Today, in the world of enterprise technology, the challenges posed by legacy Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) systems have long been a source of concern for IT departments. In many instances, this promising solution has become an organizational burden, hindering progress, depleting resources, and taking a psychological and operational toll on employees.

The transformation of outdated VDI infrastructure into a cloud-first approach can be revolutionary for businesses; however, making the switch is not always that simple. Costs, change management, and training are only a few of the concerns, and a new infrastructure can seem very daunting, even more so when an organization has invested time and money over the years in their original systems. Still, modernization is a necessity for business continuity and maintaining a competitive edge.

The Challenges of Legacy VDI Systems

While offering proven value in the areas of security, IT control, and end-user freedom to work from almost anywhere, legacy VDI systems oftentimes involve a rigid infrastructure, prolonged transition periods, and a need for frequent updates which can lead to a significant time and resource burden for IT teams. To best enable end-users for the modern era of hybrid computing and reduce emotional, financial, and organizational costs, IT leaders must turn to modern, cloud-first solutions.

The dated technology of the traditional VDI means a more complex environment that requires constant upkeep of various components such as brokers, portals, and licensing servers. Coupled with the impacts of latency on a widely dispersed workforce and lack of flexibility, this may not be resolvable with modern solutions. Legacy VDI systems now tend to eat up budgets, in fact the financial drain from hidden costs — including downtime — can be devastating.

Furthermore, the length of time required to expand and scale legacy VDI operations can extend over several months or even years. This hampers business agility, consuming valuable time for IT teams and posing extensive disruption for end-users. IT resources become overextended, which can lead to overall operational inefficiency.

The New Era of VDI

Amidst the complexities of legacy VDI based on 20+ year old approaches and technologies, there is a growing need for a more efficient and adaptable solution that can alleviate the strain on IT departments. As businesses seek to enhance processes and move into the future, the focus shifts towards solutions that offer a unified and agile approach. The answer is in the cloud. More specifically, a hybrid multi-cloud approach that instantly modernizes VDI and vastly simplifies VDI implementation, management, and operation.

Modernizing VDI with cloud-first systems streamlines operations and enhances overall organizational efficiency. The challenge of updating or scaling the service is no longer a roadblock. Modern VDI empowers seamless accommodation of growth or shifting business needs without compromising performance. The operation and deployment of virtual desktops and applications can be managed in a unified system that negates the need for a complex web of management tools.

Modern VDI solutions are deployable in weeks and can be scaled up or down in minutes. This saves valuable time for IT teams and end-users, reducing frustration and allowing for greater productivity and end-user satisfaction. End-user satisfaction cannot be understated, since recent trends over the past few years have shown that when today's workers grow dissatisfied in their jobs, they simply leave — often to a competitor!

For many large enterprises, an hour of downtime can result in lost production, totaling to a million dollars for every thousand users. Transformational VDI systems designed for optimal use of hybrid multi-cloud infrastructures allow for continuous reliability, reducing extremely costly downtime and productivity loss.

The transition away from legacy VDI is more than just a technology migration; it can transform business capabilities. CIOs and IT leaders must lean into the seismic shift to empower business processes, enhance performance reliability, and reduce the emotional burden — on both IT teams and end-users — of an outdated system. Organizations should thus consider an easily implemented and managed modern VDI solution that takes full advantage of the benefits and cost-savings opportunities that exist within the cloud.