How virtualisation technology will drive productivity and innovation in 2014

There’s no denying that the introduction of desktop PCs into the workplace resulted in a huge growth in productivity for people all over the world but this also provided new challenges in terms of management. As a result, IT was forced to evolve in order to simplify both hardware and software and create standardised IT solutions. This has been in stark contrast to the evolution of mobile devices, where ‘standard’ is the last term you’d use to describe them. Employees are using multiple devices, switching between them and expecting the same high level of experience across the board. What’s more, their purchase is not dictated by IT. Despite agreement from users that carrying around all these devices is far from ideal, they get on with it as each device (be it a smartphone, tablet, laptop, thin client, etc.) proves useful for different tasks. However, they can’t be equally productive across every device. As a result, I believe a significant theme we will see in 2014 is the progression of end-user computing, particularly towards organisations implementing virtualisation technology to enable multi-device management, resulting in improved employee productivity. Taking this into account, I therefore believe that the key trends which we will see dominate 2014 and dictate how companies will conduct their business in the future, are as follows:

A hybrid model with be the norm
We’ve seen the desktop evolve from the traditional Windows environment that we’ve always been used to. It’s now become an amalgamation of Windows, cloud and SaaS applications, along with data residing on-premises or in cloud storage that needs to be accessed from any device at any time.

We’ll continue to see this develop in 2014, as the end-user computer experience continues to take on a hybrid form of different elements. What’s more, access to hybrid applications, hybrid application delivery and hybrid data from any device is quickly becoming perfectly normal.

WaaS makes its debut
We’ll see, therefore, that the next generation of virtualisation solutions for end-user computing, will relate to delivering a virtual desktop, or DaaS (Desktop as a Service). Rather, it will be created to give mobile devices a virtual workspace. So there will be a change in thinking to address users, applications and data instead of desktops.

We’re also going to witness a fundamental change in both engineering and user experience. This will be in reference to how a user will access their files or information on a touch-enabled device. This year will mark the evolution of DaaS into a new offering known as WaaS (Workspace as a Service). In fact, we’ve already seen WaaS cropping up on leading analyst houses’ radar, including those of Gartner, Forrester and IDC.

Growth of tablet capabilities
When you look at tablets and PCs side by side, it seems like the former are always coming up short as a result of their limited capabilities. Realistically they have only been providing a fifth of comparable functionality to a desktop PC or laptop. This will change in 2014, however, with users being given the ability to get more than half of their daily needs done on just a tablet.

Previously, only email, basic utility applications and some SaaS applications have been available on tablets. Often users have then had to turn to their laptops or desktops to get the remainder of tasks completed as the applications they need are not available on either iPad or Android tablets. The shift in capabilities we will see will be driven by business and productivity applications becoming available on tablets through a virtualised workspace.
Productivity on tablets and laptops or PCs will grow, with users able to view and work on all their business apps and their documents simply and securely, regardless of the kind of device.

Final thoughts
We can envisage exciting developments on the computing horizon as 2014 gets underway. End user productivity will see a major increase thanks to the development of new offerings. As the world becomes more mobile, I look forward to continuing to work on the cutting edge developments in the virtualisation market and seeing how these technological advancements meet users’ ever changing needs.