Digitalization has lately advanced in leaps and bounds, not least due to Covid-19. Local government agencies in particular are facing huge challenges as a result. And it is these challenges that regio iT has set itself the task of overcoming.
One thing has become abundantly clear over the past year: The level of digitalization in public agencies and schools leaves a lot to be desired. In response, Aachen-based IT service provider regio iT decided together with its partner PROFI AG to help these organizations go digital and migrate to modern work models. A sustainable platform based on a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) lays the foundation. The aim now is for the public sector, utilities, waste management groups and educational institutions to at last find their feet in the digital world, helping them master digitalization challenges such as e‑learning and compliance with Germany’s Online Access Act.
Unusual measures demand out-of-the-box thinking
Ever fiercer competition, a hugely volatile market and an endless stream of new regulations and requirements are just some of the obstacles confronting public sector agencies and educational institutions in Germany today. The root of the problem is the need for innovative IT solutions that go beyond established standard IT services. Especially in schools, it has become painfully obvious how far education lags behind: To minimize the risk of infection, schools were forced to close more or less overnight. Obviously, though, tuition needed to continue despite these strange and unfamiliar circumstances. And in theory, the solution looked relatively simple and straightforward: Classes would meet virtually via online platforms, allowing lessons to proceed more or less as normal. In practice, however, the opposite was true: Educational institutions found that their installed digital base was not dimensioned for this kind of ad-hoc shift. Tuition by video, e‑learning platforms, mobile devices for teachers and pupils alike: Everything was available only in a very rudimentary form, not to mention concerns about privacy and data protection. Which is precisely where regio iT comes in: In the education space, it is well prepared for the future with a strong focus on modern e‑learning platforms. That in turn, however, presupposes a leading-edge IT platform. The answer to the problem? regio iT has the right information technology for every form of school and is developing customized software solutions to meet every requirement.
Virtual desktops – The key to work in the modern world
VMware Horizon® turned out to be the ideal platform to help regio iT tackle these issues and set up digital workspaces. The fact that the service provider also uses this virtual desktop solution for itself shows how impressed it is by VMware’s products. “Within the company, we work with the same solutions we offer to our customers,” stresses Klaus Fetzer, CIO and Technical Director at regio iT. “That’s why we deployed and tested the VDI based on VMware Horizon at an early stage. We have thus accumulated a wealth of experience that now helps us convince our customers.” While virtual desktops can be scaled via a central management layer, VMware Horizon also supports the principle of “bringing your own device”, as Oliver Hell, Product Manager at regio iT, puts it: “The VDI solution gives me secure access to any application from any device and from any place.” Until recently, this innovative approach would still have been completely unthinkable.
The future of work is mobile
The company’s investment in VMware Horizon marks a milestone! Thanks to the VDI solution, regio iT has been able to firmly anchor the increasingly important topic of modern workspaces in a sector that, in the past, still clung to traditional and obsolete work models. In so doing, it has prepared the ground for a future in which mobile work shows the way forward.
