Scaling the Cloud Taking your remote workforce to a higher level of capability through virtual desktop infrastructure optimization.
There are several reasons for this inevitability, starting with the reality of the emerging digital world, where connecting from anywhere at any time is a fact of every day living in general. The focus of this article is to provide you with an introduction to how the American workforce—including the healthcare industry—is evolving and how it can leverage these multiple access points through a virtual desktop solution. A Place on the Map One of the most immediate benefits of VDI is that it secures PII and corporate data by providing secure access to corporate applications on many devices. It also scales easily to meet increased work-from-home needs. As a result, there is a growing recognition that an office is no longer only a place on the map. In other words, in reimagining the work environment, there is also the realization that coming together to share ideas and make business visions a reality does not require people to be in the same physical location. However, and as stated earlier, such accessibility does require employees to have the ability to communicate and collaborate quickly, conveniently, and securely. Regarding timely and reliable access, while there is no doubt that the technological capability exists to accomplish that objective, there is also a variety of challenges, including IT-related. Addressing and overcoming these challenges to mobilize a workforce regardless of industry sector is critical to not only “remote working” success, but the success in delivering a service or product through a highly motivated employee base. For example, and according to research, with a proactive digital workplace initiative, an employee is six times more likely to feel empowered in their job. As a result, there is a higher level of engagement, job satisfaction, and increased productivity that translates into bottom-line success. It is precisely at this point where a sound virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) strategy and solution comes into play.
Starting With the Right Strategy Let us review each of these.
Together, and in conjunction with your VDI solution partner, each of the above elements will enable you to establish a solid foundation for building a high-performing and secure remote working capability. When we talk about high performing, according to Global Workplace Analytics President Kate Lister, one of the world’s leading authorities on the future of work, a “typical employer can save about $11,000/year for every person who works remotely half of the time.”1 Lister then talks about how these savings were multiplied exponentially during the COVID-19 crisis. Because employees could work from home, U.S. employers were able to save “over $30 billion a day in what would have otherwise been lost productivity resulting from office closures.” To this point, we have been talking on a conceptual or strategic level. What does an “optimized” or best practice VDI solution look like in the real world? In the following section, we will consider three different case scenarios. A Healthy Connection At no other time has the importance of this commitment to finding new and effective ways of providing care been as critical as it is during the COVID-19 pandemic. While social distancing measures are the key to containing the spread and flattening the curve, said rules also mean that the provision of needed healthcare services must adapt to this new reality. Finding a way to meet the challenge of reducing risk and following best practices while continuing to provide treatment and support for all patient healthcare needs became a priority. Utilizing the above best practices framework for VDI optimization, 7,000 of the provider’s healthcare professionals were fully operational on a remote basis within a relatively short window of time. Within a month, it added another 5,000, bringing the total to 12,000 healthcare professionals who will be able to manage 1,500 patient calls each day. The impact of the pandemic also extended beyond the healthcare sector, as demonstrated by a global restaurant chain’s need to scale up its 700 employees worldwide to a remote working environment. Through their investment in VDI and cloud infrastructure, they were able to operate remotely and close the books on a pending quarter to ensure continuing compliance with their regulatory requirements. There is also the case of the international charitable organization being able to transition its large and diverse workforce of 13,000 employees to a cloud environment. While not in response to an acute crisis scenario, the needs of the charity were no less demanding than those of the healthcare provider and restaurant chain. In all three cases, and many similar ones, the same VDI framework proved to be equally effective. Looking Ahead On the surface, the above numbers may not seem significant. However, in a post-pandemic world, the expectation is that 25-30% of American employees who can work remotely will be “working-from-home multiple days a week by the end of 2021.” So, the question is simply this: Is your organization ready to make a move the virtual working world? Hopefully, this article has given you some much-needed insight into how the business world and American workforce is changing, and how VDI is helping to support its transformation. If you would like to learn more about remote workforce solutions, please contact me at kris.spindler@Lvs1.com or 303-910-1021.
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Kris Spindler is an experienced sales professional working in the information technology and services industry. Spindler is skilled in technology infrastructure, cloud and managed services, business planning, and digital transformation. For over 30 years, Spindler has helped organizations better understand how their technology investments can bring value to the business.