With the growing global impact of COVID-19, many organizations have encountered new government requirements for employees to work from home. The urgency of these mandates has challenged companies to quickly empower all employees, contractors and partners to perform effectively and work collaboratively from remote locations. Many tools can address this challenge on company-owned equipment. But how can businesses without the logistical infrastructure in place quickly enable remote work if they’ve not previously equipped employees with a laptop?
Remote desktop solutions such as Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) are a good consideration when individuals don’t have an employer-issued laptop. Using VDI, companies can extend a “Cloud Ecosystem” that offers an additional 500 – 10,000 desktops globally and within very short timeframe.
We have experienced this velocity and scalability using our virtuadesk BCP Solution, which is based on VDIs in the Cloud. Within three to five days, companies can complete the first emergency setup for up to 500 users, with an additional 1,000 users coming online every day after that.
It’s important during this setup to enable and scale it in phases, prioritizing the critical functions, roles, regions and other considerations required by the business. Wipro can provide the required Citrix licenses, integration with the existing Citrix control plane, and enterprise services. All the business needs to provide are its license / subscriptions for Windows 7 / Windows 10, Azure and Office365. With that information, Wipro can take charge of all necessary setup, configurations and integrations to the remote workforce up and running.
The deployment approach can be fine-tuned depending on whether the company has an existing VDI environment.
If there is no existing VDI, the process involves:
- Creating a new control plan using Citrix Cloud or Microsoft WVD
- Leveraging the company’s Enterprise Azure subscription
- Leveraging the company’s existing Windows OS Image (Windows 7 or Windows 10)
- Taking six to eight weeks for a strategic BCP setup
- An interim setup can also be taken to deliver VDIs within 15-20 business days to cater to users prioritized by region and/or business criticality
If there is an existing VDI available, the process involves:
- Leveraging the company’s current VDI Control Plane and Enterprise Azure subscription
- Leveraging the company’s existing Windows OS Image (Windows 7 or Windows 10)
- Implementing an on-demand support model for users to raise tickets and/or support requests
- Taking four weeks for a strategic BCP setup
- An interim setup can also be taken on a war footing to deliver VDIs within three to five business days to cater to users prioritized by region and/or business criticality
The need to enable remote work and deploy the necessary infrastructure can seem daunting, but it doesn’t need to be. Leveraging VDI can bring 500 users online in three to five days, with up to 1,000 users coming online every day after that. It also offers enterprise-grade security for protection against data loss. Finally, it has proven to be a cost-effective solution, which is a key consideration for businesses seeking a sustainable long-term remote-working solution.
