Mobile work styles are evolving rapidly, and IT departments are having to adapt to facilitate the expectations of increasingly mobile users, or deal with friction and unnecessary cost. Virtualisation can deliver enterprise applications without compromising control or security.
Sean Wainer, country manager for Citrix in SA, says the consumerisation of IT is promoting a completely new way of working, which offers valuable benefits to organisations able to deal with the challenges of the new paradigm.
“Mobile applications, and mobile devices, are a huge trend right now,” Wainer says. “Users are coming to expect the same access and the same experience, regardless of the device, or even the operating system, they are using.”
At the forefront of this wave is the move towards BYOD - bring your own device - which allows staff to choose their own mobile devices, such as Apple iPads, which are then configured to access enterprise applications.
“The younger generation of employees entering the workforce are increasingly assuming that their workplace will be mobile-friendly, with access to applications and services from whatever device they choose,” Wainer says. BYOD is becoming to be seen as a right, not a privilege, he notes.
But this laissez-faire approach to mobility puts pressure on organisations, which have built IT operations around tight controls.
“There's a three-way pull,” Wainer says. “Users want freedom and flexibility, the IT department wants control and power, and the finance department wants cost reduction and efficiency.”
Virtualisation provides a way to cut through this Gordian knot, and offers users the flexibility and mobility they crave, while maintaining full control of the IT operation.
Historically, virtualisation for end-users meant full desktop virtualisation, like thin client computing, but while that is a good solution for some specific cases, most of the time it is overkill, Wainer says. A better solution, in many cases, is simply to virtualise the specific applications each user requires, giving them access to the services and data they need.
“You can virtualise the full desktop for power users, but the cloud requirements are comparatively high - you might get 50 users on a server, but you'll pay a lot for the hardware and software. With shared desktops on a Windows 2008 server, you'll get far more users, and a much bigger cost saving. Go a step further and virtualise individual applications, and you can get many times more users sharing the same resource.”
Keeping enterprise data in the cloud has other benefits, notably around protecting valuable information. “Studies have shown that the value of a middle management laptop can average around $50 000,” Wainer says. “The cost of the hardware and software is minimal compared to the value of the data. Centralising the data, and ensuring it is protected against theft or accidental damage, is a major upside of cloud technologies.”
Providing cloud services under the auspices of corporate IT also avoids concerns around users self-provisioning. “Users want to share files, so they'll sign up for Dropbox or similar, but Dropbox is a corporate nightmare,” Wainer says. “There are data sovereignty questions about jurisdiction, encryption, access control... But block it, and they'll just sign up for something else. Instead, realise they want the facility and have a business need for it, and provide the service in a managed way.”
Citrix acquired ShareFile to offer this service to customers, one of several acquisitions it has made to bolster its suite in line with the developing expectations of mobile users. Other acquisitions include RingCube, which offers virtual desktop customisation, and the Expertcity range, which includes GoToMyPC, GoToMeeting and others.
Of course, remote applications require remote access, and that means bandwidth. But Wainer says his experience with local customers shows that connectivity concerns are often overstated. “People criticise bandwidth in South Africa, but in reality we have plenty of very good connectivity. We're seeing companies building infrastructure, which assumes continuous access - the true deployment of utility computing. Enterprise IT is being consumerised. We're working to make the transition between work and life as seamless as possible, to help individuals and companies get the best, most productive experience possible.”
The mobile workforce is delivering new levels of productivity, and the trend is accelerating, says Wainer, to the benefit of all concerned. “Soon, 'work from anywhere' will become the norm. The exceptions of the PC era will be the norm of the cloud era. Right now, it's the exception to work wirelessly wherever you are, or to buy single applications rather than whole productivity suites. But that's changing.”
iPad in Enterprise
Sean Wainer will be speaking at the “iPad in Enterprise” event, sponsored by Core Group. He will discuss the technologies and issues around application virtualisation, and how enterprises can empower tablet users with full access to enterprise applications and data. Other experts will discuss the trends driving BYOD usage and how this is empowering users in new ways, delving into the infrastructure, management and security requirements of these devices in an enterprise network, and exploring the ways in which enterprise applications can be extended and integrated to iPad users.
For more information about the event, which takes place on 31 July in Johannesburg, and on 2 August in Cape Town, click here.
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