Maximize productivity, security, and controlling costs with Leostream
BOSTON – December 12, 2023 – Organizations using remote desktop access solutions have multiple opportunities to optimize their resources and environments for productivity, security, and cost goals. Companies that first shifted to work-from-home and hybrid workforces three years ago are particularly urged to ensure systems are still meeting their needs, and make adjustments that maximize their utility, according to experts at Leostream™, the world’s leading Remote Desktop Access Platform provider.
Below are seven ways a remote access solution can be optimized and modernized to maintain its value:
1. Optimize for resource availability
In a modern workplace, workers may be located across the country or even the world. Connecting a worldwide workforce to a single brick-and-mortar data center impacts productivity due to connection lag and potential lack of capacity. Instead, go hybrid and utilize cloud resources so the remote access platform can direct users and traffic to corporate resources based on the user’s location and manage cloud capacity to ensure resources are always available.
2. Optimize for network access
The remote access platform’s primary job is giving users access into your network. Decommission any clunky corporate VPNs and upgrade to a gateway that permits users to access only the specific resources they have permission to use, automatically. A properly architected system efficiently manages network access to any of the different hosting platforms in use, all from a common connection management system.
3. Optimize for security
Security in a remote access solution is obviously a high priority, and any time’s the right time for a security checkup. Implement strict multi-factor authentication and enforce stringent access control rules that are flexible enough to accommodate users switching projects or locations. For authentication, the remote access solution should integrate with and use the corporate Identity Providers (IdPs) that employees are already familiar with, and be able to leverage the attributes provided by those IdPs, apart from the user’s location, device, etc., as access control rules are enforced.
4. Optimize for end user experience
Integrate the remote access solution with all the disparate cloud and on-premises hosting providers in your environment, so there’s no loss of productivity from end users trying to remember what portal they use to access the specific resources they need. Keep in mind those needs may change daily as the user moves locations or switches projects. A single portal that allows end users to access everything is far more efficient.
5. Optimize for application performance
Similarly, the platform needs to use the appropriate technology to connect remote users to the resource, based on criteria like the worker’s current task, device, and the resource itself. That comes down to having the right display protocols for everyone. Ideally the remote access solution automatically assigns the proper display protocol so end users don’t have to launch different software clients or go to different portals. It’s a good idea to review display protocols to ensure power users get adequate application performance and average users can use a commodity display protocol like RDP. The added benefit is you may minimize licensing costs for those specialty protocols.
6. Optimize for cloud costs
The best platforms help contain runaway cloud costs because they’re tuned into processes like capacity, data transfers, and power state of the cloud that your workers access. You can configure rules that launch or power on instances only when they are needed, and then terminate or power down when users are done or idle. This is particularly helpful in high-performance computing, which comes with higher compute costs compared to standard corporate workloads, but it’s worth implementing across the different providers and should be controlled from a single portal.
7. Optimize for IT ease
A remote access solution ultimately needs to be designed for efficient management. As IT teams shrink, and are obligated to do more with less, the remote access platform needs to pull its weight. Aside from offering single-portal management, even to a hybrid environment, it must give detailed access logs to ensure the security of the environment, track the resources accessed by users and devices, end-user connections, source locations, volumes/machines accessed, and session durations. Simply put, it must make the job easier, not more difficult.
“A well-designed remote access solution helps mitigate risks associated with lost productivity, it helps lower costs by controlling your cloud environment, and it ensures security with strict authentication and authorization built on zero-trust concepts,” said Leostream CEO Karen Gondoly. “A remote access solution must deliver a lot for both IT and the end users, and unfortunately it can squander a lot of resources when it’s not architected well.”