5/24/2006 — If managing your remote offices is a struggle, you’re not alone. It’s one of the most common problems organizations face. And it can be one of the most expensive. Chances are, a large chunk of your IT budget goes toward managing what happens outside of your walls.

But for all that money, your remote office strategy may be less than ideal. Forrester Research reports that “well-managed environments with really efficient architectures are the exception” rather than the norm.

How can your company be one of those well-managed exceptions? Step back and evaluate your strategy with new eyes. Taking a page from Forrester Research, we provide a game plan.

Break it Down—Five Questions to Address
To determine how well your company is meeting the challenge of remote office operations, break down your strategy into these five areas identified by Forrester Research.

1. Application presentation
   How do you provide access to line-of-business applications?

2. Data access and backup
   What’s the best method for remote offices to access enterprise data?

3. Network access
   Is your traffic flow seamless, secure and fast?

4. Systems management
   Do you have a solid solution for managing servers and client devices?

5. Security
   How well are you protecting your local data and network?

Better Server and Client Management
Of the five areas mentioned, systems management is a key area for shaving expenses and optimizing. Management of remote servers is a major cost factor. The good news, according to Forrester, is that server management tools have become more comprehensive, including an entire stack of capabilities, along with hands-off remote management:

• Server management—health monitoring and alerting
• Software distribution—OS, application and patching
• Basic client management—remote control and help desk

Triple Your Server-to-Administrator Ratio
The payback for better server management is dramatic. “Users of various server management offerings have reported easily doubling or tripling the server-to-administrator ratio,” according to Forrester.

Rapid application deployment, user experience configuration, systems monitoring and analysis, and integrated end-to-end access control and management all enable IT to control and support more aspects of remote office connectivity with existing IT resources.

Bundle Up with Citrix
Think of the Citrix Access Suite as your one-stop shop for remote office connectivity and management. With the Suite, you’ll increase the speed and decrease the cost of distributing, managing and supporting applications and IT services to remote users.

The Access Suite consolidates application and information services and enables their delivery from a centralized data center to remote offices and ad-hoc sites. It integrates three Citrix products into one solution for deploying applications, connecting remote offices, and securing, managing and supporting access in any user scenario.

• Citrix Presentation Server
• Citrix Password Manager
• Citrix Access Gateway

Remote office access is controlled, managed and proactively monitored through the integrated Access Management Console, and help desk calls are quickly and cost-effectively resolved with remote help tools.

Beyond Server Management
In addition to its strong server management capabilities, the Citrix Access Suite provides top-notch application presentation and data access, as well as fast, easy, secure connectivity.

• Application Virtualization—Citrix application and desktop virtualization technology enables the delivery of new applications and application upgrades to remote offices in seconds without the need to manually touch or upgrade user systems. In fact, virtualization is proven to decrease the cost of application deployment, management and support by 40 percent or more.

• Password Management—You’ll simplify user access, improve overall application security and comply with regulations using the fastest-growing password management technology on the market today. Optimizing password management can decrease help desk costs by 20 percent or more.

• Virtual Private Network (VPN)—Enable remote users to connect to application and information services securely through any number of IT-configurable access interfaces using the best-selling SSL VPN product on the market. SSL VPN technology decreases the cost of connecting remote users by providing a simpler user experience, decreasing support calls and enabling a more effective use of the public infrastructure than with first-generation IPSec VPN technology.

Click the link for a wealth of information from Forrester on managing your remote office connectivity.