Here we are at the end of another summer. This year looked a lot different from Summer 2019. As we continue our adjustment to changes in our home and work environments, we’re finding new ways of getting things done. We’re becoming more efficient and productive. We’re adapting.

As we’ve talked to our customers about their shifting priorities, we keep hearing some of the same responses. While many of their priorities are largely the same, the acceleration and speed at which they adopt new technology has increased. There’s greater urgency. The following data from Forrester Research illustrates this point.

This is where Citrix Workspace can help. The top six IT priorities for 2020, during the pandemic, are all challenges that Citrix Workspace can help you to solve. With Citrix Workspace, customers can leverage all the benefits of cloud technology to improve security, increase remote worker visibility, and replace and/or improve dated technology, all while delivering a consistent, intelligent employee experience for all workers, regardless of their work location.

In August, we continued to add value to our Workspace service offerings with new features and packages.

Let’s start with the latest in our Workspace access control feature set:

  • SAML authentication support for web apps, currently in Tech Preview, provides more flexibility for our customers and a better access experience for users.
  • New role-based access control provides different levels of access and security based on user group.
  • App protection features, preventing screen capture and key stroke logging, now operate with web and SaaS apps, providing consistent security practices across all application types. Check out the Citrix Tech Zone for more information on App Protection policies.

New features for our intelligent Workspace experience include:

  • The on-prem connector for the Microapps service, which previously connected to cloud apps only, can now connect to on-prem enterprise apps. The example below shows how easy it can be to connect an on-prem application, in this case JIRA, to the Citrix Workspace Microapps service.

  • Webhooks/Push API for microapp integrations act as a “listening” feature that provides a near real-time experience for getting up-to-date information pushed out from the systems-of-record vendor to Citrix Workspace end user.
  • Microsoft Teams integration, providing the ability to share cards directly from the intelligent workspace feed, is in private Tech Preview. Contact your Citrix sales representative to learn more.
  • We have a new exciting back-to-office solution built on our Microapps service. It provides templated microapps for specific use cases required for an organized and safe return-to-office strategy. Uses cases include facilities feedback, crisis communication, employee NPS surveys, and COVID self-certified health checks for safety compliance.

For Citrix Endpoint Management, we’ve got some compelling new features for August:

A new public Tech Preview of Global App Configuration is available that provides a streamlined enrollment experience that only requires the user’s email address and password. Plus, it allows IT to centrally figure Citrix Workspace app settings across all device platforms. This helps to deliver a great user experience, particularly for those who are not joined to the corporate domain and are using a BYOD device.

For Citrix Content Collaboration, we’re now able to offer more flexibility for customers who want to build their own workspace one service at a time.

We’ve seen a growing number of customers who want to add electronic signature capabilities to their Citrix environment. Our Citrix Content Collaboration solutions now support a new version called Content Collaboration Workflows, which adds electronic signature capabilities to your existing Citrix environment.

And finally, some great updates to our Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service offerings.

We now have a public Tech Preview of an Automated Configuration tool. This tool is designed to help automate the process of moving your on-prem Citrix resources to Citrix Cloud (Workspace). Proof of concept documentation for this is available in the Citrix Tech Zone.

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service also now supports VMCloud workloads running on AWS, giving our customers even more flexibility.

We’ve also added two new Citrix Apps and Desktops service offerings. Before, we offered Premium versions of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops and Virtual Apps in the cloud. Now, we’ve Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops Advanced service and Citrix Virtual Apps Advanced service. If you currently have a Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops Advanced on-prem deployment, you can now transition to the cloud with a lower cost like-for-like transition.

Be sure to check out the 4 reasons to move to Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service.

As a reminder, Citrix has chosen to end the availability of perpetual licenses for our on-premises digital workspace solutions effective October 1, 2020. The full list of products and timelines are available here. As an alternative to perpetual licenses, we’ve made all our on-premises and cloud service Citrix Workspace solutions available in a subscription model.

Please note that there are no changes to the on-going availability of Customer Success services as part of this announcement. All customers who own perpetual licenses today or purchase additional perpetual licenses before October 1, 2020 can continue to renew maintenance — Customer Success service — on their existing licenses today and in the future.

See you next month for another What’s New with Citrix Workspace update.