Remote and hybrid working relies heavily on the virtualisation of certain business processes. Virtualisation simply means hosting business processes in a cloud-based environment, rather than on computers or servers that are on-premises. If you are interested in this, you can consult a managed IT services provider, who could assist you with virtualising your business.

  • Cloud Storage – it is important for company data to be stored centrally in a secure cloud. For one thing it is much more secure – you can put policies in place that stop data being copied or moved anywhere other than company-approved locations, which prevents data theft or leakage. But in the context of virtualising your business, making data accessible from the cloud is necessary if you are going to have employees working remotely with the use of virtual apps or desktops.
  • Virtualised Servers – one of the key benefits of virtualising your business is it allows much more flexibility among your employees with where and how they work. One of the first steps of this process can be moving your on-site servers into a cloud-hosting service – such as Microsoft Azure. It can also offer cost-saving benefits as well. For example, cloud-hosting of servers can be a fraction of the cost of installing physical servers; you can scale the usage of cloud servers so you’re only ever paying for exactly what you use.
  • Virtualised Apps – Applications are something that, historically, needed to be stored locally. But this is no longer the case. Just like servers, applications can be hosted on services like Microsoft Azure. This way, you can have applications rolled out to an entire company’s users, and managed entirely by your IT support provider. Your employees won’t have to worry about installing anything, and updates to applications can be applied much more easily, and you can be sure that all your users have received that update.
  • Virtual Desktops – this solutions lends itself very well to remote working, and other trends that have been around for a while, like Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) polices. It works by installing a remote desktop client on your device – through that client, you can access virtual desktops prescribed to you by your organisation. Once again, this means you don’t have to go through lots of installations of software (except for the remote desktop client) to have access to work resources. 

So, as more and more businesses begin to virtualise their organisations, perhaps it’s time you consider it as well. Whether you have the abilities to do this all in-house, or if you do it with the help of an IT support provider, it is well worth the effort.