When technology lowers our business costs, simplifies processes and improve your cyber security you can bet your bottom dollar it’s going to get talked about. Which is why you’ve probably heard the term ‘hosted desktop’ getting thrown around a bit. We’re going to look at what this is, the reasons it’s growing in popularity and why it could be the boost your business needs.
Definition of a Hosted Desktop
We’re all familiar with our computer’s desktop. It’s kind of like the home page to our operating system, where all our important software and files can easily be accessed from. A hosted desktop emulates that, except it’s not physically located on our computer, it’s stored remotely and accessed via the internet.
A hosted desktop acts just as your physical desktop does, with the same operating system and configurations, data and apps you use in your job. It’s all stored on secure servers in a data centre, utilising high quality connections to deliver it to you via your browser.
Virtualisation technology essentially creates a desktop environment completely separate from your actual computer. But why? What’s the point of it and why is it growing in popularity so much?
Why You Need a Hosted Desktop
Reduced Costs
This is always a big reason to do anything, right? Having a hosted desktop means your business doesn’t have to shell out for its own server and then pay running and maintenance costs on it.
You get access to high-end equipment at a better price, with low downtime guarantees offering further savings. You don’t have to budget for the unexpected, and it’s much less stressful than having to allocate manpower and brainpower to managing your own IT infrastructure.
Secure
Hosted desktops are more secure than on-premise infrastructure for a number of reasons:
– You never have to worry about software update or security fixes, they happen automatically without you initiating anything.
– Your data isn’t susceptible to on-site disasters such as a fire or flood, or to theft.
– Your desktop will be fully encrypted with firewall protections put in place.
– Your data is backed up regularly, and the backups are also tested regularly.
Scalable
Hosted desktops operate on a pay as you use basis. This means you only pay for what you need and have the option to scale up or scale down as required. It’s as simple as ordering more storage space or adding extra users. Hassle free, on demand computing.
The Flexibility to Work from Anywhere on Any Device
In this day and age being able to work remotely is becoming a necessity rather than a benefit. A hosted desktop facilitates this, allowing you to access and use your business applications wherever you have an internet connection, at any time of the day or night. Whether you’re on a PC, laptop, Macbook or tablet, your remote desktop client will be able to give you access to your hosted desktop.
Efficiency
Consider a business running 20 computers. With an on-site IT infrastructure, if a security threat is detected, all 20 computers would need to be individually worked on and secured. With a hosted desktop, the update would happen once and then take effect across all the computers without any extra work being done.
Hosted desktops improve productivity too. The extremely reliable equipment they utilise means less downtime, and the ability of employees to access their work wherever they may be is a huge boost.
Are you interested in hearing more about hosted desktops and how they can help your business? Get in touch with us at Smile IT. We’re a Brisbane managed service provider with plenty of answers when it comes to cloud solutions and remote working capabilities.
When he’s not writing tech articles or turning IT startups into established and consistent managed service providers, Peter Drummond can be found kitesurfing on the Gold Coast or hanging out with his family!