What is desktop as a service (DaaS)?
A virtual desktop houses an employee’s entire desktop—icons, wallpaper, windows, folders, toolbars, widgets, etc.—on a cloud-based remote server, instead of on the employee’s PC or other device. This gives employees anytime/anywhere access to their entire business desktop from multiple onsite or remote devices, such as their home PC, smartphone or tablet.
Desktop as a service delivers a cloud-hosted virtual desktop as a paid subscription, usually by the seat. A third-party service provider delivers a single application to multiple users, or "tenants," and manages the desktop infrastructure.
What are the business benefits of desktop as a service?
By switching from traditional, locally managed desktop environments to a virtual desktop as a service, an organization can:
- Help employees be more productive, since all they need is an Internet connection from any device, anywhere.
- Streamline the provision of new desktops and reduce the IT support costs of user desktop management.
- Eliminate the need for IT teams to install, update and patch applications, back up files, and scan for viruses on individual client devices.
- Streamline management of software assets.
- Increased agility and flexibility, using a simple subscription-based model that allows scaling up or down depending on demand.
- Optimize data and device security, since confidential company data no longer resides on personal devices that can be lost, stolen or hacked.
- Extend the life of older PCs and notebooks by converting them to “thin client” devices that perform only as a virtual desktop.
