Posted on Fri, Mar 30, 2012 @ 02:10 PM
This blog post discusses highlights of Andy Jones’ interview for the Forrester report: Building A Successful RFP for Desktop Virtualization, by Clarence Villanueva (@cvillanu). For the Forrester blog post and link to full article, click here.
With demand on the rise for greater workforce mobility and mobility management in the enterprise, desktop virtualization (DV) is a sound solution that:
- Allows for controlled and secure employee access to enterprise information across multiple devices.
- Converts devices into thin clients, lengthening lifecycles of those devices.
- Enables IT management updates and enforced compliance requirements from a central source.
I know what you’re thinking: “Sounds great, Andy. Let’s put out an RFP to go with a virtualized desktop solution.”
Before you do, note that Forrester research finds that during the DV RFP process, incomplete or unclear information and project goals are often sent to potential vendors, and the result is unfulfilled RFP requirements and misguided DV proposals.
Earlier this year, I had the chance to discuss desktop virtualization with Forrester’s Clarence Villanueva (@cvillanu), specifically in regard to the RFP process. Interview findings combined with Forrester’s Forrsights for Business Technology survey results detail four key elements companies should incorporate in the RFP process to avoid said missteps.
4 Steps toward Your Successful DV RFP
To complete a successful desktop virtualization RFP, companies must consider the full scope and impact of desktop virtualization. It includes everything from a completely assessed IT inventory to defined goals and DV impact analysis.
- Define Project Goals. How will you know that DV implementation is a success? Give potential vendors a measuring stick to work toward so they can develop the right strategy to achieve your most important business goals.
- Describe Current IT Ecosystem (in comprehensive detail). When we receive an RFP, the first questions we must address to propose a workable solution center around the client’s existing environment. What type of user environment, network, security, storage and licensing processes are in place? Each is highly impacted by a move to a virtualized environment, and therefore must be included in the original RFP.
- Develop Vendor Questions. Now that you know what you’re working with and the end-goal in mind, develop questions to differentiate potential vendors—both in terms of product offering and service offering. Use this stage of the vetting process to know what you can expect in terms of completed implementations, industry expertise, and specifics on the recommended DV solution.
- Assess Impact and Environmental Changes. How will implementation change the environment, and does it align with your organization’s short- and long-term IT and business goals? Think about how DV affects people, processes, infrastructure and SLAs/SOWs.
For more information and resources that will help your company further develop its virtual desktop RFP, read the Forrester blog post and detailed report findings.
Final Thoughts
Virtualized desktops mean better access and security for a mobile workforce, as well as better IT management and control.
If you have questions about taking your enterprise to a more virtualized environment, or would like to share successes and challenges along the way, please post in the comments below.
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Andy Jones is Senior Vice President of Sales. He has more than 15 years of IT industry experience, and is an expert on cloud, virtualization and managed services solutions. Connect with Andy on LinkedIn.
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Image credit: twicepix
Posted on Fri, Mar 23, 2012 @ 01:30 PM
We’ve spoken with many caregivers and healthcare IT providers who want to follow patients’ progress throughout the health system, across varied healthcare organizations, and from multiple locations and devices. Last month, our team traveled to Las Vegas for the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society’s (HIMSS) annual conference and expo, where based on sessions and general sentiment, we became further convinced that this industry advance is here to stay.
Imagine being able to provide your health systems’ caregivers this daily routine: They wake up, check the morning news and weather on their mobile phones, put on the coffee, and check their tablets for updates on their most critical patients and workflows.
For some healthcare providers, this is no longer on the wish list—it’s actually a part of the daily routine and business-as-usual. And you can deploy it, too.
Mobile healthcare IT solutions allow for at-a-glance medical history and updates. It moves away from compartmentalization, toward a more holistic and accurate diagnosis for the best possible patient care. As doctors, nurses, administration and insurers move from the traditionally siloed data to more “follow-me patient data,” it’s critical that concerns about data privacy and access are met by IT.
Challenges Facing Mobile Healthcare IT
- Compliance: As patient information moves to electronic formats (EHRs, EMRs), it can be virtualized for better accessibility and more holistic patient information. However, private patient data must remain within compliance regulations.
Ensure that your healthcare IT is engineered to meet the requirements of HIPPA and HITECH to start. Then, run regular management reports to check your compliance posture regularly.
- Security: Multiple device access to healthcare data and applications, on- and off-premise, is a strong desire of busy medical professionals, but with this flexibility comes security concerns. The last thing an IT manager wants to hear is that a mobile phone with access to private information was lost or stolen, and does not have security measures in place to keep patient data locked down.
Enforce a strict mobile device policy for end-users to opt into—one that allows remote wipe capability along with other management software installation. Button up contracts to keep mobile employees and your organization from risk, and regularly monitor for known and unknown threats within the IT infrastructure.
- Access: Not all users need access to everything—doing so can put high-level data and processes at risk. Segment users and consider who needs access to certain servers, data and applications.
Also, consider access in certain locations and to specific software or applications. If there are areas of your facility where access to camera apps should be disabled, put the processes in place for this type of limitation. Maintain a list of white- and black-listed software and applications that users accessing the network must maintain.
- Control: Maintaining control over mobile devices that access your health system’s IT network is critical for supporting mobile clinicians and remaining compliant. Centralized control, maintenance, support and usage analytics can be maintained with backed software, like Citrix’s AppDNA.
Ensure your mobile device policy clearly states ownership details of the device, data and applications it accesses. Also, consider sandboxing personal and professional accounts and log-ins, so that the organization does not have access to, or is liable for, personal information.
- Technology: Does more devices equal more IT maintenance for your team? If your team was stretched thin servicing the technology owned and operated on-premise, an influx in devices accessing the network could make IT managers apprehensive about having to service multiple devices per person, rather than one. Make sure your mobile device policy spells out ownership in terms of device repair, replacement, upgrades, and more.
Achieving Modern Healthcare Infrastructure
The move toward more virtualized healthcare IT signals the need for organizations to provide surgeons, nurses and other end users with reliable and ready access to shared data and applications. A secure cloud infrastructure enables this access at anytime, from anywhere, and from any device. Theses concepts are at the foundation of MCPc's healthcare IT architecture, anyplace workspace for the mobile clinician—a solution that packages technology from VMware, NetApp, Citrix, Cisco, Apple and other manufacturers with flexible options for environment support.
With challenges of compliance, security and control, the ideal cloud architecture for healthcare organizations is the private cloud, as it maintains control and ownership of all software and assets on their own physical premises.
What are your thoughts, challenges and solutions on the cloud for a more mobile healthcare solution? Please share your experiences and comments below.
Related articles:
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Mike Riley is Director of Business Development - Healthcare, focusing on the impact of technology on medical organizations and patient care. Mike has more than 18 years of experience delivering IT solutions to Fortune 500 enterprises. Connect with Mike on LinkedIn.
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Posted on Wed, Mar 21, 2012 @ 02:26 PM
If you’re a regular MCPc blog reader, you already know that our team gets “geeked” by mobile, collaborative technologies that prove impactful on organizational IT ecosystems and business bottom lines.
That’s why we’re very excited to announce the launch of the anyplace workspace.
What Is the Anyplace Workspace?
The idea of the anyplace workspace is just what it sounds like. Our mission is to help clients create environments that enable employees to work anywhere, anytime, from any device, while maintaining security and management oversight. The concept is grounded in five core pillars of the IT environment: devices, desktops, network, data and support. It leverages technology from all major vendors, and aims to provide a validated framework for the cloud while still being highly customizable to the unique needs of individual organizations.
Why Now?
Just take a look at some of these statistics on the growing mobile workforce:
- 60% of the workforce feels they don’t need to be in the office to feel productive.
- 32% of employees rely on more than one device on any given workday.
- Web-based email usage has fallen 6%, while mobile email rose 36%.
- Mobile users access smartphones for information management, web conferencing, office suites and more.
Clearly, the consumerization of IT has dramatically changed the way employees interact with, access and store company information and data. Outdated environments simply can’t handle the influx—or the risks—this shift presents.
How Is It Different?
With the anyplace workspace approach, we can help organizations build IT environments around the way modern workforces want to operate.
More importantly, by focusing in on specific business goals, and the possibilities enabled by modern technology, we hone in on how employees could operate if given the proper tools, and set out to achieve this IT utopia.
A well-designed and managed anyplace workspace will drive previously unheard-of levels of flexibility, mobility, productivity, efficiency, innovation and support.
Who’s On Board?
After talking about our ideas for the anyplace workspace with contacts at leading technology manufacturers, we found an outpour of support through sponsorships. Thus, the architecture behind an anyplace workspace ecosystem is truly the best available, from vendors, including: VMware, NetApp, Cisco, Citrix, Eaton, HP, Apple and more.
The anyplace workspace is a commitment from MCPc that captures the heart of what we do for our customers. It’s an approach dedicated to helping organizations gain real business benefits driven by an innovative, holistic approach to IT.
Connect & Share Your Story
What would your ideal anyplace workspace look like? What challenges have you had along the way toward implementing it for your organization? Leave your thoughts and questions in the comments below.
To learn more about the anyplace workspace, visit anyplaceworkspace.com, or contact us today to speak with an anyplace workspace architect.
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Jed Ayres, Senior Vice President, Partner Management & Marketing, is responsible for driving MCPc's relationships with industry partners as well as the overall go-to-market strategy of the organization. He has more than 17 years of IT industry experience. Connect with Jed on LinkedIn.
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Posted on Fri, Mar 09, 2012 @ 07:15 AM
Proliferation: a rapid and often excessive spread or increase. -- Dictionary.com
A Growing IT Movement
Cisco predicts that by 2020, we’ll see more than 50 billion network devices, at about seven devices per person, with many of these infiltrating corporate environments. This mobile device proliferation, if paired with a sound IT infrastructure and management strategy, is simultaneously one of the most disruptive and promising IT movements we’ve seen in some time.
In its Worldwide Survey of Corporate Employees, taken in February 2011, Citrix Systems found the following answer to: “How many computing devices do you use on a daily basis?”
The majority of respondents are already using three devices daily.
In short: device proliferation is already invading the workplace, with no signs of slowing down. Therefore, CIOs and IT managers must not only work to enable efficient use of employee devices alongside corporate ones, but also ensure the security of all devices and the corporate network.
The future of computing is one in which the desktop may not be in the starring role, and because of this IT pros need to find a new way to approach solution delivery.
At a recent MCPc event, Citrix’ Fernando Campo shared with us his company’s vision of a “utility-based delivery model for IT.” From a technical standpoint, this approach makes sense.
However, taking a step back, we understand that IT’s responsibilities are largely no longer driven by technology, but rather by end-user and corporate needs.
Thus, our vision now and for the future is of a business-driven IT delivery model, which bases IT infrastructure, deployments and solutions on how organizations can leverage technology to:
- Increase business agility
- Differentiate from competitors
- Produce and innovate faster
- Enhance employee recruitment and retention
- And more…
Based on these drivers, we combine the needs of employees with best-of-breed technology to deliver what we call the anyplace workspaceTM. The anyplace workspace delivers the mobility and flexibility that users demand, while maintaining device and data security and management. As you may expect, mobile devices play a key role in its success.
Make Device Proliferation Work For You, Not Against You
There are three foundational pieces needed to make both company- and employee-owned mobile devices a business asset, rather than a liability:
1. Stable, Secure Virtual Network
A virtualized, or cloud-based, infrastructure will ensure that your datacenter is set up to support virtual desktops, and to give you the tools to monitor and manage end-user access from multiple endpoints and locations.
"The explosion in the use of mobile devices and the growth of the whole disconnected mobile workforce are forcing companies to consider the cloud… That entire trend is much better dealt with by a cloud service because then everyone dials into the cloud, and they are protected." —Mobile Workers, Fast Threats Spur Demand For Cloud Security Services
2. Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
VDI gives IT the structure it needs to maintain the necessary balance between user flexibility and access, and IT management and control. Using solutions like Citrix XenDesktop, create an environment that will:
- Enable you to manage network access from all devices
- Deliver a comfortable, familiar experience to end users
- Provide apps and desktops as a service to any enabled device, and view usage and access data
- Maintain centralized control despite a distributed workforce
- Provide support remotely
3. Mobile Device Management Strategy
With the systems in place for users to connect to company apps, assets and data, it’s time to take a look at the policies and management surrounding the devices themselves.
We strongly encourage our clients to develop mobile use policies and management strategies address considerations such as:
- How to activate and enroll devices
- End-user segmentation and device configuration
- White- and black-listed applications
- Cost control
- Data access, ownership and security, and related legalities
Final Thoughts
Embracing device proliferation is a perfect example of how business leaders and IT can work together to create an environment that provides end users the information and experiences they desire no matter the time, place or device.
How have you managed devices accessing your corporate network, and what larger IT or business changes do you see as a result?
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Ira Grossman, VP, Personal Systems Group, has more than 15 years of technology project management experience and is an expert in lifecycle management and mobile device management for the enterprise. Connect with Ira on LinkedIn.
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Posted on Mon, Mar 05, 2012 @ 08:27 AM
Our blog team shares a collection of their favorite articles each month—particularly those that best showcase what’s happening in the ever-evolving world of IT. Our February articles look at bring your own device (BYOD), cloud computing, data storage, IT in education and top industry headlines. Enjoy!
Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)
Mobile phones are not immune to viruses and malware, a serious consideration in BYOD environments. As Brian Madden (@brianmadden) points out in Dang, Now Mobile Phones have Viruses and Malware, Too:
- It’s possible to configure a mobile device to download apps, outside verified app stores, opening phones up to unknown dangerous.
- Users can easily be tricked to visit phishing websites or download malware through the use of QR codes. In this case, users don’t always know the quality of the site they will visit before snapping a photo of the code.
- Mobile phones lack sophisticated antivirus software due to special rules within their operating systems.
- Devices contain a lot of personal data, waiting to be exposed.
For these reasons, Madden believes that “real software that can separate the user environment from the work environment” is needed to protect users and corporations from potential mobile threats.
Learn more about Mobile Use Policies and how Mobile Device Management can protect your users, and your organization, from threats.
Cloud Business Strategy
Trying to build a business case for the cloud? InfoWorld’s David Linthicum (@DavidLinthicum) offers the following three secrets for success:
- Know the cost of inefficiencies and lost productivity in your current IT environment.
- Identify the unique business problems the cloud can solve for your organization. Don’t rely on industry buzzwords.
- Tie your case to an overall plan that outlines the current state, how you’re going to fix it and the advantages of your recommended approach.
Keep in mind that the cloud offers much more opportunity than just cost savings; it has the potential to change the game and drive business innovation. Forbes’ Joe McKendrick (@joemckendrick) provides 6 Shining Examples of Cloud Computing in Action, highlighting companies like Etsy, Netflix and Xerox, and how they used the cloud to disrupt their markets.
Bonus: As you consider and plan the move the cloud, be sure to watch out for the pitfalls of a multitenant environment.
Data Storage
According to a TechTarget Survey, 38% of IT executives cite disaster recovery/business continuity (DR/BC) as a top priority in 2012—stressing the importance of data protection. Other key priorities include:
- Virtual server backup (35%)—With an increase in the number of virtual machines (VMs) and a decrease in data storage growth, virtual server backup remains a challenge for IT management.
- Storage virtualization (31%)—Storage virtualization has become the preferred method to complement server virtualization, and create a more nimble and flexible environment.
- Data de-duplication (29%)—While de-dupe technology has been around for some time, 70% of companies have yet to deploy it, explaining the interest this year.
- Data reduction (20%)—While demand exists, storage vendors do not currently have the data reduction technologies available to readily meet IT executives’ expectations in this area.
- Cloud storage/cloud backup (14%)—It’s estimated that 29% of storage will be in the cloud by year's end.
Education IT and Mobility
Tablet use in educational institutions is growing, as organizations experiment with ways to improve the learning environment through mobility and a tactile experience. As explained by MCPc’s Ira Grossman in Lenovo Preps Education Partners for Mobile Shift: "More tablets are entering the education space and we are seeing a rise in both shared devices and one-on-one learning.”
Because content consumption is the main focus for students in K-12, tablets offer a prime opportunity in this market, as they are specifically suited to share information. In addition, adoption is growing on college and university campuses. However, tablets are mostly used as a secondary device to notebooks in higher education, since content creation—not consumption—is emphasized at that level.
Though Darin Haines, our in-house “iPad-only executive,” would argue that iPads are more than consumption devices.
February’s IT Industry Headlines
What articles did you enjoy last month? Please share your thoughts and additional resources in the comments below.
This post is an MCPc blogging team collaboration.
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