Wait..that’s..not how you’re supposed to use that!
The concept of “bring your own device†or BYOD, is relatively new to the workplace. For decades, people used the desktop or laptop that their company gave them as the way to get their work done. Enter mobile devices. Now that we have so much connectivity literally in our pocket (or arms if we are running), we have learned to adapt common work practices to use this incredible new accessibility.
Ready for some serious numbers?
I remember my first desktop computer. It had 4 Megabytes of RAM and a 20 Megabyte hard drive. That’s right...MB, 1/1000 of a GB. The acceleration of these specifications in the last 30 years is something out of science fiction turned fact. The average new mobile phone has 6 GB of RAM and 128GB storage built inside - in the palm of your hand! We have just begun to unearth the vast power we are holding.
TechJury -
- 67% of employees use personal devices at work
- BYOD generates $350 of value each year per employee
- A BYOD-carrying employee works an extra two hours
- Companies gain an extra 240 hours of work per year from employees due to mobile working
Really? I can do what with this?
Since we have all of this power in our pocket, we can use it in so many creating ways to help us be more efficient. One great way is to use it as a BYOD connection point to a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). If you want to know more about VDI, here is a quick brush up on virtual desktop infrastructure and here is a review of some common use cases to give you a start. After being registered as a user in a VDI solution, using a mobile device as a VDI connection point takes 3 main steps.
- Download the connection application from your mobile app store
- Connect a small adapter to your phone’s charging port
- Log into your VDI cloud workstation
The user experience is very similar and sometimes better than other conventional VDI clients. Your mobile device is now a workstation with the same power as a thin client, desktop or laptop which are more commonly used as a connection point.
“87% of businesses are dependent on their employee’s ability to access mobile business apps from their smartphone ” — Syntonic
We need this, like yesterday.
While this sounds pretty simple, cool and efficient, there are a few things to consider before jumping into this new ocean with both feet and no life preserver. Most people check their mobile phone for personal reasons very frequently, some averages show as often as every 5 seconds...scary. So when working for extended times on a phone, the user is forced away from the phone and focused on the work task at hand..well, not really a downside to the business but could be an annoying mental shift for a user.
Another situation to consider is mobile notifications getting in the way of productivity. If a user gets a phone call or social media message on their phone, sometimes it can disrupt the work that they are doing. In one sense, this would happen anyway and the user would likely check their phone anyway and go away from their work. On the other hand, sometimes users try to work at the same time as having social conversations, if the phone is being used for both, it is more difficult for the user to work on their projects at the same time as taking a call, allowing them to have more focused time while doing their job.
The best part? It’s green.
When an organization adopts a BYOD policy at their company, there is a very powerful environmental impact that occurs. Since the company isn’t purchasing laptops and desktop computers, the environmental strain that those manufacturing processes cause decreases, making the planet better with each new hire. This assumes, of course, that the new employee will have a mobile device. If this employee doesn’t have a mobile device to use, however, there are so many refurbished mobile devices that reclaiming one for use as a VDI client is a great way to prevent that older device from becoming the ever scary and harmful e-waste.
Do I need a BYOD enabled VDI Environment?
Yes. For your employees, this provides the best options for flexibility and efficiency. For your business, you want assurance that your workstation solution allows the optimum scalability, IT efficiency, and sets up without breaking the bank.
BUT...
For small and medium-sized businesses, setting up virtual desktop infrastructure can be expensive and difficult to manage by internal IT or, in many cases, the business owner. This usually leads to opening a whole new set of IT costs and headaches instead of streamlining and creating efficiency.
RainDrop can help
RainDrop provides a fully managed, Cloud based virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). RainDrop empowers IT departments with powerful management tools and end users with self help guidance, and troubleshooting tools to simplify your organization's technical operations. The Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) features utilizing your customized configurations of operating system and applications so your employees and consultants can securely work from desktops, laptops, phones or tablets anywhere around the globe.
How to get started with RainDrop
It's quick and easy.
1 - Complete the signup form to create your first RainDrop. It will be ready to use in under 5 minutes. You can test it out, configure it, replicate it.
2 - Securely sign in using the email invitation received
3 - Create whatever workstation structure your business requires, and invite users to use the RainDrop management engine
With RainDrop, you get a 7 day free trial to get used to the system before you choose it as your preferred cloud workstation solution. Get all the experience of an end user as well as an administrator on the system with full access to all the powerful tools to use absolutely free for the first week. Ready, Set, Rain!
