Changing times of End User Computing, have you lost control?

I pinched the idea for the sketch below from some of VMware’s presentations that I have seen, for me this really brings home why we need to change the way we have been managing are desktops and ensure we have not got just a desktop strategy but an end user computing strategy. Many would have you believe that the way forward is VDI, but VDI is simply one option for delivering a desktop and realistically not the right single answer for a whole end user computing strategy. 

By understanding the customers requirements there will usually be a hybrid approach to the way we deliver desktops across a business, but we need to ensure that there is commonality from a users perspective as too how they access their desktops, data and applications. Most importantly we need to enable our users to work in the best way for them, whilst still maintaing control of business data and assets. For example if we don’t enable our staff to work from home or work from personal devices such as tablets, it is likely they will find a way to do it and IT will have lost the ability to manage and protect the data. 

I am not naive enough to think that VMware is the only company that is aware of the issues facing our IT Teams and delivering the solutions, but from personal experience with VMware acquisitions in this space I am seeing how their Horizon stack can actually deliver not just a VDI strategy but a top to bottom end user computing strategy across multiple devices, in multiple locations. As mobile devices are taking a greater significants in our working day I am looking forward to understanding Airwatch further and also future planned integrations with Horizon.