Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) is a technology that helps an organization prevent cyber attackers from accessing data through employees’ endpoints. It provides an avenue where companies can actively monitor employees and simultaneously protect them.
Nevertheless, many challenges are associated with this technology, and sometimes organizations look out for a VDI alternative. This article will guide you through some challenges an organization should expect if they use VDI for a secure remote workforce.
What is a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)?
A virtual desktop infrastructure is a technology that allows employees to use a preconfigured image of an operating system remotely, so long as their device is compatible. So instead of a company buying or providing laptops or similar devices to their employees, they host an operating system in centralized servers, from which employees can access all the work resources.
Virtual desktop infrastructures were created for security reasons, mainly preventing cybercriminals from accessing the company’s data. With VDI, the employees of an organization can securely work on any resources or data without any fear of mixing it up with their own. Moreover, any data or resources provided in a VDI are closely monitored by an organization for more secure operations. Nevertheless, there are common challenges an organization will face, assuming they use VDI to provide a safe environment for their remote workers.
Challenges Faced By VDI for a Secure Remote Workforce
Below are some challenges organizations and employees face while using a virtual desktop infrastructure for secure remote working.
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Compatibility Problems
One of the biggest issues faced by using virtual desktop infrastructure in an organization is compatibility issues. The compatibility issue with VDI on remote workers is because of the importance of operating systems in the technology.
The two major operating systems organizations use for their work are either Windows or MacOS. Since VDI is built around an operating system, an employee using a MacOS device might face compatibility issues assuming the organization uses Windows.
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Learning and Training Issues
In most remote working settings, an employee receives instructions from the organization they are working for; they act on the instructions and submit results. Sometimes there may be meetings every now and then where discussions on the organization’s projects and plans take place. In most cases, the organization is not worried about the security on the remote workers’ side, so long as they perform well on their tasks.
So introducing virtual desktop infrastructure to such employees might take some learning and training for them to get used to it. Also, since learning is a step-by-step process, it can significantly reduce the productivity of such employees. This is because it will take them some time to adjust to a virtual desktop infrastructure fully. That’s why many organizations consider less tedious solutions like Venn to secure their remote workers; it is easy to adjust to them.
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High Network Latency
Network latencies are one of the issues faced with virtual desktop infrastructure, which can be frustrating. Network latency is the communication delay between the organization’s and employee’s network endpoints.
In simple terms, high network latency is an issue that employees face with using VDI, as the transmission of data from the organization’s endpoint to their device can experience lags. This often results in a massive reduction in productivity and reduces how much an employee achieves regularly. Moving ahead, an organization might need to provide massive network upgrades on their side and that of employees to make headway with network latency.
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User Experience Is Poor
The user experience when using virtual desktop infrastructures is very poor, especially when an employee use such a solution for the first time. For example, when employees use their physical desktop to work, it is significantly faster and increases productivity. Especially if the employee is using a high-end device, working on a physical desktop is very fast and flexible.
But this automatically changes when employees are introduced to new technologies such as the virtual desktop infrastructure. First, they need to learn how to use VDI and undergo a lot of training and practice to understand how it works. Secondly, the high network latencies and the issues they might have with storage workload provide a bad experience with VDI.
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High Cost of Setting Up The Technology
A glaring challenge with providing virtual desktop infrastructure for a secure remote workforce is the cost of setting up the technology. The amount of money an organization will spend is not limited to the software; they also need cutting-edge hardware to set it up. It can be crippling to use VDI, especially if the organization setting up this technology is small or medium.
The cost of setting up and the operational and maintenance cost of virtual desktop infrastructure is also huge. Many organizations prefer alternatives like Venn, which provides remote employees with high security without costing much.
Conclusion
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) is a solution that ensures the remote working environment is secure by providing the virtual version of operating systems. These virtual operating systems usually contain all the resources remote workers need.
However, an organization and its employees can face many problems using a virtual desktop infrastructure. Some of them include the issue of compatibility, where the operating system an organization uses will be different from that of employees. Other issues an organization and employee will have using VDI include high network latency, learning problems, poor user experience, and the massive cost of setting it up.
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