"As of 2023, 12.7% of full-time employees work from home, while 28.2% work a hybrid model. What's more, it's projected that by 2025, 32.6 million Americans will work remotely, which is approximately 22% of the workforce."
Studies show that by 2025, 70% of the workforce will work remotely at least five days per month. Clearly, this trend is not going to stop any time soon. Obviously, there is no reason for its rise in popularity to stop: traffic and its related pollution has become a global challenge, employee productivity is constantly pushed to new limits, adoption of broadband internet access has become the new default for many, et cetera.
At the same time, we are all used to working with multiple devices. This is also an explosive trend: in 2015 we had on average 3.47 connected devices per person. In 2020 that number rose up to 6.58 and that number is projected to rise to at least 15 by 2030.
This ‘multi-device’ mentality has seeped into the work floor as well. Increasingly, employees are equipped with a desktop or laptop, a tablet and a smartphone. And these are not always company owned and company managed devices. Today, employees ‘demand’ to work on their device of choice. And this choice can be taken literally: a Microsoft Surface, an Apple Macbook, an Android tablet, a Google Chromebook, the list goes on.
We all have our preferences, which is why companies are increasingly adopting “bring your-own-device” (BYOD) and “choose-your-own-device’ (CYOD) policies. The concept of BYOD was first introduced in 2009. However, only in 2011 it started to become an emerging trend – and studies suggest that it isn’t going anywhere.
According to analyst firm Mordor Intelligence, "The bring-your-own-device (BYOD) market is estimated to be valued at USD 84.94 billion in the previous year. The market studied is expected to reach USD 205.79 billion by the next five years, registering a CAGR of 15.89% during the forecast period."
"Mobility is an important part of our digital work environment, it means being able to work on any device, anytime and anywhere. Parallels Digital Workspace supports this approach."
Director Culture, Change & Digital Workplace Transformation, Proximus
Hitting a wall of constraints
Despite the prevalence of mobile and remote working, employees still face obstacles that often prevent them from efficiently going mobile, if they can at all. We’ve grouped these constraints into 3 categories:
Legacy IT
Even with the rise of SaaS and cloud services, businesses still spend roughly 75% of application budgets on legacy platforms. These are typically not mobile and are considered a ‘showstopper’ in the evolution towards a modern workspace by 61% of businesses.
Security and compliance
IT organizations are increasingly challenged by security attacks, such as WannaCry, on the one hand, and compliance with new regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on the other. This often forces IT departments to devote the bulk of their budgets to enhancing security and compliance, resulting in diminished resources for remote and mobile working and BYOD.
Devices and operating systems
Most IT organizations will require devices to be “managed”. Even “bring your own” devices are entered into the perimeter of managed devices. This limits the actual adoption of any device policy as costs and resources are often just too limited to go as broad as employees desire/require.
Lots of organizations struggle to keep all end-user devices on the same OS (typically Windows). This is often a heavy and costly process. At the same time, a lot of applications are only available on Windows, or even worse: old versions of Windows. That creates a “Catch 22” as some applications won’t run on recent platforms, but we want all platforms to be updated to the latest versions for security and manageability.
The solution
Solutions that offer a future-proof perspective on workplace management should tackle the aforementioned “wall of constraints” to mobile or remote working while still reaping all the benefits. They need to provide mobile access to legacy IT platforms, guarantee optimal security and compliance while enabling employees (and contractors) to work from any device.
This goes beyond the classic view on BYOD which is limited to smartphones —it includes tablets, laptops and desktops in various shapes and forms, both managed and unmanaged.
The solution requires breaking down some “old truths”:
- Not all devices need to be managed.
- Employees are empowered to choose their preferred device, including personal preferences.
The benefits from remote working and BYOD
Lower IT & facilities costs | Employee retention | Higher productivity
- Research shows that employers can save $11,000 per employee when switching to remote work. (Forbes, 2023)
- Companies save $1097 per employee per year with BYOD policies. (Staffbase, 2023)
- 68% of organizations see a boost in productivity after enabling a BYOD program. (Cybersecurity Insiders, 2022)
- 77% of workers say they are more productive when working remotely, with 30% doing more work in less time and 24% doing more work in the same amount of time. (Connect Solutions, 2023)
- 95 percent of employers say the ability for an employee to work remotely has a high impact on employee retention. (Global Workplace Analytics, 2021)
“Bring your own device” without appropriate tooling comes with security risks
Today, almost 80 percent of all BYOD is facilitated in a completely unmanaged fashion, according to SecureEdge Networks.
While BYOD is a very broad concept which embraces mobile phones, tablets, laptops and more, the reality today is that it is often only ‘allowed’ for tablets and mobile phones and is typically limited to email and agenda access (e.g., POP3, IMAP).
But even in its limited context today, it’s clearly not a very secure way to run a business.
- 67% of survey respondents reported that the use of personal mobile devices by remote workers has negatively impacted their organization’s security posture. (Ponemon Institute, 2020)
- Over 70% of workers say they store their work passwords on their personal devices (Infosecurity Magazine, 2023)
- 77% of employees have received no instruction in the risks of using their own devices at work (AllThingsD) Risks include data leakage, device infection, poor performance, etc. A solid solution is required to tackle both remote working and BYOD at large.
Mobile device management is not the (only) answer
One of the classic ways to ensure employees will stay productive and not breach corporate policies is “Mobile Device Management” (MDM).
MDM is typically used by an IT department to monitor, manage and secure employees’ mobile devices that are deployed across multiple mobile service providers and across several mobile operating systems being used within the organization.
Most often, MDM is used on company-owned devices. Mobile device management software is frequently combined with additional security services and tools such as Mobile Application Management” to create a complete mobile device and security solution, labeled as” Enterprise Mobility Management” (EMM).
Initially, MDM was primarily focused on ensuring basic security measures (typically on device encryption and an adequate power-on password) and providing the ability to remotely wipe a managed device (e.g., if the employee left the organization or if it was lost or stolen). It was adopted as a security solution by businesses.
Although it seems like a great solution, MDM and EMM don’t cover everything which BYOD could/should be. Employees aren’t very fond of giving their employers control over their personal devices. Furthermore, application and data access are usually very limited: email, agenda, contact and maybe CRM. Lastly, MDM solutions don’t help businesses “mobilize” their legacy IT platforms. Different tools or re-coding software are still required.
- 67% of survey respondents reported that the use of personal mobile devices by remote workers has negatively impacted their organization’s security posture. (Ponemon Institute, 2020)
- Over 70% of workers say they store their work passwords on their personal devices (Infosecurity Magazine, 2023)
- 77% of employees have received no instruction in the risks of using their own devices at work (AllThingsD) Risks include data leakage, device infection, poor performance, etc. A solid solution is required to tackle both remote working and BYOD at large.
"It was absolutely crucial for us to have a new, modern and stable environment that we could deploy in a qualitative way and that allowed us to tackle as many use cases as possible."
CIO, East-Limburg Hosptial (ZOL)
Parallels Secure Workspace: HTML5 clients are the answer
HTML5 or browser-based unified workspaces offer the required flexibility, manageability and security to cover these complex needs. Parallels Secure Workspace offers such an “online workspace” that can be accessed via the browser.
It will enable your legacy (Windows) applications, SaaS and files in this online workplace and remove the constraints of legacy IT platforms.
Parallels Secure Workspace’s browser-based workspace will enable other benefits:
Any device: These days, almost any device runs an HTML5 browser. Be it Apple MacBooks, iPads, Chromebooks, Windows devices, smartphones, and even thin clients. That means that you can access your workspace — your applications and files — through all these devices.
Simplicity: Login via the browser. There is no need to install any agents or plug-ins, nor to maintain and manage these locally installed agents and plug-ins.
Single Sign-On: Users only need one set of credentials to authenticate. Furthermore, Parallels Secure Workspace can be federated (linked) with Identity Providers such as Okta, Azure AD, Google Identity and Microsoft ADFS. As such, one single login is needed for all the user’s applications, desktops and file shares. If a user leaves the company for example, their access to all company IT assets is easily revoked.
No local data: The workspace runs inside the browser. As such, there is no local data on the device (if you don’t want there to be). This is obviously a big benefit from a security and compliance point of view.
Better TCO: Given there is no need to manage devices from a deployment or security and compliance perspective, IT organizations can gain significant cost optimizations when adopting a browser-based workspace.
Context aware: “Smart” online workspaces will optimize the user experience based on the users’ context. For example, they will push mandatory strong authentication when logging in from outside the office or worksite.
- 67% of survey respondents reported that the use of personal mobile devices by remote workers has negatively impacted their organization’s security posture. (Ponemon Institute, 2020)
- Over 70% of workers say they store their work passwords on their personal devices (Infosecurity Magazine, 2023)
- 77% of employees have received no instruction in the risks of using their own devices at work (AllThingsD) Risks include data leakage, device infection, poor performance, etc. A solid solution is required to tackle both remote working and BYOD at large.
About the Parallels Secure Workspace architecture
Parallels Secure Workspace leverages your company’s current architecture and is deployed as a virtual appliance on most hypervisors. This can be a private or public cloud. From there, it will connect into a classic back-end environment. It will link with Active Directory, LDAP or an external IdP for user management.
It will connect to application servers running Microsoft RDP for legacy applications or desktops. Web applications (e.g., intranet) can be connected via the Reverse Proxy.
Finally, it will connect to classic file systems via WebDAV and CIFS and with cloud storage environments such as Microsoft’s OneDrive. For end-users, everything is available in a browser via the online workspace. No need to install agents, plug-ins, etc.
Simple gateway architecture
The Parallels Secure Workspace virtual appliance uses standard protocols (e.g., RDP, CIFS) to communicate to the back end — it’s easy to set up and manage and aggregates legacy RDP Apps & desktops, file servers, websites, and SaaS.
Multi-tenant and easy to scale
Service provider ready with built-in multi-tenancy, even from one single VM deployment. Stackable architecture enables you to just add VM’s when more users are needed.
Secure and compliant
Built-in features such as MFA, SSL certificates, usage auditing, granular controls and more add security on top of naked RDS access.
Open architecture
Easy to connect and leverage external services out of the box (e.g., MFA, printing, auto provisioning) using the Open API for automation.
Lightweight and suitable for any cloud
Virtual Appliance can run on as little as 1 Linux VM for up to 500 concurrent app sessions. Available for all main hypervisors and public clouds, and all features run multi-tenant and are easy to scale from the same product.
Single Sign-On
Leverage AD/Windows credentials or external IdP. Sign on with RDP, reverse proxy, SaaS, or file servers.