In this series of articles we’ll look at three of the Azure Virtual Desktop migrations we’ve delivered to our clients, exploring the different reasons organisations are turning to the platform and the business benefits being realised as a result.

2. Supporting business innovation and growth with Azure Virtual Desktop

Navigating the route to cloud

Modern businesses are becoming more in tune with the need to optimise their environment. For many, the realisation is dawning that a single data centre model isn’t necessarily best for their business, and so they are turning to cloud solutions. We were approached by an insurance company that had come to just that conclusion in relation to their existing virtual desktop solution.

Chief among their challenges with the data centre environment were limitations around how quickly the company could react to changes in their business. The administration had become a burden for the IT team as they experienced a period of rapid growth. In addition, they had also witnessed mounting costs and were seeking opportunities to optimise.

The difficulty was that although the company had realised their existing environment wasn’t working for them, they needed guidance in finding the right way forward. Moving to the cloud is a great option for many organisations, but it’s not without its own challenges and complications. If you’re new to the cloud, it can be difficult to navigate your onward route – and that’s where the help of an expert partner like Atech can make all the difference.

Our client was seeking recommendations and advice on how to optimise their environment – and it was our approach that drew them to Atech. We work hard not only to listen to what our customers ask us for, but to assess whether the solutions actually fit their needs, or if we can provide alternative recommendations or additional options.

It was out of these conversations with the customer that Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) emerged as a potential solution. Based on the challenges outlined, we knew the platform had several benefits that would enhance their transformation plans.

Starters, leavers and movers

Limitations around speed and scalability with the company’s existing virtual desktop solution meant the technology simply wasn’t keeping up with their needs. Business growth was occurring both organically and also due to an extensive acquisition strategy. As they took on new businesses, our client needed to be able to quickly onboard new starters, or move people between different parts of the whole organisation.

A key benefit of Azure Virtual Desktop is that it can be deployed to new users remotely in a matter of minutes. Configuring individual desktops from one central location, IT teams can quickly onboard new starters whether they are on company devices or using their own, whether they are in the offices or working from home – all that is needed is an internet connection. For our client, this saved the IT team countless hours of set-up, and removed complications around getting devices to users in several different locations.

Because of multiple acquisitions, there was also a necessity to move employees between different parts of the business, thus changing their roles. With AVD, the IT team are quickly able to reconfigure desktops to adjust tools, software, access or amount of compute – either on an individual or departmental basis. This was exactly the kind of flexibility our client needed as rapid shifts occurred in the workforce.

Our client could also be confident that as these changes were occurring, users and company data were secure. For a highly regulated industry such as insurance, security and compliance are paramount – so this was a big draw for them in choosing AVD. With the integration of Azure Active Directory (AAD), AVD offers single sign-on alongside multi-factor authentication, protecting users from 99.9% of cyber attacks. Crucially for our customer, they have the ability to define conditional access policies so that the right people have access to the resources and data they need – and nothing that they don’t.

A partner for your move to AVD

Are you considering moving to AVD? Perhaps you’re also experiencing frustrations around the best way to get started, which features to deploy or how to manage the transition? We’ve been working with virtual desktop technology since its inception and we’re happy to help with guidance and to do the heavy lifting for you. Like the example above, each of our customers has a unique reason to turn to the platform, and we’ll always listen to yours to make sure any recommendations we provide are the perfect fit for your business. So why not start a conversation with us today?