Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) has been a workhorse for the energy industry, but today’s widely distributed workforce demands more. As remote work becomes the norm, the focus is shifting towards next-generation solutions that deliver a more dynamic and secure work experience.
Energy organizations tend to be vast and widespread, sometimes supporting up to tens of thousands of remote employees across the world, and legacy solutions can no longer provide the full value they once delivered. In fact, legacy VDI struggles to keep pace with the energy industry's rapidly evolving needs. The explosive growth of the remote energy workforce and the industry's relentless pace of change have created challenges among traditional VDI solutions.
Frequently updating and maintaining these historical systems drains resources, time, and energy; and opens organizations to significant security risks. As technologies continue to evolve, energy companies have a chance to unlock new levels of productivity and growth. So, what modern strategies can they leverage to seize this opportunity?
Ditching a one-size-fits-all approach Global spending on digital transformation is expected to hit $3.4 trillion by 2026. Companies across industries are digitally transforming and leveraging cloud computing technologies to achieve operational excellence, minimize downtime, and meet the diverse needs of an increasingly dynamic workforce. However, cloud adoption for energy organizations isn't one-size-fits-all. It’s crucial to implement cloud solutions tailored to businesses’ specific needs.
As the industry’s workforce models adapt to a decentralized environment, additional flexibility is required. The strategic implementation of modern cloud-native VDI solutions is critical to ensuring that enterprises’ cloud adoption aligns with their unique enterprise roadmap. Regardless of their deployment strategy, on-premises, hyperscale cloud providers, or the increasingly popular hybrid approach. Companies must be able to optimize workloads across multiple regions but move to the cloud at their own pace.
Siemens Energy is a prime example of the energy industry’s contemporary approach to VDI. The organization sought a unified solution to eliminate the complexities deploying and managing workloads across disparate cloud and on-premises environments. Minimizing downtime was also a requirement, as even brief outages translate to significant lost revenue and disruptions to critical operations.
To empower their geographically diverse workforce, Siemens searched for solutions that optimized productivity for its many remote workers by matching or exceeding the performance of on-premises solutions. To empower its geographically scattered workforce of over 90 countries, Siemens required a hybrid on-premises/multi-cloud solution capable of handling a diverse range of applications, encompassing demanding GPU and CAD workloads.
The ability to process performance-intensive workloads is crucial to energy companies, regardless of where their workers are. Architects and engineers in this sector routinely use processing-intensive workloads to perform critical tasks including:
- Deploying modeling apps to pinpoint the most efficient ways to capture and transport energy once tapped.
- Leveraging precise electronic tools like fiber optic HD cameras to probe and test possible energy sources.
- Engaging with modeling and simulation technologies to identify new energy sources and geo locations.
Flexibility is key
Energy companies and infrastructure providers are embracing new technologies, but success hinges on selecting adaptable solutions that can navigate the inherent complexities of their operations. Inflexible solutions can expose companies to heightened cybersecurity risks, potentially leading to significant financial losses and brand erosion. Insufficient technology choices can also trigger a costly domino effect of decreased productivity and reduced ROI. Other consequences include user performance inefficiencies that result in lost productivity, challenges scaling the business, a lack of actionable, global oversight, and inconsistent reliability.
Businesses clinging to expensive and outdated systems risk stagnating profits, especially with growing remote work demands. Modern solutions, such as cloud-native VDI, provide a powerful alternative, offering the agility needed for robust security, seamless continuity, and optimal employee productivity – regardless of users’ locations.
Embracing a new era of end-user computing
The energy industry is embracing a new wave of VDI solutions specifically designed for today's dynamic workforce. These modern VDI platforms go beyond traditional systems, offering superior efficiency, reliability, scalability, and flexibility. This allows them to meet the ever-changing demands of a digital world while seamlessly handling the workload-intensive applications unique to the energy sector.
Siemens Energy serves as an example of how modern VDI is transforming on-premises, cloud, and hybrid computing environments. This innovative approach empowers them to deliver a wider range of applications to a geographically diverse workforce. Beyond the typical benefits of enhanced availability, scalability, and cost reduction, Siemens Energy unlocks significant advantages in security, real-time user experience observability, and the ability to distribute workloads across multiple clouds and regions. This translates to a performance boost, including access to powerful GPU and CAD computing capabilities.
By embracing modern VDI, Siemens Energy now boasts increased efficiency, thanks to streamlined workflows and improved resource utilization. Additionally, a cloud-native VDI approach has strengthened their business continuity plan, ensuring minimal disruption in the face of challenges. The financial impact is undeniable, with VDI contributing to a significant increase in both ROI and total cost of ownership TCO optimization for Siemens' technology investments. This newfound agility has empowered them to scale their business effectively, further contributing to their leadership position in the market.
Paving a digitally advanced path forward
Leading enterprises like Siemens Energy are pioneering a hybrid approach. They're strategically combining multi-cloud and on-premises VDI solutions under a single, centralized management system. This innovative strategy unlocks the flexibility to deploy workloads tailored to the specific needs of their global workforce. The result? Consistent performance, robust control, and unwavering security, regardless of location or environment.
By integrating modern VDI strategies and solutions, enterprises can effectively adapt to the dynamic demands of the modern digital landscape while equipping their workforce with reliable tools for seamless efficiency, free from concerns of downtime or disruptions. Organizations are now empowered to swiftly address and mitigate disruptions among users and environments - optimizing productivity and minimizing operational disturbances.
Brad Tompkins comes to Workspot with more than 25 years of experience in software and hardware sales. Prior to joining his role as CEO of Workspot, he held the position of Chief Revenue Officer at IGEL. Brad held senior sales leadership positions with Red Hat, Hewlett Packard (now Hewlett Packard Enterprise), and with Citrix. Tompkins holds an MBA in Business Administration and Management from the University of Virginia, Darden Graduate School of Business Administration and served in the US Navy as a Nuclear Propulsion Technician.
