Windows To Go

Most enterprises incur significant overhead and expense when provisioning contract workers with the computing resources they need to do the work they are contracted to do. In addition, network access and information rights become a large concern – balancing the productivity of the contract workers without compromising corporate network security. And the problems don’t stop there. Because this workforce is temporary in nature and ever changing, the need to be able to remotely manage or disable devices and data become an important component of risk management.<br />

Today, most enterprises offer employees some form of flexible work schedules —including either full or part-time work-from-home arrangements. But how do you do it? There is no budget to buy new PCs for teleworkers and as a result these workers are using their own computers as the primary tool for their work and network access. How can your help desk cope with hundreds or thousands of home computers with varying versions of operating systems and varying patch levels, running all of the different applications your employees and their families have installed, including very real threat of malware and viruses?

VDI applications extend the secured endpoint of the enterprise in an effort to reduce operating costs, provide users with wide choices of devices including their own computer platforms (BYOD/BYOC), operate seamlessly from their workplace of choice, whether it be from their home, at a WiFi hotspot, or a remote office location (BYON). Based on an application store executing in the corporate cloud, whether it be public or hybrid, VDI also promises to improve application performance, and enhance corporate security against malware and loss of sensitive data. Where the challenges of VDI Endpoints dramatically occur is in the BYOD/BYOC/BYON space, where uncontrolled computer platforms with varying level of security, patch implementation, and operational environments communicate openly over public networks with varying degrees of authentication and security functions.

Your company has older machines still in operation but they do not have the horsepower or memory to run new operating systems or applications efficiently. Until now, your only option was to buy new hardware and software, creating a huge budgetary mess and expense and sending hundreds of laptops and desktops to storage or landfill. Documented business cases have shown that an IT organization can save up to 75% in per-employee IT costs by issuing a hardware-encrypting Windows To Go live drive with repurposed older PCs and Macs and eliminate the need to purchase new laptops.<br />

Your organization allows employees to use their own computers at work to save money and get off of the PC upgrade wagon. According to a late 2014 survey by BMC, it is estimated that the average BYOD-carrying employee works an extra two hours and sends 20 more emails every day! This increase in employee productivity is complemented by the reduction in IT costs by not providing computers.<br /> But how do you enforce strong separation of personal and company information, prevent company data from leaking out through personal email accounts or social media, and ensure that terminated employees do not pass confidential information on to their new employers? And also how do you cost-effectively support these users with the necessary applications and network access while they are all running on different platforms? Equally important are the issues of security compliance in regulated industries with standards such as HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, and FDA 21 CFR 11.

There is no doubt, we now live in the Cloud! We rely on network access for most of our applications and documents. The ability to login in and be productive from virtually anywhere increases productivity and the convenience outweighs most of the risks. But there are very real risks and for certain documents the Cloud is not enough. DropBox, iCloud, Google and all Cloud-based solutions work hard to protect their data with varying forms of login authentication and “data at rest” protections…but it is not enough. Stored corporate data is at risk if the Cloud is part of the solution.