By: Makarand Shrikhande, Program Director

A programmer connects to his weekly conference call from his living room. Sipping coffee in a sunny cafe in another city, his teammate connects to the same call. Their manager joins in on the phone from another country while driving to work. This is the new normal, which has irrevocably changed our work and personal lives.

With this change in end-user work style across enterprises and SMBs, more businesses have adopted hybrid work styles by implementing VDI-as-a-Service or cloud-based workspaces. This means that end-user desktops will be provisioned over the cloud to provide much more benefits over traditional VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) or traditional physical workspaces.

This is where the VDI-as-a-Service model has started to evolve. Research indicates that VDI-as-a-Service is the way of the future for modern enterprises of all sizes. Forecasts estimate that the VDI-as-a-Service market will grow by 253% between 2021 and 2024. In addition, by 2024, the usage of VDI-as-a-Service will overtake traditional VDI solutions, while the global cloud-based VDI market will reach USD 14.4 Bn by 2027.

The need for VDI has grown exponentially over the last couple of years. Especially during the pandemic, the initial adoption of VDI usage increased manifolds, with the trend expected to continue in the future as well. Though employees have started coming back to the office, the hybrid work model has become the future of work. The decisions made at the beginning of the pandemic have now become part of every organization’s IT strategy. As the adoption of VDI technology is increasing, there are new challenges with its deployment, security, scale, and cost.

With the widespread adoption of the hybrid work model, contractors and end-users have become productive from remote locations. This scenario has led to adopting the cloud workspace model with a continued focus on business continuity and ensuring secure remote work solutions that are suitable for any business.

In this context, traditional VDI solutions, which provide limited functionalities, are not enough, and that’s where VDI-as-a-Service (VDIaaS) comes into play. VDIaaS is a cloud workspace service where the end-users workspace runs on a virtual desktop that is hosted on the cloud, public, private, or hybrid. End-users can access their workspace with an HTML5 browser and an Internet connection.

How does LTIMindtree’s MCloudNXT help IT teams?

The MCloudNXT platform is a fast-evolving landscape. However, the core foundation of MCloudNXT platform is based on VDI, which is created around specific design principles to enhance user experience, trust, and smart workspace models that are flexible, scalable, and secure. The key benefits of the MCloudNXT include the following:

• Desktop flexibility
• Quick provisioning
• Simplified management and operations
• Cost savings due to the consumption-based model
• Enhanced security
• Improved backup and disaster recovery

The vision of the MCloudNXT platform is centered on end-users – their needs, the user experience, and their productivity. For modern users, the workspace is an omnipresent entity that can be accessed by any device, from any place and at any time, securely, which is what is termed as a Follow-Me-Workspace or Borderless Workspace.

With LTIMindtree’s MCloudNXT platform that provides VDIaaS, we help enterprises and SMB customers adopt a cloud-first model and achieve the desired OPEX and CAPEX savings, with the benefits of borderless workspace and enhanced user experience.

Use Cases for MCloudNXT:

Organizations might find it tempting to leverage the benefits of MCloudNXT to move all their employees to a cloud workspace. However, based on user profiles and personas, there are specific use case scenarios where VDI solutions make more sense. Some of these are:

1. Remote End-users
   Since end-users have been working remotely for a while, a virtual desktop infrastructure is an effective way to provide access to their workspace.
2. Contractors/Partners
   Contractors and partners typically need temporary access to an organization’s IT environment because of the nature of their work, which generally includes assessment, study, analysis, etc. MCloudNXT is a flexible and scalable solution in these scenarios as it enables quick provisioning and de-provisioning of virtual desktops.
3. Contact Center
   Another scenario where MCloudNXT fits in well is when enterprises are used to empower contact or support center employees. To stay productive from remote locations, the contact and support center staff needs access to specific toolsets like certain CRM tools and various collaboration and VoIP technologies. These toolsets can be bundled into a single image, which can then be accessed by them over the Internet either through BYOD or thin clients.
4. Training Department
   Online learning modules often use predefined software and demo data for training. Naturally, this fits in as a perfect use-case scenario for MCloudNXT.

MCloudNXT is often the best offering for these scenarios, both from technical and compliance standpoints. MCloudNXT does not store data on local devices, and since the cloud is PCI or HIPPA compliant, the information complies with the norms. However, to use MCloudNXT, enterprises need to understand how they can leverage the capabilities that LTIMindtree has in designing, deploying, and maintaining the best-in-class VDI as a service offering.

How can we help?

LTIMindtree provides the MCloudNXT service to various organizations across industries to assess, design, implement, migrate, and manage the VDI infrastructure based on a thorough understanding of the end-users persona and needs. From service desk support to virtual desktop OS and applications support to OS patching, driver updates, application packaging, application deployment, and VDI crash and data retention, LTIMindtree provides the best-in-class solutions for its customers to get the best out of their VDI environments.

Interested in exploring further? Reach out to us, and let’s talk about your needs.