In the year since the coronavirus pandemic turned the world upside down, technology companies have had to adapt to meet changing global needs. Remote work now is seen as the norm. Employees have become more discerning, wanting options that enable them to balance work, life, and good health. Hybrid work models are coming into play as offices slowly open back up again.

Citrix is no different — for us, there is no “business as usual” anymore. It’s business that morphs on a week-to-week basis to meet new challenges. However, our drive remains as strong today as it was before the pandemic.

We’re in it for the long haul. We continue to make the employee experience better and more productive for workers and the IT management process more automated, seamless and intuitive for the  IT teams that manage digital infrastructure. With each month that goes by, we find new ways to bring innovations to market to reach those goals.

With that in mind, let’s look at what’s new for Q2, starting with SSO and SaaS/web apps.

Citrix Endpoint Management Service Now Includes SSO to SaaS/Web Apps

The Citrix Endpoint Management service now provides additional value because of the inclusion of single sign-on (SSO) to SaaS and web applications for all device types. SSO to SaaS/web applications from Citrix is a unified experience for workers who prefer a hybrid-work model that includes some remote work and some time spent in offices. Now, these hybrid workers can access all of their apps, including virtualized, SaaS/web, mobile, and internal web apps.

The Citrix implementation of SSO to SaaS/web adheres to zero trust network access (ZTNA) principles. It includes multi-factor authentication (MFA), identity provider integrations, and SAML 2.0 support.

Additionally, Citrix Endpoint Management with SSO to SaaS/web empowers customers to deliver secure applications without the requirement for VPNs.

Traditional VPNs have three key shortcomings:

  • Security: VPNs require IT to provide remote workers with network layer access inside the corporate firewall. Opening up ports on the firewall for remote VPNs creates unnecessary security risks, exposing internal resources to vulnerable endpoint devices.
  • Performance: From remote user endpoints, VPNs tunnel corporate application data back through the firewall and datacenter. This inefficient flow of data creates bandwidth concerns and bottlenecks at the datacenter.
  • Scalability: VPNs are difficult and time-consuming to scale. Adding capacity requires a forklift hardware upgrade or a drawn-out licensing procurement process.

VPN-less access from Citrix provides encrypted application layer access rather than network layer access. It keeps both the network and the endpoints secure. With support for SSO to SaaS/web, Citrix allows remote workers to authenticate and access SaaS/web applications directly, improving performance and avoiding congested corporate datacenters. Additionally, Citrix delivers a fully managed, globally available, cloud-based service that autoscales as demand increases. SSO to SaaS/web is now available for existing and new Citrix Endpoint Management service customers.

Learn more about Citrix SSO to SaaS/web with this demonstration video:

Centralize Workflows in the Workspace UI

In addition to enabling remote work from any location on any device using any application, Citrix enables you get digital approvals and electronic signatures on documents directly within Citrix Workspace. Via an integration with Citrix RightSignature and Citrix ShareFile, documents can be stored and users can collaborate on them within one unified space. This month, we’ve released some enhancements to the experience:

  • Workflow notifications within the Citrix Workspace feed: Through the Citrix Workspace notification feed, end users automatically get notified as to the status of a document workflow or the actions performed. These notifications are particularly helpful for use cases such as keeping users updated about contract closures, requests for signatures, document cancellations, or bounce-backs on items sent for approval.
  • Quick launch Citrix RightSignature: Now you can customize the Citrix Workspace experience to introduce shortcuts to Citrix RightSignature from the apps section. This enables the flexibility to consolidate the electronic signature workflow in the Workspace experience.
  • Multi-language support: The user interface supports seven languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Chinese and Japanese. You can find the legality of RightSignature in different countries here.

Read more and watch a quick demo to find out about more document workflows that can be achieved with Citrix Workspace

This screen shot shows a signature request notification in the Citrix Workspace feed. For more details on new features, check out this blog post.

Secure Collaboration

It’s critical to ensure that documents are only viewed by the intended recipient(s). With that in mind, Citrix has made it easier for end-users to select visibility controls during the file sharing process. Within Citrix Files, use the “get a link” feature, and select the “edit link” options to share anonymously or require log-in to view files.​ The new UI enables users to quickly select view settings such as who can access the link, when the link expires or how many times the viewer can access the file.

Easily share sensitive documents with external clients by using the “get a link” or “email with Citrix files” feature. Recipients defined as an external users will be directed to a client login page.​ When sharing files via a secure link, end users keep attachments out of the inbox, freeing up space. Users also are able to expire viewed links if they send a document to the wrong recipient.

To add to these new features for secure collaboration, consider one more thing. Citrix Analytics for Security provides new capabilities that protect your environment from employee attrition and unauthorized file sharing. Keep reading to learn more.

Citrix Analytics for Security – View-Only Sharing

Imagine this scenario: The top sales rep at your company is leaving to join your biggest competitor. Before leaving, the rep decides to get a head start at the new job. The person takes the customer list, your pricing, contract terms, road map, and other trade secrets by sharing those files to a personal email address.

Labor experts have coined the current state of the market as “The Great Resignation,” making this scenario likely across a host of different industries. As a result, many IT and security practitioners have searched for a solution to prevent these insider threats.

Citrix Analytics for Security leverages machine learning to detect this serious risk. One reliable indicator is excessive file sharing from Citrix Content Collaboration. Citrix Analytics for Security not only detects when this occurs but can also apply actions to safeguard your data.

A new release, view-only sharing, adds a new control for security teams. When implemented, user accounts with the excessive file sharing risk indicator will have all shared links automatically converted to view only. This prevents other users from downloading, copying, or printing files associated with the shared links.

As an additional safeguard, administrators can also manually convert shared links to read-only status through the “Share Links” dashboard.

With the release of view-only sharing, IT now has an added defense against insider threats.

New Branding Updates

With the new brand coming to life across the entire Citrix portfolio, it’s time unveil the new experience for the Citrix Cloud Admin Console. We are excited to announce that the new login page for the Citrix Cloud Admin Console now is available to all users at citrix.cloud.com and us.cloud.us. The new page maintains the functionality of the old page — just with a refreshed new look.

Until Next Time

As you can see, our technical experts are continually finding ways to enable you and your company to adapt to the evolving world around us. Please check citrix.com/blogs for the latest in updates and innovations. We’ll continue to share new product information with you as it is available!