Organizations across the globe are ditching physical desktops for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). The US's VDI adoption rate is 62%, with 80% of Fortune 500 companies including VDI in their IT strategy. You see, standard PCs have inherent drawbacks, ranging from security to manageability, and flexibility that VDIs can remedy. VDI simplifies IT management, enhances data security, and improves users' flexibility.
1. Cost Savings
One of the major benefits of VDI is cost savings, and this happens in numerous ways;
- Reduce hardware costs: Purchasing and maintaining hardware is quite pricey for companies. Research shows that hardware accounts for 29-35% of IT budget allocation. With VDI, you use a data center's computing power and storage capability rather than buying expensive hardware and servers.
- Cut the cost of maintaining and updating equipment and software.
- Lessen the risk of costly data breaches by securing data in a data center. A data breach costs a business approximately $3.86 million.
- Support cost-efficient growth: VDI lowers acquisition costs by allowing centralized support and reducing the infrastructure needed to support a virtual workplace.
- Cut IT personnel costs: You don't need IT professionals to maintain and troubleshoot PCs at individual workstations.
- Reduce overhead: VDI allows employees to work remotely, which saves energy, hardware, and real estate. A virtual desktop is $330.76 less expensive than a physical one.
2. Simplified IT Management
Your organization also benefits from simplified IT management since all-things IT - systems, software, applications, and data are managed in a central location. As such, you can easily perform maintenance tasks such as updates, virus scans, backups, and system patches. For instance, when new versions of applications emerge, they can be added to a central desktop rather than installed and maintained on hundreds or thousands of end-user devices.
Also, end-users' work is not interrupted when applications are installed or updated because they don't have to move from their devices. Notably, when a user's device fails, their data is not lost because it is not stored in the device's hard drive. Also, they can get a new virtual machine in no time.
3. Support Remote Work
More and more employees prefer to work remotely. According to Global Workplace Analytics, 80% of employees would love to work remotely part-time. Also, 30% of people work remotely full-time, while 18% do so three times a week. VDI supports remote work by allowing employees to access the end-user interface regardless of their location and time. Remote workers can also use any device, ranging from laptops, tablets, phones, or Apple OS devices.
4. Increase Productivity
It is indisputable that VDI increases employee productivity. Here is how.
- The ability to work remotely saves commuting hours. Research reveals that in the US, workers spend 226 hours commuting every year. This is wasted time sitting on the train or waiting for the bus. With VDI, workers don't have to lose time commuting. They can log in to their laptop and start working, which increases productivity by a huge margin.
- Users don't spend much time downloading, installing, and updating software.
- IT professionals don't have to spend countless hours maintaining multiple end-users computers. Instead, they do it from a central location and can concentrate on more important tasks.
- Hardware and software failures do not affect employees' projects.
VDI is among the breakthrough technologies of the 21st century. It has numerous benefits for organizations, such as reducing costs, increasing productivity, supporting remote work, and simplifying IT management. VDI makes your business more efficient and profitable and ready to compete in the burgeoning market. ConnectWise is a remote support software for technology solution providers (TSPs). Contact us today for a free trial.
