Virtual desktops have been around for a while now, but adoption rates have been slower than many analysts originally predicted. For those who are not familiar, Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) refers to a desktop operating system that resides in a virtual machine that’s run on a centralized server.

In the past, VDI was too expensive and complex for many organizations. However, recent developments in VDI technology and service delivery have made virtual desktops more affordable and simple to manage. In turn, VDI has become a much more attractive investment for many enterprises. Technology research and advisory company Technavio recently estimated the VDI market will reach more than $14 billion by 2020.

Is VDI the Right Solution for Your Business? 

Whether your current infrastructure is ready for an upgrade, or you are looking for the right vehicle in which to meet your organization’s ambitious new initiatives, VDI is a viable option. Here are five signs that you should be investing in VDI today.

Sign 1: Current Desktops Are at the End of Their Life Cycle

If your current desktops are reaching the end of their life cycles, then it is time to start planning your budget for their replacement. To purchase brand new desktops, you will have to allow room for a significant capital expense. To make the management of this expense simpler, virtual desktops are hosted in the cloud, and can be allocated as a monthly service, or a monthly operating expense. Therefore, you can plan and manage your investment in virtual desktops as a fixed, monthly OpEx, as opposed to a CapEx.

Sign 2: New Initiatives Are Creating the Need for New Solutions

As the speed of technological innovation increases, many organizations are launching new products and services. These new initiatives are creating the need for new internal solutions to facilitate design and development, deployment, sales, and service. There are many capabilities offered by VDI that can help you streamline your organization and offer greater flexibility to your employees, including enhanced communication, file-sharing, and collaboration.

VDI is also simple and efficient to manage. With VDI, you can manage all desktops for your entire organization, no matter how widely distributed they are geographically, from one interface. You can re-distribute the time and money your organization saves from minimizing desktop management to other goals in your strategic initiatives.

Sign 3: Company Growth and Expansion

As companies grow and expand, they often branch out geographically, hiring remote workers, opening new branch offices or additional retail locations. With traditional desktops, the IT staff would be required to travel to their branch’s headquarters to maintain desktop computers.

With VDI, most maintenance can be conducted remotely. In addition, it is simple to add or remove virtual desktops. VDI makes it very easy and cost-effective for an organization to accommodate growth and expansion by providing the ability to add or remove virtual desktops whenever and wherever needed.

Sign 4: Specialized Use Cases

Some organizations have specialized needs when it comes to desktop computers. For example, colleges often provide computer labs furnished with desktop computers for students. These desktops need protection from user error, malware, and intentional misuse. Virtual desktops are in widespread use among colleges because they can be easily deployed, yet safely administered, from the cloud.

Financial institutions also use VDI solutions because they meet the strict financial industry compliance requirements and offer enhanced security options.

These are just two examples of the many kinds of specialized use cases that can be addressed with a VDI solution.

How to Choose the Right VDI Solution 

Now that you are aware that it’s time to invest in virtual desktops, here are a few questions to help you determine what kind of VDI solution will work best for your organization:

  • How many end-users do you need to accommodate?
  • How many devices are near the end of their life cycles?
  • What applications do you need?
  • How much storage, memory, and CPU performance do your applications require?
  • Do you have to meet any industry-related compliance requirements?

This list should help you get started with the VDI selection process. In addition, a high-quality VDI solution provider, like Oxford Networks, can answer your specific questions and help you design the right VDI to fit the needs of your organization.

You can learn more about the benefits of virtual desktops, plus find out the latest on IT security and disaster recovery at the Oxford 2017 Cloud Connect Summit.