User Virtualization

The primary driver of today’s IT leaders is to enable better business management and execution, putting business needs at the center of IT service delivery. But as technology becomes more embedded in our personal as well as business lives, the ’tech savvy’ employee is increasingly becoming the norm rather than the exception. Whether it’s applications or devices, or how these are configured, users cite choice, flexibility and personalization as key enablers of productivity, creativity and overall effectiveness.

Considered in the context of ongoing management of end user computing and periodic desktop modernization, however, the increased emphasis on the user needs and wants presents IT with new challenges. The imperative to maintain security and control costs is often at odds with user flexibility.

Enter ’user virtualization’, an emerging technology that enables the central management of users’ profiles, settings and policies independently of the physical or virtual devices they use. We discuss how this user-centric approach can make life easier for IT departments, and enable the triangle of business, IT and user needs to be better balanced.

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Tony is an IT operations guru. As an ex-IT manager with an insatiable thirst for knowledge, his extensive vendor briefing agenda makes him one of the most well informed analysts in the industry, particularly on the diversity of solutions and approaches available to tackle key operational requirements. If you are a vendor talking about a new offering, be very careful about describing it to Tony as ‘unique’, because if it isn’t, he’ll probably know.