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What Desktop as a Service (DaaS) is and how Azure Virtual Desktop can help you organize your workplace

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To conduct business today, employees of any company need to be able to answer emails and work on projects with colleagues from any country and any device, whether they are at home, on the road or at the supermarket checkout.

The pandemic and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine have shown how flexible modern businesses have become, and no matter what countries the teams work in, each employee is able to successfully complete tasks if the processes are organized correctly.

However, many companies are still looking for answers to the issue of meeting the technology needs of hybrid or remote teams. The solution could be desktop as a service, also known as DaaS.

What is “Desktop as a Service” (DaaS)?

DaaS is a high-performance, secure, and cost-effective type of desktop virtualization. DaaS frees a company from having to tie its computer operating systems and software to any physical hardware.

Instead, businesses can use DaaS to access virtual desktops over the Internet from a cloud provider. Cloud providers offering this service distribute and manage virtual desktops from their own data centers.

DaaS versus on-premises software

DaaS solutions differ from on-premises software in many ways, the key ones being:

Cost

With DaaS, companies can avoid upfront purchases of hardware they think their employees will need, such as expensive desktops and laptops. Instead, companies pay cloud service providers only for the data, resources, and services they use.

Scalability

Cloud providers give companies the ability to use any number of desktops. This gives teams instant access to the exact number of desktops they need, anytime, anywhere.

Management

Cloud providers offering DaaS provide maintenance, storage, updates, backups, and other desktop management for companies that outsource these solutions. DaaS providers often manage the desktops, applications, and security of their customers.

Benefits of DaaS desktop virtualization

DaaS has numerous benefits: financial, performance-related and administrative. Let’s take a look at some of the main reasons why companies use this type of desktop virtualization.

  1. Ability to work remotely. Proliferation of hybrid and remote workspaces requires a different approach to accessing applications and data. With DaaS, IT teams can easily move data between different platforms, and users can easily access the data they need from multiple computers, wherever they work.
  2. BYOD support. In addition to freeing employees from physical offices, DaaS can free employees from working exclusively on company-issued devices or one specific device.
    DaaS makes it easier for IT teams to support bring-your-own-device, or BYOD, policies that allow employees to work on their phones, tablets, and laptops without sacrificing IT security.
  3. Simplified desktop management. For IT teams, Microsoft provides most settings out of the box, making it easier to deploy, configure, and manage virtual desktops. This reduces the administrative burden. The rapid increase or decrease in desktop, application, and data usage based on user needs also helps ease the burden on IT.
  4. Increased level of IT security. DaaS poses fewer security risks because the data resides in the cloud provider’s data center rather than on the laptops, tablets, and phones employees use.
    If a computer or device is lost or stolen, it can be easily disconnected from the cloud service and replaced with any other. At the same time, the company did not lose data, and the employee continued to work from the place where they finished working on the previous device.
  5. Reduced IT costs. DaaS solutions save businesses’ money by shifting IT costs away from traditional on-premises hardware and stock-bought software to on-demand cloud services and desktops.
    DaaS can run on devices that require far less processing power than a standard laptop or desktop computer, helping companies save money. Allowing employees to use their own devices also helps reduce hardware costs as well as reduce the burden on IT departments.
  6. Extending the life of obsolete machines. Companies that lack the funds to upgrade all of their obsolete machines can use DaaS to install a newer operating system. Serving a new operating system from the cloud is a more affordable option than replacing a whole fleet of on-premises hardware at once.

Azure Virtual Desktop — “Desktop as a Service” from Microsoft

Everything we wrote about previously has been implemented by Microsoft in Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD), formerly called Windows Virtual Desktop. Let’s look into it in more detail.
Azure Virtual Desktop is a desktop and software solution that enables remote workers to be productive, no matter where they are or what device they’re using.

Business benefits of Azure Virtual Desktop

  • Delivering desktops from Windows 10 and Windows 11 to any device, anywhere in the world. With AVD, employees get a solution that is fully optimized for Windows 10, Windows 11, and Microsoft 365 with multi-session capabilities.
  • Organization of security and compliance with the requirements of enterprise applications and data. Using strong Azure security features by default to mitigate potential risks and take corrective action.
  • Simplified deployment and management. The Azure portal allows you to configure network settings, add users, deploy desktops and applications, and enable security with just a few clicks. Citrix and VMware customers can also simplify the delivery of virtual desktops and applications using Azure.
  • Reducing costs with multi-session and available licenses. Cost optimization is achieved through the appropriate Microsoft 365 or Windows licenses already in use in the company. Multi-session support for Windows 10 and Windows 11 reduces infrastructure costs. The company only pays for what it uses.

SMART business’ experts can help you deploy Azure Virtual Desktop on a turnkey basis. Having experience in implementation, we will select the optimal parameters and settings specifically for the needs of your company.
If you have questions about the licenses required to deploy a solution, the cost of implementing Azure Virtual Desktop, or if you need advice or more information, please send your request to sales@smart-it.com. We are ready to help and will contact you to do that.

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