Desktop as a Service

Think of every server that you own on your premises, and how your desktops and laptops connect directly to them in the office. Now imagine getting rid of all your servers, and essentially copying them all into the cloud, so you still have access to it all, but it's running on someone else's computers. Then imagine that to get access to those servers, you open up a 'remote control' session, which presents you with a desktop image that is almost exactly the same as what you had in the office. That's Desktop as a Service - and it's making IT real simple for a lot of our clients!

What are the Benefits?

We use the Microsoft Azure service to deliver our product. That means your servers are held in a 'best of breed' datacentre with the following benefits:

High security, and it's easy to make it even more secure with encrypted links (e.g. a VPN), and two factor authenticaion (e.g. a password and a random token number to log in).
All your servers, data and applications are copied such that they are geographically redundant (e.g. if one datacentre stops working, your IT services are not interrupted)
Your staff can work from pretty much any internet connected device. Remember, they're just getting an image of a desktop!
You no longer have to worry about buying servers, updating warranties, dealing with hardware failures, and complicated software licensing.
Disaster recovery and business continuity become very easy.
Expensive desktops can be replaced with small 'dumb' terminals (e.g. very basic small computers), because they only need to display an image.

What do you need?

 A good internet connection. This can be calculated based on the number of staff you have using the service.
Ideally a backup connection to the Internet, like wireless 4G or 5G. If you lose your internet connection, no one can work!

What are the downsides

If you need to transfer large amounts of data (e.g. copying to a USB drive, or printing) it will slow the connection down and impact everyeone.
It's not a solution for when someone needs to be doing heavy graphics work (e.g. CAD or graphic design).