As an employee at VMware, I use my own digital workspace for access to my apps and data every day. Our internal IT staff has deployed VMware Workspace ONE to help deliver a secure digital workspace to tens of thousands of my colleagues, giving each of us access to our apps and data according to our roles. My digital workspace enables me to open a web browser or my Workspace ONE app from any of my devices and have single sign-on (SSO) access to all my apps, whether they are Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), web, mobile or Windows apps—even virtual desktops. For me, it’s a great user experience because I get instant access to my apps by using one-time credentials, such as my Active Directory username and password.
Recently, I took the train to travel into one of our remote offices. I needed access to my digital workspace, so I opened my laptop and connected to the train’s unsecure, public Wi-Fi network. This time, however, I was presented with a different screen when logging into my Workspace ONE instance, which asked me for my multi-factor authentication password instead of my Active Directory password. I went to my software token app on my phone, retrieved my token, typed it into my browser and got access to the apps that I needed.
This subtle change of automatically asking to authenticate using multi-factor authentication serves as an extra layer of security added by our IT team to reduce risk of data compromise across an unsecure, public Wi-Fi network. The best part is it doesn’t come at the cost of a bad user experience—a prime example of putting #EmployeesFirst without sacrificing security.
Organizations of all sizes need to consider securing their employees’ digital workspaces with simple user experiences. Data breaches can occur in numerous ways, oftentimes because of internal employees.
Current employees are estimated to be the source of 30% of data compromises.
—The Global State of Information Security® Survey 2018, PwC
Security and IT ops teams must be equipped with the right platform to deliver a consumer-simple experience that can also secure their entire end-user ecosystem. By leveraging the Workspace ONE platform, organizations can give end users simplicity and security, anytime, anywhere, to access all of their apps.
At its core, Workspace ONE is founded on identity management. It’s powered by VMware AirWatch unified endpoint management technology, which gives IT teams a single platform to manage end-user devices, such as iOS, Android, Windows 10, macOS, Chrome OS and rugged. When identity and endpoint management are combined, the unique integration of identity context and device compliance gives IT powerful, contextual control for access management, taking security to the next level.
That’s just one example of how Workspace ONE helps deliver a secure digital workspace. The platform has many more security features that are user-friendly, such as mobile SSO, enterprise secure productivity apps, data loss prevention across any endpoint and any app using one platform, desktop and application virtualization and seamless integration with next-generation network security solutions, such as VMware NSX. VMware’s broad ecosystem of security partners integrate with Workspace ONE to give customers a comprehensive approach to securing their digital workspace.
Here’s a video you can watch to learn more about how Workspace ONE can help secure your digital workspace.
The benefits of having a digital workspace are tremendous. As noted in a recent Forbes survey, 63% of end 
users in companies that enable a digital workspace (defined as companies providing ready access to the apps employees want and need, anywhere and from any device) felt like their personal productivity increased as a result. That’s compared to only 14% of end users who worked in traditional workspace companies.
If IT can deliver a digital workspace that raises the level of productivity, without sacrificing security, that’s a win for the business. And that’s where Workspace ONE can help. To learn more about Workspace ONE, please visit vmware.com/products/workspace-one.
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