Businesses have long been using virtual desktops to increase security and convenience. With Windows 365, Microsoft has brought this powerful technology to everyone. Now, you can setup virtual desktops in minutes not months, and its so simple, anyone can do it.

Anyone currently using virtual desktops, or who is interested in using them soon, and who doesn’t know about W365, needs to read on!

Why virtual desktops to begin with?

There are many advantages to using virtual desktops. A few of these include:

  • They allow you to keep your work and personal files separate
  • Companies can deploy a virtual desktop and control everything that happens in it without necessarily having to secure the device accessing it
  • They solve very real mobility problems: when companies host applications at HQs but workers work from all over the world, a virtual desktop allows the end-user to feel as if they were right back at HQs; no need for database replication, triplicate hardware, MPLS or SD-WAN, etc.

What’s great about Windows 365?

Windows 365 DesktopHistorically, your IT provider had to create an entire server farm and do a lot of complex work to provide you with virtual desktops. This was expensive and time consuming, and required you to commit to the infrastructure over multiple years.

Plus, it required a lot of maintenance, troubleshooting, and upgrades. Virtual desktop farms are an art as much as a science; getting them right and keeping them right takes a lot of expertise, work, and investment.

With Windows 365, all that has changed. You can now get started with virtual desktops in minutes, not months. It’s as simple as checking out a Microsoft 365 license; in fact, that’s where it’s purchased and managed!

Plus, you only pay for what you use with no real commitment or CapEx If you lose an employee, you simply cancel the license and stop paying for it. Finally, it’s just more reliable. It works better than traditional RDS or even AVD, and does so effortlessly.

What you need to know about Windows 365

There are two iterations to choose from: Business and Enterprise. The main difference is that Enterprise gives you more control and flexibility over the service. For instance, you can extend your own self-hosted files and apps.

For most businesses that are all cloud, the Business iteration will suffice. You simply Azure AD Join the desktop and send your user a link. They login with M365 credentials and now have a fully-managed, professional PC to work on.

And you can even manage it with Intune (*restrictions apply).

Some Use Cases

So, now that you know all about W365, let’s look at a few use cases for it.

The first is remote workers. With W365, they can have a full PC experience without ever having to ship a desktop to their home. Simply send them the login link and they’re good to go!

The second is for contractors, frontline and temporary workers. You can quickly provision them a desktop that has all the apps and data they need, and when their contract is up, simply cancel the license. No muss, no fuss!

The third is for any virtual desktop use case. If you use RDS/Terminal Server, Citrix, or even Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD), W365 is likely superior.

Just like AVD, it further transforms more of your IT to work on Platform-as-a-Service, which means greater reliability and performance with less management. In short, superior economics.

What do you need to do next?

If you’re interested in learning more about Windows 365 and how it can benefit your business, reach out to your IT provider, a Microsoft Gold Partner, or consider calling Accellis, any of whom can help get you started.

You can also watch this video from Microsoft for a detailed overview:

P.S. In the time you spent reading this post so far, we could already have deployed your new virtual desktop to every end-user at your company.