The IT Manager story
My Situation
My IT budgets are being cut, yet my organization is expecting more from my IT services department; the users are becoming more demanding, there is more diversity within the environment, and we as IT professionals are expected to deliver a consistent and high-quality service with limited resources.
My IT support desks are inundated with help desk requests from users requiring access to new applications, printers, services or systems, increasingly from their own personal devices. In addition, the same IT personnel are also plagued with support calls from users who have rendered their desktop unusable and require troubleshooting and remediation assistance.
The Solution
AppSense User Virtualization simplifies our desktop management efforts and reduces my IT department’s workload, improving the service we provide and, ultimately, the end-user experience. Through user virtualization, we are also able to reduce operational costs and accelerate our key desktop transformation projects.
Striking the perfect balance
Many organizations try to implement a locked down user environment, as this yields the lowest theoretical desktop total cost of ownership. However, I don’t operate in the theoretical world. I operate in the real world, where a locked down approach is far too restrictive for my users. Without some degree of flexibility, users will log additional support calls torequest applications, peripherals, or even to perform standard daily tasks like wireless network connection and date/time configuration which are prohibited under a locked down approach.
AppSense user virtualization enables us to employ a tightly controlled desktop while giving users a reasonable amount of flexibility to personalize their work environment for maximum productivity. We can even selectively elevate their administrative rights where it makes business sense without giving up the control we need to deliver a high level of support. The AppSense User Virtualization solution achieves this by dynamically allowing the user to perform nominated tasks and actions they require to fulfil their working role. In addition, by managing the user separately from the desktop, we can now seamlessly adopt new platforms, delivery mechanisms and devices – safe in the knowledge that the desktop will be configured and personalized for the user.
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