Reviewing your Virtual Desktop Solution? How to know if you should refresh, replace or retire your current solution.

By Daniel Almond

More organisations are turning to modern workplace technologies to keep up with the changing needs of their users. A combination of Windows 11, Microsoft Intune and the latest in laptops and mobile devices is helping improve productivity while streamlining IT management. That said, virtual desktops still make sense for certain use cases, offering a practical solution for some businesses. 

Common use cases we see for utilising virtual desktop technologies include: 

• Developers 

• Contractors 

• External Parties 

• Mergers & Acquisitions / MOG 

• Hybrid Users / Remote 

Citrix has traditionally been the market leader in Desktop and Application virtualisation. Deptive has been a Citrix Platinum Partner and Microsoft Solutions Partner for over 10 years, and we continue to design, build and support Citrix Platforms for many customers globally. However, the emergence of the Cloud PC from Microsoft Windows 365 (W365) and Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) provides organisations with alternative solutions to Citrix. W365 and AVD are Cloud-only virtual desktop and application solutions. This means that to utilise a Microsoft virtual desktop solution, your applications must also be in the Cloud or are proven to work from their on-premise data centre, connecting to a Microsoft virtual desktop hosted in an Azure location. 

A key to any virtual desktop solution is having the applications and data a user needs as close as possible to the user’s desktop. If applications and data are connected over high latency WAN connections, performance is often greatly affected, resulting in a poor user experience and an increase in IT support demands.  

There are a number of factors to consider when choosing what virtual desktop solution best fits your organisational requirements. The following summary gives a high-level overview of the key features and aspects to consider when deciding between a Citrix and a Microsoft solution. 

Microsoft Cloud PC solutions provide easy deployment, ability to scale and seamless integration into the Microsoft ecosystem. However, consideration needs to be taken on your application and data requirements and crunching the financial numbers on what your Azure costs will be once a Cloud PC solution is deployed. With Citrix, a 3-year minimum subscription is required for a minimum of 200 users which also needs careful consideration.  

At Deptive, we identify what virtual desktop technology is the best fit for our customers by starting with their virtual desktop use cases. We profile the user’s security, access, application and desktop requirements and categorise these into user personas. Once we identify the key user personas (typically, we aim for no more than 3 or 4), we analyse the persona requirements while aligning to the customer’s business strategy against the available virtual desktop technologies. We then review this information with the customer, agreeing on the most aligned virtual desktop solution that meets their requirements. 

If you would like to discuss how best to deliver your applications and data securely to your users with a great user experience, get in touch. We are Microsoft Intune and all things virtual desktop specialists and can fast-track your adoption to a modern workplace.