceof the future. WHITEPAPER | 8

9. About Anunta Anunta® is a recognized specialist in cloud and desktop virtualization technologies, managing over 77,000+ endpoints across 100,000+ users globally. We deliver unmatched end user experience with 99.98% application delivery in a computing environment to today’s workforce with anytime, any device and anywhere access. Our solutions simplify IT and maximize performance and availability of data and applications at the user end, at an optimum cost. We have always been at the cutting edge of technology in the End User Computing (EUC) space offering operational flexibility and customization in delivering unmatched end-user experiences. Anunta is a Red HerringTop 100 Globalcompany and is ISO 20000 certified for ITSM and ISO 27001 certified for ISMS.

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