Today’s workforce is mobile, collaborative, and always on. The modern employee expects to be able to access company resources from practically anywhere at any time. Architecture firms are not exempt from these expectations, as qualified Australian architects are currently in high demand, and firms must modernise their internal operations to attract and retain talent.
Cloud-based virtual desktop (VD) solutions make it possible for employees to work from home or the local coffee shop without sacrificing productivity, collaborative capabilities, or uptime. Azure Virtual Desktop is a leading VD solution, offering your entire team secure access to all the information and apps they need on their devices.
What is Azure Virtual Desktop?
Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) is a cloud-based virtualisation solution for virtual desktops and applications. It is a simple and secure virtual desktop infrastructure that your entire business will find easy to use. AVD provides an easy way to maintain your desktop image, users, and apps, without having to worry about managing resources like Remote Desktop Services (RDS) gateways, licensing, and load balancing.
AVD offers:
- Easy management
- Windows 10 multi session
- Microsoft 365 app optimisation
- RDS environment support
Enhanced data security
AVD is inherently more secure than conventional hardware-based desktops. It uses reverse connect transport to establish remote sessions, providing a more secure mechanism.
AVD is an ideal solution for firms that need to protect sensitive data, offering a variety of built-in security features including anti-malware and data loss prevention (DLP) tools. This increases the protection of sensitive data like design plans, client data, and financial information.Â
Further, as AVD is built on the same security as Microsoft Azure, it gives you access to robust security features like Microsoft Azure Information Protection, which can be used to classify and protect sensitive data.
Cost-effective
With an existing Microsoft 365 or Windows license, you can access AVD and only pay for the virtual servers that your VDs are on. This helps save on expensive infrastructure costs, physical office space, and additional hardware.
AVD also offers architecture firms the ability to scale as their needs grow, making it a flexible option that can be used as needed. Azure Virtual Desktop can also help your organisation save money by reducing unnecessary power consumption and administrative costs associated with traditional desktop deployments.
Using AVD is not only cost-effective for your firm, but also your employees; by investing in IT solutions for remote work environments, your employees will save money by reducing their work commute and buying lunch every day.Â
Easier collaboration and synchronised data
The ability to synchronise data between multiple people and locations greatly enhances the collaborative capabilities of an architecture firm – especially with over 40% of employed Australians preferring to work completely remotely. This also greatly benefits your firm as it allows you to access a wider pool of talent without being restricted by location.
With AVD, you can access your firm’s data from anywhere. Azure Virtual Desktop apps like the Microsoft 365 productivity suite and Outlook store your data in the cloud, allowing your architects to access it anywhere with an internet connection.Â
These capabilities make collaborating with clients and fellow architects easier than ever, with the ability to share documents, calendars, and task lists from anywhere, at any time. You can set permissions to determine who has access to what resources to remain compliant with company data privacy policies.Â
Ease of management
Traditional VD services have several elements that require you to manage; however, with AVD, you can offload most of the underlying infrastructure to Microsoft or a managed desktop provider, reducing the amount of overhead management needed to support your virtual desktop environment.
Microsoft or your managed VD provider will manage:
- Brokering
- Licensing
- Maintenance
- Network
- Servers/storage
- Hosting
You or your managed VD partner will only handle:
- Image management
- Entitlement
A managed desktop provider will host your AVD environment on their servers, and will manage the updates and maintenance of this setting. This way, you can ensure your security and compliance needs are being met.
Additionally, AVD is built to scale up and down, depending on the needs of your team, so you don’t have to worry about maintaining a consistent number of systems.Â
Get started with AVD the easy way
A virtual desktop is not simply an optional extra – it’s an opportunity to realise multiple benefits, including increased collaboration and independence, increased security, improved employee satisfaction, and more. AVD is the easiest solution to manage and integrate into your existing IT infrastructure while providing the most value to your firm.
The Microsoft Azure VD consultants at Steadfast Solutions have all the experience and expertise you need to streamline the move to a virtual desktop environment, and can manage your entire setting as you need.
