Windows Virtual Desktop enabling secure remote working

I’m proud to say that our super smart and engaging technical consultants and engineers have helped move many happy enterprise and public sector customers to Microsoft’s Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) this year.

During the COVID-19 crisis, organisations by necessity have had to quickly deploy secure remote working solutions for their employees and contractors. WVD has been a popular choice for many, ensuring employees can work effectively from any location, on any device.

Olikka is a specialist WVD integrator and here is one of our customer stories from this year that I’d like to share with you.

Bates Smart needed a scalable solution that would allow users to work from home during a critical time but needed to make sure it was secure and that users were able to effectively use apps as required. By implementing WVD, they were able to get staff working effectively remotely.

"At a time when successful remote worker enablement was crucial for Bates Smart, Olikka provided a thorough and seamless approach to our Microsoft Windows Virtual Desktop journey. Through deep technical expertise, Olikka has provided a scalable and secure solution that saves my team time and offers users a streamlined experience. "

Ben Williams | Associate Director | Head of IT | Bates Smart

‍About Bates Smart

BatesSmart is an award-winning architecture firm delivering beautiful building design, interior design, urban design and strategic services across Australia and the world. 

Problem

Bates Smart had been considering deploying a scalable cloud-based virtual apps and desktop solution. Traditionally, staff were leveraging physical workstations to perform their daily duties, including working on graphics-intensive applications. Due to COVID-19, Bates Smart had an urgent requirement to prioritise a proof of concept (PoC) to determine the feasibility of moving to a low-touch, scalable virtual desktop solution. Bates Smart also wanted to gain a greater understanding of the real running costs of a solution before deployment to the broader business.

 Solution

In response to COVID-19 Olikka were able to assist Bates Smart promptly to assess alternate remote working solutions for a mix of general workers and graphics designers. Olikka delivered the solution within a month to meet the urgent requirement.

WVD provides Bates Smart with a scalable, secure desktop and app virtualisation service. WVD simplifies management requirements and provides the option of multi-session Windows 10 to reduce per-user costs, Windows 7 virtual desktops with free Extended Security Updates and optimisations for Office 365 ProPlus using FSLogix.

Bates Smart is primarily a design company and used the project to assess GPU virtual desktops as a remote working option for graphic designers.

 "The flexibility and scalability offered by WVD, along with the seamless integration with security tools such as Azure MFA, is a tremendous benefit for us."

Ben Williams | Associate Director | Head of IT | Bates Smart

Benefits

Bates Smart is starting to realise the benefits of Windows Virtual Desktop. Olikka has improved users ability to work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, and with a base subset of applications being available, Bates Smart now has a significant portion of their workforce able to work remotely. 

In addition to providing remote working options for general users, the deployment allowed Bates Smart to assess GPU virtual desktops as a remote working option for graphic designers, without committing to purchasing of hardware.

Security is always a vital aspect of any Olikka engagement, and Windows Virtual Desktop is no exception. Olikka enforced multi-factor authentication and applied an additional security measure to maintain a secure environment. 

 "We were able to remotely onboard a new staff member at zero notice by simply getting them to remote onto the Windows Virtual Desktop with their newly created login account. This was a huge time saver and much appreciated by the team."

Ben Williams | Associate Director | Head of IT | Bates Smart

If you’d like to understand WVD further, then please reach out to me.