An Introductory Buyer’s Guide

FOUR KEY REQUIREMENTS FOR BUILDING A

DIGITAL WORKSPACE

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Table of ContentsIntroduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Why Digital Workspace? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

An Unmatched Identity-Based Contextual Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

A Strategy for Unified Endpoint Management and Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Delivering Windows as a Service with Virtual Desktops and Apps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Enterprise-Ready Mobile Collaboration Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Wrap-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Buying Criteria Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

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IntroductionBusinesses of all sizes are creating a digital workspace, delivering anytime, anywhere access to all applications, services, and resources across all devices—desktops, tablets, and smartphones.

With a digital workspace, people can use any desktop or device—BYO or corporate-owned—at any time while IT administrators safely automate application distribution and updates on the fly. Enterprises that deploy the digital workspace can easily embrace heterogeneity because identity access and personalization transcends every application, across every device.

This paper provides guidance for creating the most effective virtual workspace solution to empower your workforce. Four considerations that directly impact the success of your digital workspace strategy are discussed in detail. Recommendations for the most critical specifications are given to help you define an effective digital workspace strategy for your enterprise.

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An Unmatched Identity-Based Contextual Experience

A Strategy for Unified Endpoint Management and Security

Delivering Windows as a Service with Virtual Desktops and Apps

Enterprise-Ready Mobile Collaboration Applications

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2

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To create the most effective virtual workspace solution to empower your workforce, consider :

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Why Digital Workspace?The digital workspace is the defining model for end-user computing in the mobile-cloud era.

Organizations delivering a digital workspace are enabling users to gain the greatest benefit

from a portfolio of devices and applications that are increasingly diverse and heterogeneous.

The rapid adoption of new modern apps (SaaS and mobile) coupled with the proliferation of

mobile devices has introduced new challenges in the work environment. Organizations are

facing a critical inflection point to either ignore these trends at the peril of unintended security

breaches or to embrace a new way of working and leveraging a new management framework.

The digital workspace redefines the way IT delivers applications and services to users across

all devices and operating systems. It also fundamentally changes how users do their jobs in a

way that is consumer-simple, enterprise-secure, and transparent to the user. To protect the

most sensitive information, the digital workspace combines identity and device management,

enforcing access decisions based on a range of conditions such as strength of authentication,

network, location, and device compliance. Shifting from a focus on endpoint management to a

focus on application management, IT teams gain a uniform management experience for their

entire fleet of desktops—including those upgraded to Windows 10—as well as BYO devices.

Rapid business shifts cannot be supported by silos. Yet many systems are currently designed

to operate within four primary solitary groups: Identity, Mobile, Desktop, and Windows Apps.

As long as these groups continue to run as silos, there cannot be a strategic platform for

delivering all applications in the consistent manner needed to meet digital transformation

business demands.

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Driving the Digital Workspace

EnterpriseSecure

ConsumerSimple

Apps and Identity

Desktop Mobile

Management andSecurity

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Buying Criterion #1

An Unmatched Identity-Based Contextual ExperienceExperience needs to be consistent across devices, yet it needs to be contextual based on the

device and the location or networks from which users access the applications. Identity-based

contextual experience provides self-service access based on users’ identity and the context in

which they’re trying to use information to give them access to every possible application they

need and a platform that can deliver any app.

The most successful digital workspace will integrate information architecture, bringing

together a simple experience for end users—driven by individual identity and context at each

point in time when they access an application. Contextual experience means that the user

receives an optimized view and information based on the type of device being used. A

seamless experience means that they access the same information across devices—a big

screen, like a laptop or desktop, or a smaller screen, like their tablet or mobile device.

Buying Criterion #2

A Strategy for Unified Endpoint Management and SecurityAs you think about endpoint strategy, you need to consider management and security—

thinking about desktop and mobile in a unified fashion. Endpoint management and security is

now fundamentally transformed and blended so you can do it in a much simpler way across

your desktop and mobile real estate. Management and security were previously viewed as

two separate things; but in a world where security is critical, they are merging.

Management has traditionally been update and image management, application distribution,

and monitoring. That was how software was configured, based on the setup scenario that

every possible desktop was connected to a single secured network. As devices started

connecting to the Internet, security became an increasing concern—antivirus, encryption,

access control, document protection, writes management, policy access. Lines drawn

between management and security were clear.

This is not the case with mobile device management. Mobile devices can connect to a single

cloud-based control point, which have become increasingly intelligent and effective. Now,

technology is no longer simply pushing configurations onto the devices or monitoring the

devices. Instead, it is used for things like analytics, device configuration, or to provide access

or even authentication policies.

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Buying Criterion #3

Delivering Windows as a Service with Virtual Desktops and AppsTraditional desktop management over the past 15 years involved imaging the desktop

environment with applications, turning them into a single image, and deploying that image on

a physical desktop or laptop for the user. Using this method meant setting up massive

back-end infrastructure, spending unreasonable amounts of time on tasks using legacy tools,

and lots of app failures and downtime. Updating applications was even more cumbersome

and providing users with a consistent experience was unheard of.

But times have changed. Virtual desktops and apps that allow Windows to be delivered as a

service ensure that IT can now easily support end users, maximize productivity, and keep

costs under control. What’s more, organizations now have the flexibility and freedom to take

advantage of desktop and applications on-premises, as a cloud service, or via a hybrid

deployment model. Organizations can simply choose the model that best meets their

budgets and use cases.

When it comes to desktop and application virtualization, ensuring that applications are

seamlessly delivered to end users is incredibly important. When done well, unified application

and user management can improve employee productivity and streamline day-to-day

mangement. A simplified application lifecycle management approach can relieve IT of

unnecessary steps in the app delivery, update, and retirement process. Additionally, providing

contextual profile and policy management alongside application management ensures that

end users can have a consistently great experience across a range of devices and locations.

And proactive application and desktop monitoring can further reduce support costs and

improve user experience.

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Buying Criterion #4

Enterprise-Ready Mobile Collaboration ApplicationsWe work with applications, and we work with people. We need to be able to have key

applications that enable collaboration, especially when we are using mobile devices.

Ultimately, two heads are better than one.

There are two things critical to any worker: information and people. Information and content

is accessed using the information architecture just discussed. People and collaboration are

critical for business success. And a key set of mobile applications that enables that next

generation of collaboration with enterprise-great security is what brings them together.

The rapid adoption of mobile is furthering enabling both rapid access to information and

content collaboration. Consider the power of mobile applications. Companies are building

products, delivering services, and driving change in a more agile way, and much of their work

involves people working globally across a range of applications—sending information from

mail to some kind of a social system, then using systems like Jira or GitHub to quickly

collaborate. The power of mobile collaboration comes full circle when users have a simple way

to share documents and receive the right degree of notifications on mobile devices.

Wrap-UpEnterprises today are experiencing a digital transformation. Regardless of the industry

association—be it healthcare, government, food and agriculture, or manufacturing—

businesses are revitalizing themselves through technology to make processes more efficient.

This means a significant amount of change IT needs to support at a rapid-fire pace.

The need to enable the digital workspace environment is driving IT departments to think out

of the box and adopt new ways of doing work. Addressing the requirement for users to

simply and securely work on any app on any device is driving this evolution. Unfortunately,

developing a digital workspace that is both consumer-simple and enterprise-secure can be

challenging, but, if you have gotten this far, you are off to a great start.

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Buying Criteria Checklist The following checklist is based on the digital workspace buying criteria considerations

covered in this paper. When creating a robust digital workspace, be sure to factor in your

needs for most (if not all) of the following requirements for your solution.

UNIFIED APPLICATION CATALOG AND LAUNCHER

Customizable Workspace Web Portal (Public / SaaS, Internal Web, Native Mobile / App / VMware ThinApp®)

Native Workspace App (iOS, Android, Windows 10)

Web/SaaS/Public Mobile / Native Mobile Apps

App Store Integration (Google / Apple / Microsoft)

IDENTITY AND ACCESS MANAGEMENT

Identity Federation (SSO) with AD Integration

SAML Identity Provider and Provisioning Framework

Multi-Factor Authentication Supported

Conditional Access (User, Device Type, Network, Authentication Strength, Device Compliance, Device Location)

App Reporting and Analytics

Passcode Management

One-Touch Single Sign-On (SSO)

PRODUCTIVITY AND COLLABORATION APPS

Email, Calendar, Contacts

Content Locker

Chat

UNIFIED APPLICATION AND DEVICE MANAGEMENT

Device Organization / Group Management

Device Configurations

Remote Wipe

Mobile App Wrapping and SDK Support

DEVICE COMPLIANCE AND ENFORCEMENT

Jailbreak / Root Protection

Application Whitelist / Blacklist

GPS and Geofencing

OS Version Control

Compliance Escalation

Partial Wipe

Full Wipe

DATA LOSS PREVENTION AND VPN

Application Containerization Controls

“Open In” Controls

Email Attachment Management

Tunnel and Secure Browser

VMware, Inc . 3401 Hillview Avenue Palo Alto CA 94304 USA Tel 877-486-9273 Fax 650-427-5001 www.vmware.comCopyright © 2016 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. This product is protected by U.S. and international copyright and intellectual property laws. VMware products are covered by one or more patents listed at http://www.vmware.com/go/patents. VMware is a registered trademark or trademark of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies. Item No: 7242-VM-DIGITAL-WORKSPACE-BUYERSGD-WEB 09/16