A Virtual ‘Clean Room,’ If You Will…
Unsurprisingly, I recently found myself in a conversation with someone who was very interested in learning more about DaaS but was struggling to understand the benefits versus a more traditional approach to End User Computing.
“If I’m paying monthly for a cloud-hosted desktop, and the cost of that every month times the number of months costs more than buying them a new laptop, why wouldn’t I just do that?”
This is probably one of the most common questions I get, and one that everyone from the biggest skeptic to the most stalwart defender of DaaS has asked themselves at some point in time.
The good news is: there are a lot of ways to, meaningfully, answer this question. The bad news: there are a lot of ways to, meaningfully, answer this question. Often, it becomes a conversation about all of the gains in the soft-cost side of supporting a distributed workforce with traditional, physical devices. Sometimes, it is a deep dive into the benefit of eliminating the need for continued device procurement, refresh cycles, and reclamation. Recently, it has become a really interesting conversation about Security which, I think, we’ll touch on at least briefly in today’s post.
In this particular conversation, though, I was starting to get a big fatigued with my usual talk track, and I wanted to find a new way to easily visualize one of the key benefits that DaaS can provide. “Close your eyes for a second and imagine a ‘clean room.’ You know… one of those rooms where folks work on semiconductor technology, or a pharmaceutical lab… Picture an all white room where, in order to work inside, you have to pass through some form of a decontamination process and are wearing a fully encompassing ‘bunny-suit.’ Why does these rooms exist? Because the nature of what is being worked on within them is extremely delicate and the introduction of any form of unexpected outside contaminant or compromisation could have disastrous consequences.”
A pretty compelling visual; no?
“Now, ask yourself: isn’t my data kind of the same thing as those semi-conductors or that piece of biotech? Aren’t you trying to ensure the continued integrity of your data and keep outside contaminants (ransomware, viruses, data loss) at bay? Well, a well-designed DaaS solution can help you do exactly this!”
That’s right! A DaaS solution can be the ‘Virtual Clean Room’ where we connect our people (our users whether they’re in-office, remote, travelling, wherever) to the data and apps that they need in order to perform their work, and in order to do so, they need to pass through the checks and balances (SSO, MFA, Integrated Authentication) to the controlled (XDR, MDR, ATP) environment which is highly monitored (UXM, RMM) to ensure that data is kept safe and users are enabled to be productive.
With the right blend of the available technologies and a thoughtful approach to design, Desktop as a Service can be an ‘Virtual Clean Room’ for any organization’s End User Computing Needs. A helpful, easily understood visual that can help easily extoll some of the key benefits of a DaaS solution!