2010 Prediction: Bob Janssen, RES Software

Keys to Success for Desktop Projects in 2010

History has proven that IT can expect a major desktop infrastructure change every three to five years. These changes are typically marked by the introduction of a new operating system or delivery technology. As we head into 2010, two major shifts are quickly taking place at today’s organizations – Windows 7 migrations and/or the move to a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). If not managed effectively, these changes can have serious implications for the organization especially at the desktop layer. There is potential for negative impacts on employee productivity and satisfaction as well as significant strains on IT resources in terms of time and money spent managing these transitions.

As IT begins planning for these major changes, there are also tools they can employ to help accomplish these goals more quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively, specifically sophisticated user workspace management technology. User workspace management enables the transformation of the traditional desktop into dynamic user workspaces that provide users with access to their applications, printing, data and personal settings based on the context of the user.

The following will highlight key areas for any major desktop change and will explain how these factors will make the difference in managing the major desktop change.

User Workspace Management As a Prerequisite

With the right user workspace management solution, organizations can make the process of migrating their desktop infrastructures much more seamless. This type of solution helps organizations automate the desktop management process which means IT does not have continually make the same changes over and over again during a migration. IT has the ability to build a new form of management that requires minimal oversight and maintenance, saving them a significant amount of time. In assessing these solutions, there are several key capabilities an organization should look for to ensure they are able to truly transform their current desktops into the dynamic workspaces their end users need.

Context-Awareness: Context-aware, or user-centric, capabilities are critical in building a dynamic user workspace independent of the delivery platform, device, time, identity or location. These identifying factors are assessed at logon and used to compose the user workspace with each user’s specific applications, printing, data and user settings, ensuring uninterrupted user productivity on the desktop.

Independent User Workspaces: A workspace management solution should also have the ability to dynamically compose the user workspace (desktop) independent from the Windows operating system. By separating the two, IT can automate the dynamic composition and management of user workspaces for their desktop populations.  This is a critical factor in driving the context-aware, user-centric delivery of access to applications and data.

User-Centric Security: Today’s users are working from multiple desktops, both in and out of the corporate network. As a result, it can become difficult to offer them all the desktop settings they need without comprising network security when they aren’t at their home station. With a user-centric approach to security, organizations can customize a host of security policies that take into account who the user is, where they are, what department they are in, what time it is, etc. This ensures on-demand availability of the right services to end users, without compromising the necessary overall organizational security protocols.