E-BOOK

Why and when to use Citrix DaaS for Azure

Supporting the workforce used to be so straightforward. Employees worked at the office. Seasonal staff reported in-person. Contractors used IT-sanctioned software, and new teams were issued corporate devices immediately following a merger or acquisition. Most users were on the corporate network, and the few who weren’t relied on VPN when accessing sensitive data remotely.

Today, things look a lot different. More people are working from home than ever before, and many connect to public Wi-Fi on a regular basis. They use unsanctioned apps on corporate laptops, and access sanctioned ones on personal devices not managed by IT.

These remote work environments can be great for productivity. But without a way to streamline IT, they also create significant complexity. That’s where Citrix DaaS for Azure comes in.

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The many benefits of Azure DaaS

With Citrix desktop as a service solutions deployed on Microsoft Azure, organizations can support a wide variety of use cases by providing secure remote access to corporate apps and data—all while simplifying IT and lowering infrastructure and licensing costs. For example, you can:

Leverage existing datacenter investments alongside virtual machines with hybrid multi-cloud options.

Maintain a secure environment with adaptive security and performance settings—no manual updates and patches needed.

Meet emerging business needs in minutes or hours, instead of weeks or months, with cloud-based deployment tools.

Burst to the cloud as needed with flexible IT management.

Balance on-premises and cloud deployments to optimize operating expenses with dynamic workload management tools.

80
%

of businesses plan to embrace hybrid work models

52
%

of companies are increasing their use of interim workers

46
%

of organizations need company-wide disaster recovery plans

Citrix DaaS for Azure can help you open the door to new possibilities in each of these areas—and many more.

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3 common use cases for Citrix DaaS for Azure

Citrix DaaS for Azure can help you unleash a whole range of new possibilities for your business. But how can you know when the time is right? If any of the following scenarios sound familiar, that’s a strong indicator it may be time to consider desktop as a service solutions.

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1. You’re transitioning to a more flexible work model

The challenge: You need to support an increasingly hybrid workforce, with many employees spending some or most of their time working remotely.

With Citrix and Azure, you can: deliver a secure, consistent digital workspace experience to any device, on any network.

If your organization is in the midst of changing where, when, and how people work, you’re far from alone. Within just a few years, more than 90% of infrastructure and operations (I&O) organizations will have the majority of staff working remotely.1 And eight in ten companies across industries plan to embrace hybrid work to capitalize on the benefits it can drive.2

These flexible models can be a great way to attract talent, boost productivity, and gain a competitive edge. But the transition comes with its fair share of challenges, too. To be productive and engaged, your users need the same consistent experience no matter where they work or which devices and networks they’re using. And they need to be able to access digital resources without exposing your organization to increased cybersecurity risk.

With Citrix DaaS for Azure, you can give every user secure one-click access to apps and desktops from anywhere.

However, for the hybrid workforce in particular, there is one important consideration to keep in mind. Flexible work policies and hybrid schedules means users will frequently work on networks you have no control over. Slow connections, congested networks, and internet outages are all a very real possibility. And they can have a big impact on productivity and engagement.

With Citrix, you can make sure the experience is the same even in the presence of packet loss, high-latency, and jitter on broadband wireless and mobile networks. Exclusive HDX technology ensures crisp graphics and crystal-clear video even over challenging connections. Apps continue to load fast, and unified communications platforms like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Cisco Webex all perform without stops and starts. It all occurs within a secure virtual environment with zero trust security to continually verify and authenticate users. So sensitive data is protected, and employees have everything they need to be productive.

1Gartner 2Citrix

2. Your business is looking for ways to increase agility

The challenge: You need a more secure, simple way to support:

  • Temporary employees
  • Part-time employees
  • Newly acquired employees
  • Seasonal staff
  • Contractors

With Citrix and Azure, you can: get new users up and running within minutes, without adding extra costs or complexity.

When it comes to surviving and thriving, business agility is critical. After all, you can’t stay ahead of competitors when it takes weeks or months just to onboard new users—let alone provide a superior user experience. From contracting accountants during tax season to hiring extra help as needed, there are numerous instances where secure, seamless access to corporate resources is essential. More than half of surveyed companies are increasing their use of interim workers, and 40% plan to make temporary jobs a permanent part of their workforce models.3 For the typical enterprise, that represents hundreds or thousands of new technology users.

Factor in the complications that can occur during a merger or acquisition, and the number of users in need of fast access increases even more. Throughout each of these transitions, you need a way to rapidly provision cloud apps and desktops to contractors, seasonal workers, and newly acquired employees—without compromising security.

With Citrix DaaS for Azure, you can spin up dozens or hundreds of Azure desktops in a matter of minutes—and close them down when they’re no longer needed. You pay only for what you use, without having to worry about expensive hardware that sits idle during down times.

Better yet, hybrid multi-cloud deployment options let you leverage new cloud-hosted apps and desktops right alongside any on-premises workloads—all within the same management console. You can scale quickly to keep business moving forward, without the need for costly capital investments along the way.

3PeopleReady

3. You’re preparing for business continuity and disaster recovery

The challenge: You need to improve your business continuity and disaster recovery plans

With Citrix and Azure, you can: continuously protect against cybersecurity threats while allowing people to work where, when, and how they need to.

Power outages, political events, pandemics, inclement weather…these and other unplanned disruptions can hit at any time. And they can impact where, when and how work gets done—both suddenly and significantly. At the height of the global COVID-19 pandemic, for instance, 69% of employees worked from home4 (compared to just 6% before5). Yet only 12% of businesses were highly prepared for the impacts of coronavirus.6 And when it comes to disaster recovery, just 54% of organizations currently have a company-wide plan in place.7

If you’re looking for a way to address these challenges head on, Citrix DaaS for Azure can help. As part of business continuity and disaster recovery plans, Citrix lets you establish remote work as the norm—rather than the exception—so teams can continue business as usual in times of disruption. People will always have the resources they need to do their best work, no matter where it happens. And they’ll be able to do it without exposing your network to cybersecurity threats.

With options to add extra layers of security, you can reduce your attack surface and continuously protect against malware, ransomware, and other cybersecurity threats. For example:

  • Innovative keylogging and screenshot protection, as well as app session watermarking, can be used to prevent data loss.
  • Session recording can be used to intelligently record and play back user sessions for troubleshooting.
  • End-to-end analytics can be used to proactively detect and respond to unusual activities and anomalies.

In addition, Citrix Autoscale lets you intelligently power machines up or down based on load levels and scheduling—or prioritize on-premises resources and then burst to the cloud when needed for business continuity or disaster recovery. Together, these features ease the burden of supporting secure remote work in times of disruption.

4Global Workplace Analytics 5NCCI 6Gartner 7Security Magazine

WHITE PAPER

Citrix DaaS with Azure Virtual Desktop

See how much you can save (and gain) through a modern cloud deployment with Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service)

Read the white paper

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Getting started with Citrix and Azure

Whether you need to support an expanding hybrid workforce, plan for seasonal surges, or simply want to strengthen your business continuity and disaster recovery plans, Citrix and Microsoft can help. With Citrix DaaS for Azure, you can take advantage of the benefits outlined above—plus many more.