How to Enable Your Team to Access What They Need, Anywhere, Anytime

Going Mobile: Enable Your Team to Access What They Need, Anywhere, Anytime

Bylined to Paul Fisher, Technical Consultant at Parallels

Small businesses face numerous challenges on a daily basisbut enabling their employees to work on any device, anywhere in the office, shouldn’t be giving them a headache. With today’s office workers more likely to grab their phone or tablet than a notepad and pen, the clever business owner needs to look for a way to ensure they can access their work and business applications on their mobile devices. Not only will this help keep everyone productive, but it could also help retain talent.

This applies outside the office, too. If you and your team travel for work, you’ll need to access business applications and current work files from any location around the world and on any device, such as a tablet, smartphone or laptop. If this sounds like a massive and expensive challenge for your IT department, think again. This kind of capability is not as hard as it sounds and is eminently possible on SME budgets. Here are some tips on what to look for. 

Keep It Simple for IT

Your IT manager needs to enable employees to access their work applications, data, and desktops on any device they choose, at any time, and in any location. IT must also keep your network and data secure, ensure GDPR compliance, and keep applications up to date. With a potentially wide variety and a number of mobile devices to manage, it’s a headache for IT to add security software, updates, and patches on them all individually.  

The answer is remote application delivery and virtual desktops, which allow employees to access any Windows application (along with their files and desktops) on mobile deviceswith everything safely and easily managed by IT from a central dashboard interface.  

Tip: Although remote application delivery and virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) can be complex and expensive, there are some easy-to-use and cost-effective solutions around Check the market carefully and don’t assume that the bigbrand solutions are the best. 

Work, Not Stress

Mobile working should be fast, simple, stress-free, and productive. From the employee’s point of view, if you’re using your own smartphone or tablet to access work applications, you want to be able to use it in a familiar way (such as using tap and swipe gestures). You also need to be able to access corporate resources from anywhere, at any time. You need a seamless and consistent end-user experience for all applications across all devices, regardless of their OS platform.  

Tip: Look for an easy-to-install software solution that lets your team seamlessly and securely access work from any device or operating system, including Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS, Android, thin clientsGoogle Chromebook and more. Employees should also be able to work on their chosen device using the gestures they are familiar with so that they don’t have to experience a steep learning curve. 

Security Matters

With virtual application delivery, IT departments can take control of security; shared applications and data resources accessed over a mobile network can be saved in a closed-off central server. By using virtual images, this data need never actually leave the server, making it super secure. IT can even remotely ensure a strict separation between corporate and personal data.  

TipBy delivering server-based desktops and applications from a central location, IT can easily back up endpoints, deploy and maintain security, and meet compliance regulations. Look for a solution that adds extra layers of protection such as multifactor authentication, smart card authentication, advanced encryption protocols, and a granular level of filtering. 

Out of the Cloud

Cloud computing solves the problem of mobile and remote working, as its the environment that enables remote application delivery and VDI. With a cloud-based solution, you’ll be able to fully embrace working on any device from any location. Some solutions can require a high spend on expensive hardware, licenses, and software add-ons, but there are highquality, cost-effective offerings on the market. 

TipFind a solution with a simple licensing package that includes all available services and a clean upgrade path for scalability, as this will keep costs down. You also want easy configuration and fast installation so you and your team can be up and running with mobile and remote working in less than five minutes. 

The sky’s the limit

If you haven’t already made the move to cloud-based processes, the desire to enable mobile working might be a good reason to do so. In addition to mobility, the best thing about cloud technology is that it’s continuing to grow and develop every day. When it comes to what will be possible in the future, the sky’s the limit. The beauty of remote application delivery is that all your technology and security updates will always be up to date, ensuring you and your employees have a continually productive experience.