Authored by Paul Mounkes with input from the VMware Product Management and Technical Marketing teams.
With the unending supply of books, seminars and training courses that promise to teach us how to succeed in business, it seems like there are more business tenets than there are stars in the sky. When something like a global emergency happens, we’re starkly reminded of a couple well-worn clichés: 1) Business is always unpredictable and 2) Succeeding in business is never easy (and sometimes it seems all but impossible). On a positive note, we may also be reminded that there are some excellent tools available to help companies succeed in both normal and difficult business environments.
In our current crisis, the biggest issue for many businesses is that they now find themselves in one of two scenarios:
1. Enabling a distributed workforce for the first time, or
2. Dealing with a larger number of remote employees than ever before
Employee productivity suffers greatly if workers can’t reliably access the hardware, apps, content or information they need to do their jobs. It’s a major challenge for IT to deliver these resources quickly, reliably and in a way that’s user-friendly – particularly given the fact that many IT teams themselves are distributed as well.
In complicated situations like this, it’s natural for managers to stress over what they can’t do. But with VMware Workspace ONE Unified Endpoint Management, there are a great many things companies can do to keep their operations going strong (for those who do not currently have the Workspace ONE solution, we have new extended trial offers to aid in your consideration). We’ll take you through just a few of the ways Workspace ONE can help keep your remote workforce engaged and productive on their Apple devices.
Out-of-the-Box Onboarding with Zero IT Touch
With Workspace ONE, your organization can purchase a new MacBook or an iPad Pro and have it shipped directly to a remote employee without IT ever even seeing the device. Our integration with Apple Business Manager allows Workspace ONE to provision and manage the device entirely over the air on first boot. Security policies, VPN settings, email and more automatically install after users authenticate with directory credentials or a token. With pre-set and customizable configurations, your employees will have an exceptional experience as their devices are quickly onboarded with zero IT assistance, and they’ll have access to resources like email and corporate networks within minutes.
Quick & Easy BYO and Self-Service Apps
You don’t necessarily have to buy new hardware to get by – you could consider implementing a BYO program. We have an online BYO Adoption Kit to help IT teams work through the ins and outs of setting up a BYO program, and it’s incredibly easy to get new remote employees’ personal Apple devices enrolled in Workspace ONE.
Workers can then download the Workspace ONE Intelligent Hub app from getwsone.com, the App Store or the Mac App Store. A quick installation process will get them started right away in a digital workspace where our unified app catalog provides secure one-click SSO access to any app they need, including native, SaaS, web and virtual. Intelligent Hub users can access corporate data and applications from anywhere at any time to keep projects moving forward.
Legacy Applications Are Virtualized on Apple Devices
Another perceived barrier to remote work is the potential lack of access to business-critical legacy applications. While many companies have adopted Apple devices or have a cloud- or SaaS-first model that allows employees to use more than just one type of endpoint device, they may still have critical Windows applications that must deliver to end users.
With VMware Horizon, legacy business-critical apps and desktops can be virtualized and delivered from on-premises and/or cloud-based resources (or both). Employees can easily access these applications from any device, including Macs, via Workspace ONE Intelligent Hub. Horizon creates a consistent look and feel to deliver the best possible employee experience, while IT leverages a safe and secure model that supports remote workers using any device in any location.
TechTarget article: Preferred Mutual relies on VMware virtual desktops during unprecedented times
Preferred Mutual is one of many US companies that decided to shut down their offices to help flatten the curve and stamp out this emergency. In a March 19 article in TechTarget, their lead systems engineer Ben Moore talked about how VMware’s virtual desktops are allowing the company to deliver ALL the apps their new remote workers need, including soft phones for their customer service representatives. “Right now, all our call center employees are working remotely out of their house. It’s pretty impressive that VMware allows us to do that – to go that far without a VPN client.” The company’s operations are running strong, and they haven’t had any issues with the transition.
While it’s natural to be concerned about major disruptions to the normal flow of business, VMware can help your organization build a thriving distributed workforce and keep your business on the path to progress.
We have a lot more information available about VMware’s Business Continuity solutions and the steps we’re taking to help our customers in this time of crisis.
• VIEW our on-demand webinar.
View our Webinar with CTO Shawn Bass and Technologist Brian Madden about “…designing remote-first strategies, scaling VDI environments and security policies beyond the firewall.”
• Read Brian Madden’s Business Continuity Blog.
Check out our March 13th blog by Technology Visionary Brian Madden titled “What to Do If You Suddenly Have to Support 80% of Users Working Remotely”.
• Explore our new Business Continuity microsite.
Find more information about how to implement work-from-home strategies, how to get free trial offers of Workspace ONE solutions and how to try them out in our Hands-on Labs.
• ASK ABOUT our new relief programs for our valued customers.
Do you need additional licenses? If you are a current Workspace ONE customer, please contact your VMware rep for information on an all-new program built specifically to help you.
• TRY OUT our Workspace ONE solutions.
If you DON’T currently use Workspace ONE solutions, VMware has put together valuable new trial offers.
