A tale of too many tradeoffs: Why it's time to rethink your VDI or DaaS strategy

Cut out cost and complexity and dramatically improve user experience by replacing your VDI or DaaS strategy with an Enterprise Browser

The promise of desktop virtualization is hard to argue: your employees can work from (just about) any device, anywhere in the world while you keep your sensitive apps and data secure and centrally managed. VDI was a decent solution at a time when most organizations managed their own data centers, Windows apps were the norm, and working with rich content (such as video) wasn’t a requirement. Today, most apps are delivered through a web browser and hosted by SaaS providers. Users often connect from home networks outside the reach of enterprise controls. A growing remote workforce pushed many organizations to rethink how they secure and monitor access to critical apps. As an established technology, VDI or DaaS was a natural choice at the time. 

But as your help desk tickets will confirm, virtualization in any form comes with a huge burden on both operations staff and the end-users they support. Performance issues, network congestion, and complex provisioning weigh against the benefits of virtualization. Add to that the high costs of hosting, licensing, and operating a robust VDI or DaaS environment and the costs start to outweigh the benefits.

There’s a modern alternative to DaaS that you should consider: The Enterprise Browser. 

The Enterprise Browser takes a new approach to securing critical apps and data. Instead of adding layers of virtualization–disrupting the user’s experience and adding cost and complexity–security and access controls are built-in to the browser. Users authenticate with their corporate credentials, last-mile controls stop data leakage, browser hardening protects against malware, and full activity logs are sent to your SIEM. This approach gives InfoSec teams a level of control and visibility that goes way beyond VDI or DaaS, and end-users enjoy unrivaled performance.

Provisioning a new user with The Enterprise Browser is much simpler for IT Operations teams: install the browser. That’s it. End-users can even download and install it themselves on devices IT doesn’t own or manage. And it’s available for Windows, macOS, and Linux so everyone gets to enjoy full native-app performance. Once deployed, IT’s job is done: no performance tuning, resource monitoring, or cost modeling required. 

The end-users who are working with SaaS apps every day see a noticeable improvement. The Enterprise Browser is built on Chromium, so web performance is as good as it gets. Since there’s no virtualization overhead, there’s no lag or visual artifacts. Users get their work done, in a browser they’re already familiar with. 

The Enterprise Browser won’t replace all virtualization: if you’re connecting to systems for high-end CPU or GPU workflows, VDI is the right play. But if your primary goal is to secure access to web apps and data, across a remote or distributed workforce, The Enterprise Browser is a far better choice. Get a demo.