In today’s hybrid workforce, businesses need technology that not only empowers employees to work from anywhere but does so with ironclad security measures. HP Digital Workspace, powered by HP Anyware, is a comprehensive solution that addresses this need by delivering high-performance virtual work environments.

When complemented with zero trust principles, HP Anyware provides a seamless, secure experience, aligning with today’s remote work demands while reducing cyber risk.

The Value Of HP Digital Workspace With HP Anyware

HP Digital Workspace is built to meet the challenges of remote work by giving employees consistent access to their work tools and resources, no matter where they are located. Through the HP Anyware platform, organizations can provide employees with virtual workspaces that deliver high-quality, secure performance across various devices, making it an ideal solution for industries requiring robust computing resources.

HP Anyware’s digital workspace includes:

• Unified Access: Employees can access the same applications and data regardless of their location, with consistent performance across laptops, desktops, and mobile devices.
• Optimized Performance: Even high-performance applications, like graphic design software or engineering programs, function seamlessly through virtual workspaces, minimizing performance discrepancies often associated with remote work.
• Simplified IT Management: IT teams can centrally manage these virtual workspaces, streamlining support and reducing time spent on device configuration and maintenance.

Elevating Security With Zero Trust Architecture

Integrating Zero Trust with HP Anyware takes digital workspace security a step further. In a Zero Trust framework, every user, device, and application must be verified before accessing corporate resources. This approach helps ensure that each access request is thoroughly vetted, reducing unauthorized access and cyber threats. HP Anyware Trust Center offers a central console that simplifies Zero Trust policies, ensuring secure and streamlined user experiences.

Key Zero Trust Security Components in HP Digital Workspace:

• Continuous Verification: Every access request is verified in real-time, ensuring only authorized users can enter the network.
• Endpoint Compliance: Devices must meet pre-set compliance standards, like operating system versions and patch updates, before connecting, minimizing exposure to security vulnerabilities.
• Data Protection: Zero Trust principles also allow organizations to monitor data access patterns. In the event of unusual activity, the system restricts access until an administrator intervenes, helping protect sensitive data from being compromised.

Together, HP Anyware’s digital workspace and Zero Trust architecture enable organizations to manage security without impeding workflow, enhancing both protection and productivity.

WEI Podcast: Becoming An Insights-Driven Enterprise With HPE Storage Solutions

How HP Digital Workspace And Zero Trust Meet Enterprise Needs

For IT executives, supporting a hybrid workforce with a secure, reliable infrastructure is critical. HP Digital Workspace enables enterprises to provide robust computing resources without compromising security, while Zero Trust ensures that security perimeters are maintained regardless of where the user is located. Key benefits include:

• Enhanced User Experience: HP Digital Workspace provides a seamless user experience by optimizing application performance and reducing latency issues. With Zero Trust, employees enjoy a frictionless experience as verification and compliance checks run in the background.
• Improved Data Compliance and Security: Regulatory compliance is an ongoing priority for many organizations, and Zero Trust helps maintain this by continuously monitoring and logging access requests.
• Scalable, Flexible Solutions: With HP Anyware and Zero Trust, enterprises can scale their workforce infrastructure quickly and integrate additional security protocols as needed, supporting both current and future needs.

Digital Workspace KPIs To Measure

As digital workspaces and access software continue to evolve, IT must stay current on technology advancements and align them with business and employee needs. Tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) can help gauge the success of digital workspaces:

• Accelerated Time to Value: Assess the speed of deployment.
• Service Availability: Measure access reliability for employees and partners.
• User Experience: Evaluate ease of access, performance, and user satisfaction.
• Future-Ready Micro-Services: Track scalability and redundancy of workspace components.
• Cost of ؛£½اض±²¥: Compare ongoing implementation costs.
• Security Metrics: Measure efficiencies gained through enhanced security.
• Sustainability: Assess the impact on the company’s carbon footprint and endpoint longevity.

Looking Forward: Embracing A Secure Hybrid Work Future

As hybrid work continues to shape the future of business, a robust, secure digital workspace is more essential than ever. By combining the power of HP Digital Workspace with the security of Zero Trust, organizations can confidently support their remote workforce and safeguard their data.

Final Thoughts

Incorporating digital workspaces with a focus on security, performance, and user satisfaction can be transformative for any organization embracing hybrid work. As a trusted technology partner, WEI is here to help you navigate every stage of this journey. If you have questions about implementing HP Digital Workspaces, Zero Trust, or optimizing KPIs, reach out to WEI today to learn how our solutions and expertise can support your team’s success.

Next steps: CIOs are faced with complexities in the data center as they are asked to minimize costs and optimize for efficiency. This is a challenge as IT leaders juggle priorities around the cloud, IoT, and more. In this video, WEI and HP identify five proven strategies where IT leaders can explore opportunities to drive efficiency in the data center.

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Digital transformation has become an essential element of any successful business, requiring creative solutions to stay ahead in the ever-evolving digital landscape. To do this, there must be sustainable digital innovation, as it enables companies to create new products and services, streamlines core operations for efficiency gains, and strengthens customer relationships through improved engagement strategies, all while leveraging data insights and empowering employees.

Reevaluating Digital Transformation

Digital transformation has the power to revolutionize business operations and customer experiences in 2023 by providing greater security, convenience, and efficiency. To ensure the success of these efforts, IT leaders must team up with business strategists to identify essential areas for change that will give them a competitive edge in today’s rapidly evolving marketplace.

Digital innovation is also an increasingly important element to business success, especially with Dell Technologies’ recent highlighting the security strain on IT organizations. Digital transformation efforts are no longer just about speed and agility, but also risk management. Digital innovation and transformation took a huge leap forward in 2022, revolutionizing the way organizations secure their data, yet this progress also introduced potential privacy concerns. With these insights in mind, businesses must be prepared to face malware and ransomware.

Five Key Factors Of Digital Innovation

To maximize their digital innovation, IT leaders must remain mindful of these five key factors:

1. Increasing Agility And Business Outcomes With Multi-Cloud Flexibility

With digital innovation drastically changing the business landscape, it’s no surprise that of company leaders have identified a need for agile and scalable IT systems. To keep up with these demands, organizations are quickly transitioning to on-demand solutions, from private and public clouds to managed infrastructure as-a-Service (IaaS) offerings.

The implementation of a hybrid multi-cloud strategy can enable businesses to unlock the potential of digital innovation and transformation while providing the flexibility they need to meet their technology and business objectives. A multi-cloud strategy also allows for scaling up or down over time as workloads shift, ensuring that organizations have the ability to be responsive, scalable, and resilient across all platforms including on-premises, cloud, and edge infrastructure.

2. Improve Hybrid Work And Learning From Anywhere

Digital innovation has revolutionized the way we do business and education by allowing remote work to become an accepted norm. According to Forbes, 25% of professional jobs in North America will have been conducted remotely by the end of 2022 and will continue to increase in 2023. Remote working/learning conditions come with numerous advantages but require all parties involved to commit if they want these changes to result in lasting success.

3. Boost Digital Innovation With Data

Taking advantage of a modernized infrastructure that spans all environments will allow businesses to make the most out of their data by analyzing it at the edge in real time, aggregating it across clouds with unified policy management, and automating for consistent security posture.

4. Personalized And Productive Workspaces

IT leaders must prioritize creating personalized workspaces that allow employees secure access to PCs, displays, peripherals, and software so they can be productive no matter where they are working from. This will ensure the best digital transformation possible for organizations.

5. Evolving Intrinsic Security

As the digital age continues to evolve and organizations strive for greater technological advancement, they must remain mindful of cybersecurity threats. In 2020, these risks were heightened when many employees had to switch to remote work environments.

To stay ahead of the game, IT leaders should be aware of critical factors for digital innovation to make their digital transformation successful. Intrinsic security is a cornerstone element here, as integrating it into design, engineering, supply chain, and support will help minimize any possible vulnerabilities that can arise down the line.

Be Prepared For What’s Next

is devoted to enabling businesses across the globe to succeed in their digital transformation journey. Through cutting-edge innovation, they offer a range of solutions that can help future-proof organizations and enable them to stay competitive. At WEI, we have expertise on all Dell systems and can provide custom solutions for those looking to achieve desired business goals through digital innovation and transformation. Contact us today.

Next Steps: Discover the importance of safeguarding your company’s data and why your enterprise should invest in data security solutions by downloading our tech brief, .

The post Unlock Meaningful Digital Transformation: 5 Key Factors Of Digital Innovation appeared first on IT Solutions Provider - IT Consulting - Technology Solutions.

Regardless of the industry, all enterprises are looking for strategies to improve their organizations and stay competitive in the market. However, when it comes to technological innovation, there’s one piece in particular that often blocks the way forward: the human element. While computers may still lack the creativity that sets the human mind apart, artificial intelligence (AI) has become an increasingly important part of modern computing, especially when it comes to processing and managing data.

This has never been more apparent than over the last year and half. In the midst of a global pandemic, enterprises utilizing AI in ways that reduced in-person hours reported that repetitive, day-to-day tasks, especially within the data center architecture, faired the storm far better than other organizations. AI was also a critical component when it came to implementing and managing remote workforces.

A conducted by IBM shows that as a result of the global pandemic, many enterprises accelerated the adoption of AI in the workplace However, some have yet to implement AI in a significant way, citing barriers to adoption such as a lack of proper knowledge amongst the IT team and difficulties identifying where AI solutions will make the most impact within the digital environment.

If these challenges sound familiar, ‘s AI solutions can help. Keep reading to find out how!

Determine Your AI Strategy in 5 Steps

The first step to implementing any new technology is building your strategy. According to Dell, there are five steps that are essential to every artificial intelligence project.

1. Define your use case. How are you going to utilize AI? What are your goals? How will you measure success? Are your goals and implementation strategy feasible?
2. Assess data. What data will be involved in your AI initiatives? Where does that data live? How will it be accessed and how does it need to be prepared for your project?
3. Identify model. Determine which AI model will work best for your use case. Which tools are needed to create, train, and prove this model?
4. Optimize software ecosystem. How will you move your model into production? What is your development process going to look like?
5. Determine IT environment. Your desired outcomes will determine the type of deployment that will work best, whether that’s private, public, edge, or hybrid cloud. You should also determine your latency and throughput requirements, as well as any other specifications.

By following these five steps, you can be sure that you will be properly prepared when it comes time to actually implement your AI strategy.

Dell’s AI Solutions Can Help You Find Success

Once your plan is in place, it’s time to begin your implementation journey. Finding the right vendor to partner with is just as important as planning your strategy, so it’s something that should be carefully considered.

that support digital transformation and innovation efforts, Dell can assist you in all your AI initiatives, from the implementation phase to ongoing maintenance and security efforts.

As a Dell customer, you’ll also have access to the , Dell’s dedicated group of computer scientists, data scientists, engineers, and subject matter experts, all of whom are constantly pushing the boundaries and exploring new ways of utilizing these technologies.

Dell’s portfolio of AI and data solutions is also available in either direct or as-a-service management models, letting you choose the option that best suits your needs and budget.

If you’re looking for a partner to join you on your journey to AI implementation, look no further than Dell Technologies.

Are You Interested In Dell’s AI Solutions?

is committed to helping enterprises transform the way they do business. To support this, innovation is at the forefront of all their solutions, enabling you to transform your infrastructure and accelerate the innovation you need to stay competitive. If you’re ready to make AI work for your business, contact WEI to learn more about how we can help architect the right solution to power your AI initiatives. We have expertise across all Dell systems and can help build the right solution to achieve your desired business outcomes.

NEXT STEPS: Many of our customers choose to run their business on Dell VxRail. Find out the TOP TEN reasons why in our tech brief about the benefits of VxRail below. 

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Hybrid work has now replaced remote work as the new buzz word. Let’s be clear, however. Hybrid in this context represents mobility. Employees are going to be mobile, and the definition of the employee workspace is now changed forever.

The corporate office will become the hub of innovation, collaboration, and social interaction while the remote workspace will be where employees knock out work assignments and partake in their strings of video conferences. As the indicated, the five-day office week is probably over.

New Modern-Day PC is Needed

In 2020, companies rushed their employees out the door to the safety of their homes in response to the COVID outbreak. Back then, the aim was simply to get some sort of mobile device into the hands of those employees as quickly as possible. There was no time to think things through in that mad rush. But things have now calmed down and its evident that a new type of PC is required to enable the new mobile modern-day workforce. There was a time in which employees had a robust workstation at the office along with a mobile device that was sufficient to get them through while at home or on the road. That is no longer the case. Users need the same robust experience regardless of which workspace they happen to be operating from. A remote human experience depends on 4K ultra-HD videos, superior audio quality and screen sharing capabilities. These machines must have the resources to power these experiences along with multitasking and file transfers on top of it all. And then there is the issue of security as many of these machines will often operate in consumer grade networking environments. Sounds like we are going to need a whole lot more computers in the coming year.

The Great Refresh is Coming

Companies are recognizing that a supplementary computing device will not serve the needs of the modern-day workforce. Now consider the fact that Windows 11 has now been made available. It could be that of the great PC refresh. Both are projecting that PC shipments will be greater than 340 million units next year with continued demand through 2025. There are more things to consider for this looming refresh than computer specs and features. The way in which enterprises provision, manage, and support these machines must adapt to hybrid work models as well.

Traditional Provisioning Practices are Outdated

The old-style tradition of handing over a new corporate laptop to a user is a thing of the past. New hires need to have a corporate computing device in their hands on day one, regardless of where that first day on the job is spent. Existing employees need their essential devices refreshed without any disruption or making a special trip into the office. Dell deployment takes the mundane burdens of imaging and setting configurations out of the hands of internal IT and deliver devices right to the door of whatever workspace your users might be residing at the time with all the applications and settings preconfigured at the Dell factory. According to an IDC whitepaper, a zero-touch deployment helped reduced PC deployment times as much as 50 percent.

Are you Still Relying on Traditional Helpdesk Ticketing for Support?

It’s not just network latency you have to worry about. Work efficiency today is reliant on a proficient workstation experience. Small computer problems create latency throughout the workday. That’s why end user support is so critical today. But how does internal IT support remote machines? How do they get access to the BIOS and initiate a system reboot from afar? How much time is wasted having end users submit a ticket that must be read before being addressed?

The modern-day workforce requires a modern-day support system, and that is what Dell ProSupport Suite provides. The number of tickets drop when you have AI-driven telemetry and predictive analytics working to detect and proactively prevent issues involving operating systems, software upgrades, driver updates, patches, malware, and applicable hardware failures. Dell ProSupport Suite for PCs gives your IT teams complete visibility into their PC fleet as well as performance recommendations. According to a report conducted last year, customers using Dell ProSupport Plus resolved hard drive issues up to 84 percent faster. Should additional support ever be needed, your IT teams have access to advanced technology experts at any time who are specifically trained on every aspect of these devices.

Modern-Day PC Management

You can’t rely on Group Policy or on-premise systems to manage your remote PCs. With VMware Workspace ONE, your devices can be securely accessed from anywhere and your users can retain the same unified workspace across all their devices. According to a Forrester Study, Workspace One integration can help reduce resolution time for support calls by up to 50 percent. If you already have your own systems management platform such as Microsoft Endpoint Manager, that’s fine too as Dell can add your new machines into your existing environment.

Protecting the Modern-Day Workforce

A remote workspace must be considered a zero-trust environment. That means remote data is constantly under threat, which is why you need Dell Trusted devices. It’s not enough to safeguard PCs at or above the OS level. Dell gives you full visibility underneath the covers, giving you access to BIOS events and indicators of attack deep below the OS surface. Dell SafeGuard and Response uses AI and machine learning to identify and respond to hidden attacks. You also have the peace of mind that all sensitive data is automatically encrypted using Dell SafeData.

It’s not just your legacy machines you need to refresh. It’s your legacy approaches to provisioning, managing, supporting and securing those machines that need updating as well. Dell can upgrade it all, ensuring that you are prepared for the new modern-day workforce that needs to get to work.

Are Your Looking For A Partner To Support Your Remote Workforce?

is committed to helping enterprises transform the way they do business. To support this, innovation is at the forefront of all their solutions, enabling you to transform your infrastructure and accelerate the innovation you need to stay competitive. We have expertise across all Dell systems and can help architect a custom solution to achieve your desired business outcomes.

NEXT STEPS: Your business needs technology that is flexible enough to support a hybrid workforce. Download our tech brief for the TOP FIVE ways modern technology is empowering the remote workforce in our paper below.

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Today, there is an impetus among IT leaders to build stronger digital foundations, enabling their companies to head off future disruptions and secure long-term business success.

New, cloud-based operating models featuring greater speed, agility, and scalability can support the digital transformation enterprises across industries require. By leveraging cutting edge technologies to improve their use of data-driven insights, high-performing organizations can utilize these findings to drive business forward.

Redefining Digital Transformation

Although the benefits of digital transformation are well understood, its success takes on new meaning as we look to improve operations, customer experiences, and security in 2021. Technology leaders must identify the pressing challenges and opportunities of the day and work with business leaders to identify domains that are top priorities for change.

As describes, “the authentic, nimble, connected and collaborative companies will win in 2021 and beyond.” Here we examine some of the key lessons learned from 2020, followed by five considerations you should take into account as you accelerate digital innovation in your own company.

Speeding Up Innovation

Change in markets, supply chains, and expectations of customers and employees alike in 2020 taught us that many of the systems and processes that have supported us for years will not provide the lasting agility we need. It was companies that had already established the right partnerships and cloud-based technologies who responded to the COVID-19 crisis with success.

As shared by Dell in their report, prior to the disruptions of 2020, many companies found that their digital transformation efforts were lagging behind. As a result of the rapid change of the past year, enterprises are “bracing themselves for a challenging chapter ahead,” and prioritizing digital innovation throughout the business. In fact, according to Dell, 41% of companies surveyed for their report accelerated all or most of their digital transformation programs in 2020.

This is especially true for companies forced into a remote-work model who now perceive it as an important practice they will continue in some capacity for years to come. Struggling with new cybersecurity challenges forced companies to reimagine their technologies and best practices. Of the companies that fast-tracked their digital transformation efforts, Dell reported that the number one program prioritized was strengthening cybersecurity defenses.

Now, technology leaders must not only revisit these changes to assess them for long-term viability, but they must also find opportunities to introduce the agility they witnessed in 2020 into their business models. Automating key processes, adopting advanced analytics, and improving channels for customer engagement and response are all viable options.

Five Considerations To Start Accelerating Innovation Today

Today, we face an urgency for creativity in digital transformation and for greater receptivity to those changes among business leaders. Technology leaders can take the best lessons learned from 2020 and use them to improve digital strategies moving forward.

1. Speed and agility are determining factors for success.

Whether reviewing and implementing a new strategy or reallocating resources in the event of a crisis, enterprises with greater speed and agility, enhanced through digital transformation, are simply more successful. Cloud technologies helped leading companies minimize friction in business processes and arrive at value more quickly when their customers needed it most.

Of the companies surveyed by Dell, 74% reported they were currently investing in multi-cloud technology and 35% reported they would be investing within the next three years.

2. Renew focus on customers, build more holistic relationships.

Both consumer and business priorities have changed. There is a new impetus to reexamine what customer centricity means for B2B and B2C customers and how companies can deliver on enduring needs and expectations through new digital capabilities and experiences.

According to Dell, 74% of digital leaders set up new digital channels to support customers during the pandemic.

3. Cybersecurity requirements are evolving as our companies and employees evolve.

New cybersecurity threats emerged in 2020, and existing vulnerabilities also worsened as we changed the way we work. Transitioning employees to remote-work environments exposed vulnerabilities, for example. Now, data privacy and security concerns are more likely to create barriers to the digital transformation companies require.

Cybersecurity solutions must become core investments over the next three years to make the transformation in other areas of the business possible. Companies will need the right technologies and teams in place as they embrace other innovations, such as 5G infrastructure or democratized analytics.

As previously mentioned, Dell found that IT leaders are prioritizing cybersecurity efforts above all else, with 82% percent reporting a current investment in cybersecurity and privacy technology.

4. Workforces also need to transform.

Tech leaders cannot expect new technology adoption alone to solve their problems. They need employees who understand transformation, who can use those technologies to realize their goals.

Tech leaders should identify existing and new talent gaps alongside their digital transformation efforts. They should also identify digital solutions that present realistic opportunities in terms of closing up talent gaps to realize the capabilities they need. They can then “triage” their approach to closing that gap with three strategies: hiring new talent, reskilling existing employees, and automating processes for which manual work is no longer needed.

5. We need to keep learning, even as we scale.

Among other things, the events of 2020 presented business leaders with learning opportunities. They forced most companies to pivot dramatically, with varying degrees of success. But our learning hasn’t ended, in fact, companies must have an ingrained responsiveness as part of their operations so that they can succeed if either global or local crises strike again.

Helping You Prepare For What’s Next

is committed to helping enterprises transform the way they do business. To support this, innovation is at the forefront of all their solutions, enabling you to transform your infrastructure and accelerate the innovation you need to stay competitive. For more information about Dell’s capabilities and how their solutions can future-proof your digital transformation, contact WEI. We have expertise across all Dell systems and can help architect a custom solution to achieve your desired business outcomes.

NEXT STEPS: You might also be interested in this video we created in partnership with Dell to help you prepare for the Edge. Find out if your enterprise is really ready to mange data at the Edge in this short video below.

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I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “a company’s greatest asset is their employees.” However, they can only be your greatest asset when they have the tools they need to be successful. For this, and many other reasons, many enterprises are offering Apple products to their employees.

This is especially true as the need and desire for flexible working environments has grown. offers simplified deployment and management, all while offering superior security, interconnectivity between devices, and productivity benefits for users.

As an added bonus, Apple devices are a popular choice as personal tech devices, meaning there’s a good change your employees are already familiar with using Mac, iPhone, and iPad at home. This familiarity is an added productivity bonus, on top of letting your employees utilize devices they already know and love for work.

The Availability of New Technologies and Ease of Updates

There’s a reason why Apple is the gold standard for new and shiny pieces of tech. With frequent and significant upgrades to hardware and their signature operating systems, iOS, macOS, and now iPadOS, Apple offers your employees the latest and greatest in digital technology.

Recently, Apple announced a at , their annual worldwide developers conference. The news included the reveal of , , and All three will be available to the general public sometime this fall. In the meantime, it’s time for IT to see how these updates will impact the enterprise’s IT environment and get prepared for the switch.

Thankfully, Apple makes this easy too. While there are third-party alternatives for managing software patches and updates, Apple offers a cloud-based service called Software Update, which enables IT teams to apply security patches and operating system updates.

The service also publishes patches and updates for frequently used applications such as Safari and iTunes for added efficiency. Mac is pointed to the service by default, which automatically notifies end users of any patches and updates they need to apply, and then prompts them to execute the downloads. For enterprises, putting self-service in the hands of your users keeps them focused and productive and reduces IT support tickets.

Apple Offers Unbeatable ROI

Beyond all the previously mentioned benefits of Apple devices in the enterprise, your business will see additional savings when it comes to IT.

A found that when organizations decided to implement an employee choice program and offer Mac, they “reduced IT support costs, improved employee productivity and engagement, and improved overall security.”

By reducing the amount of time spent managing devices and responding to the help desk, Apple helps reduce overall costs and lets IT focus on more important and complex tasks.

BONUS: Read our 2-part blog series that shares the ROI highlights from Forrester’s TEI study about Mac.

Apple Helps Enterprises Keep Data Safe

Security is on everyone’s mind right now. New threats are popping up every day and the financial ramifications of a successful cyberattack just keep growing.

To help reduce the risk that cyberthreats pose, Apple has gone to great lengths to ensure the use of Apple devices in the enterprise does not pose a security risk.

Here are a few of the strategies and technologies utilized by Apple to ensure security:

• Secure startup processes
• Extensive system safeguards
• Strong passcode policies
• The Apple T2 Security Chip
• Runtime protection, sandboxing, and other tools used to ensure downloaded apps are only accessing data in pre-authorized ways

Over the last few years, Apple has emerged as an industry leader when it comes to user data privacy and security and has taken a firm stance on data protection as a corporation. Find out more about Apple’s security strategies from Apple CEO Tim Cook’s presented at the most recent Computers Privacy and Data Protection (CPDP) Conference.

Apple Authorized Resellers Can Help Enterprises Get Started

Enterprises looking to implement Apple devices can work with Apple Authorized Resellers to get started, as well as utilizing them for ongoing maintenance and support. As an Apple Authorize Reseller, WEI can help you quickly and efficiently integrate Apple into your enterprise with full lifecycle support, so you can deliver the user experience your employees have come to expect.

Are You Ready to Empower Your Employees with Apple In The Enterprise?

Implementing Apple for those employees who consistently request them drives productivity, collaboration, and creativity throughout the enterprise. Many of our customers have already made the transition to a blended Windows and Apple environment that enables employees to enjoy how they use technology in their jobs. Find out how WEI can help you create efficiencies with Apple device management and how our specialized services can help you roll out a user experience that will empower your employees to do their best work. Contact WEI today to find out how we are helping our employees deploy and manage Apple in the enterprise with full lifecycle support.

NEXT STEPS: Get our official guide to everything you need to know to prepare for offering Apple in the Enterprise in our exclusive eBook below.

The post Why Apple Is Gaining Traction In The Enterprise appeared first on IT Solutions Provider - IT Consulting - Technology Solutions.

Apple has a product to suit all aspects of your life with a platform that supports apps for your hobbies and entertainment, storage for your memorable photos and videos, and everything in between, including work. If you think about it, Apple is your “digital workplace” and companies large and small recognize the benefits of extending Apple products across their business and making them available to employees. Your employees desire flexibility and the option to work anytime from anywhere from the devices that they prefer. With freedom of choice, employees have more control over their work experience, resulting in higher job satisfaction and increased productivity. Enterprises report that the majority of their staff members prefer Apple devices.

Apple helps companies empower their employees through personalized, optimized work environments. On the tech side, Apple Business Manager enables seamless setup and support of Apple products. It has become easier and more cost-effective than ever to give your employees the freedom to choose. But you also have to secure those devices. With the growing number of devices an employee uses to do their job effectively, security becomes a critical conversation point. As an IT leader trying to support a growing and constantly evolving remote workforce, it becomes even more critical to discuss security.

3 Ways Apple Focuses on Security

A 2019 survey showed that 97 percent of after switching from Windows. Because Apple allows users to personalize their devices so extensively, their devices become an extension of who they are. Apple products also help stimulate creativity and encourage collaboration amongst team members. As a result, enterprise users are embracing Apple products everywhere, creating cohesive ecosystems that are increasing levels of productivity for their organizations.

What about security? In an era in which enterprise users are constantly under attack by malicious forces made up of hackers, cybercriminals, bots and automated malware, imagination and teamwork don’t necessarily correlate with security. Ingenuity and collaboration is paramount, but security is also paramount. In the traditional world, security isn’t supposed to be fun. For CISOs, compliance surpasses personalization.

Security can coexist alongside inspiration and creativity. Apple has found the proper balance between freedom and security, usability, and sanctuary. Apple has managed to assure an enhanced user experience that is secure at the same time. While users love their Mac, they hate passwords, and who doesn’t. The ordeal of juggling multiple elongated passwords that must perpetually be changed is aggravating and in the end compromises security. So, Apple does authentication a better way. Apple’s unique security system called Secure Enclave enables Touch ID and Face ID to provide secure authentication.

1. Security at the Hardware level

In order for security to be effective, it cannot be an afterthought. Apple just didn’t encapsulate layers of security. Security is built into the hardware itself. Its are actually designed into silicon, making them secure by design.

Take the example of Secure Enclave used for ID. utilizes a separate and dedicated hardware processor to handle the biometric information of the user during authentication. Think of it as a separate computer dedicated just for security. It boots separately from the rest of the device and runs its own microkernel in total isolation. It is there in 4 MB of flash storage that the unique keys of that device reside. The OS never even sees the keys. All of this makes it next to impossible for hackers to decrypt sensitive information without having direct physical access to your device.

Security begins long before the ID process, however. The Secure Enclave Boot ROM is immutable code that establishes a hardware trust process from the moment the device is powered up. A secure boot process, which also runs in isolation to the rest of the device, builds a chain of trust through software, where each step ensures that the next is functioning properly before handing over control. This guarantees that only trusted code and apps run on the device.

Of course mobile devices demand encryption today and all Apple devices have encryption features to safeguard user data, even when other elements of the infrastructure have been compromised. Current iOS and iPad devices use file encryption methodology called Data Protection, while the data on Mac computers is protected with a volume encryption technology called FileVault. Both leverage a dedicated AES engine that is enabled out of the box in order to support line-speed encryption, ensuring that long-lived encryption keys never need to be provided to the kernel OS or CPU. In the case of device theft or loss, all Apple devices are protected by remote wipe, so all data is safeguarded.

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Real Tech with WEI (Extended Cut)

Apple in the Enterprise

2. Security at the Software level

We all know software is the most vulnerable to malicious code. That is why Apple provides multiple layers of protection in order to combat malware. It all starts with the OS, and that means that devices must stay updated in order to garner the most secure code possible. All software updates are authorized to ensure that only software provided by Apple is installed. Not only does the internal software update mechanism ensure that updates are timely, it prevents downgrade attacks so devices cannot be rolled back to an earlier OS version as a method of attack.

With so many apps available for, one may wonder how Apple is able to ensure the integrity of each and every one of them. Well, here’s how:

• Apple verifies the identity of all developers before they can participate in an Apple Developer Enterprise Program
• In-house apps must be signed and provisioned with a certificate provided by Apple
• Apps in the App Store are reviewed by Apple to confirm no significant bugs nor any compromise of privacy
• All MAC apps must be notarized by Apple in order to launch to confirm the absence of any malware even if downloaded outside of the App Store

As a stopgap measure, Apple integrates internal sandboxing in order to protect user data from unauthorized access by Apps. In fact, data in critical areas of the macOS is even sandboxed, ensuring that users remain in control of all facets of the device interface. The end result is that users can download, install and run any app on their Apple device with total confidence that the apps themselves are only accessing their data in authorized ways.

In today’s mobile world, network traffic must be protected on-premises and off. That is why Apple devices support standard such as VPN and secure Wi-Fi to ensure that users have a secure connection with the corporate infrastructure regardless of location.

Being locked down doesn’t have to stifle the user experience. Apple has definitely found a way to achieve the utmost security and protection of their devices, without compromising usability. Apple has always been dedicated to the idea that the interaction between users and their devices should be individualized. At the same time however, Apple also ensures that all interactions are uniformly secured as well. That is the balance that Apple has achieved and will continue to maintain.

3. Security Across the Lifecycle

Just as you shouldn’t ask your employees to buy their Apple devices at a mall, you shouldn’t ask them to take their devices to a retail storefront for repair. While convenient for consumers, these walk-in services may not be compliant with enterprise-class security requirements, especially when compliance is at stake. Retired hard drives, SSDs, logic boards or entire devices may, for example, end up in the trash, resold or taken home by employees. And access to the device’s applications and data may not be regulated, monitored or restricted in these environments.

The best way to ensure total compliance and security is to develop and enforce a repair service level agreement that provides you with, at a minimum, the following assurances:

• A warranty provider of repair services
• Device lock-down during transport
• The ability to audit for compliance and enforce custom security measures
• Secure disposal of components and devices, including wipe clean service
• Rapid provisioning and delivery for loaner devices during service
• Stocking replacement devices so they’re ready when needed

Ready to Get Started? Ask us you Apple Security Questions

WEI can help you quickly and efficiently integrate Apple into your enterprise with full lifecycle support, so you can deliver the new digital workplace experience your users have come to expect. We have been an Apple Authorized Reseller In addition to our partnership with Apple, WEI promotes a market-leading ecosystem of complimentary tools and technologies designed to integrate, manage, secure, and support iOS and Mac OS within any organization. If you have questions about introducing Apple into your enterprise environment, let’s talk. Leverage WEI’s extensive knowledge of Apple products and services while WEI engineers collaborate with you and your team to design custom solutions and build best-practices that are affordable and sustainable for years to come.

NEXT STEPS: Learn more about how to prepare for Apple in your enterprise by reading our ebook. Click below to get started.

The post Apple Sets the Security Standard in the Digital Workplace appeared first on IT Solutions Provider - IT Consulting - Technology Solutions.

Each Friday you can expect to see a new “Industry Info to Know” blog post from WEI consisting of a roundup of articles from industry experts, analysts, and our partners that we find insightful and helpful. We will also include links to industry news that you need to know about, news that will impact your business so you can plan ahead for it. We all need to help each other right now, we’re all in IT together.

As a team of trusted advisors to your company, we put a lot of effort into perfecting our practice. We are continuously learning, testing, and expanding our expertise across all facets of the enterprise IT landscape. That being said, we have an obligation to stay ahead of trends, look forward to the future of IT and provide insights to help our customers navigate the ever-evolving IT landscape.

There were a lot of great articles that caught our attention this week. Let’s take a look…

Industry News Insights

Remote access needs strategic planning right now
Regardless of the length of the current pandemic disruption, IT must plan for situations in which it will have to support a large distributed workforce. This Network World article discusses why IT pros should start work on a better remote-access architecture, focusing on secure access service edge (SASE).
Read more

Nutanix DR Multi Site Recovery
In a world where uncertainty is certain and IT disasters don’t come with a warning, IT leaders cannot afford to take the risk of not being prepared. Learn about how Nutanix supports three major DR topologies, with details for multi-site disaster scenarios and recovery workflows.
Read more

One of the goals of NetOps and DevOps teams is to optimize the application experience, but complex infrastructure and dynamic application flows pose challenges. In this post from Cisco, learn how Cisco SD-WAN Cloud Hub with Google Cloud simplifies workflows by automating the tasks needed to deliver a better application experience.

How do you create a consistently functional remote work environment when faced with inconsistent home internet connections that your employees are using? This article from an HPE VP shares six best practices that can help you significantly improve the overall functionality of your remote work environment in the face of inconsistent last-mile connections.

This CIO.com article shares how corporate IT at Oshkosh Corporation has shifted its mindset from supporting core technologies to one that is more closely in tune with business objectives and customer needs. Plus, learn about 5 keys steps for digital transformation that helped them transition the business.

Cisco’s 2020 Global Networking Trends report provided a glimpse into what that future means for IT networking professionals. This article discusses new jobs that will emerge to address changing IT needs such as business translator, network guardian, network detective, and more.

This pandemic has reshaped the economy, the workforce and how technology supports all of it. CIOs are now looking to the future to prepare for the lingering effects it will have on business technology. See what CIO Dive has pulled together as some of the most pertinent stories to emerge from the last two months.

Industry Conferences Update

We are actively monitoring the status of industry tradeshows and conferences and will provide updates as they come in. We’ve been referring to this helpful roundup from SDxCentral: .

Assess your remote worker strategy today

We are finding that companies are all over the gamut when it comes to preparedness for remote workers at scale. WEI has experience and expertise in VDI and Desktop as a Service solutions from the industry’s leading vendors. We invite you to take us up on a VDI assessment or VDI Health Check up today.

How can we help?

We’ve been in tight communications with all customers and are providing peace of mind with the mantra, “Whatever you need, we’ll make IT work.” And we’ve answered the call, helping our customers with everything from supplying equipment, parts, cloud advice, architecture design, VDI, networking support, remote monitoring, staff augmentation services, and so much more… Contact us today to learn how we can help your business.

NEXT STEPS: Explore our other editions of the ‘Industry Info to Know’ Blog Series:

• Industry Info to Know – 05.01.20 Roundup
• Industry Info to Know – 04.24.20 Roundup
• Industry Info to Know – 04.17.20 Roundup
• Industry Info to Know – 04.10.20 Roundup
• Industry Info to Know – 04.03.20 Roundup
• Industry Info to Know – 03.27.20 Roundup

Subscribe to our blog using the form on this page to ensure you get a copy of this weekly email each Friday in your inbox.

The post Industry Info to Know – 05.08.20 Roundup appeared first on IT Solutions Provider - IT Consulting - Technology Solutions.

The digital workplace is in, and the days of Windows’ dominance and employees working from a single, stationary device are out. This new strategy champions flexible, employee-centric technology, and processes to aid productivity and unlock the potential of individual employees, teams, and organizations.

It also means that enterprises must adapt to these new types of connections, and are expanding to include new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) which is emerging as the best way to secure information, handle growing complex threats, and evolve productivity tools. But despite that, still face a challenging future as they work to find ways to keep the digital workplace strategy successful.

5 Critical Requirements For A Successful Digital Workplace

The increased use of company-owned and personally-owned devices to access company information and conduct business has led to the development of a set of requirements that will help companies plan and implement their digital workplace strategy.

1. Putting Employee Experience First

Building a strong design culture around the employee experience is critical to meet the demands of business, as well as the ability to keep corporate data secure. If teams and individuals believe that IT gets in the way and slows them down, they are more likely to avoid adopting the digital workplace tools and services designed to protect them.

IT must design and deliver the productivity experience employees will use, taking into account the devices and form factors employees use throughout the day, and the locations they will be working from.

2. Delivery Of Applications – Anytime, Anywhere

Any application, anytime, anywhere. It’s a big ask that doesn’t just mean accommodating the latest and greatest technologies of the digital workplace, but also the 12-year-old Windows app, internally developed Java-based apps, and old Excel apps with outdated macros. You can’t deliver an employee experience if you can’t deliver all of the applications they need to get their job done – and without that, employees will go back to fending for themselves and avoiding IT for new apps.

3. Device Management

Device management has been extended to every device operating system: Windows, , Chrome, Android, iOS, and flavors of embedded Linux. There is no question that, in the near future, every enterprise-managed or personally-owned device accessing corporate data will be connected to a management platform.

Device management is a necessary requirement for the digital workplace. It’s the only way to deliver consistent experiences in a perimeter-less work environment by having real-time context of the devices used to access the apps and data employees need to do their best work. Device management helps secure access management so there is only one app and one place to go. It also ensures unified endpoint management for a consistently great user experience that is also highly secure.

4. Manage Experience And Security

So far, each of these requirements has built off the previous one. Start with the employee experience that extends across all devices and locations, then ensure that all their apps are accounted for, and leverage modern device management to make sure you can deliver and protect those apps across all endpoints and locations.

However, IT can’t proactively drive a successful employee experience in the digital workplace if they can’t measure the adoption of it. This is where insights come in. Scour your data for patterns and trends, identify potential gaps in experience of security, and make recommendations for future changes.

5. Automate To Succeed At Any Scale

As the digital workplace expands, expect managing the user experience and security to become more complex. To be able to handle the scale, automation is critical – from onboarding a new employee or device to deploying apps, releasing , or automating remediation steps to assure an employee’s device is compliant with policy. All of this must be possible without generating help tickets that require manual action.

Automation assures that operational costs are minimized, while removing gaps that could result from inconsistently applying security policies or leaving devices in non-compliant states for too long.

The Digital Workplace Is Here to Stay

Implementing and maintaining an employee-focused digital workplace is critical to supporting new business initiatives and fostering better ways to connect people with data. IT leaders need to lead the charge toward a more efficient, user friendly, and secure digital environment. Contact WEI today to learn how we can help your enterprise incorporate the five requirements outlined here.

A video you might be interested in…

In this episode of Real Tech with WEI, Chief Architect, Dave Fafel, talks about mobile device management (MDM) solutions and the role they play in managing enterprise devices, from laptops to smartphones to mobile scanners.

The post 5 Key Elements Of A Digital Workplace Strategy appeared first on IT Solutions Provider - IT Consulting - Technology Solutions.

The landscape of today’s modern offices look nothing like they used to. Gone are the days of employees working from a single location on a single computer, accessing a single operating system – now they frequently switch between devices, is king, and applications are just as likely to be Windows-based as not.

Providing this anytime, anywhere, any device access can cause serious security and management challenges for IT teams. That’s where VDI as part of a comprehensive digital workspace strategy comes in.

What does a digital workspace look like?

Today’s employees regularly log in and out of legacy, desktop, mobile, SaaS, and web applications from a variety of devices, and expect to be able to do it without complications.

A modern model is needed that defines the following:

• How users leverage applications, information, and resources across devices
• How IT organizations deliver, manage, and secure these applications and services
• How businesses can capitalize on these new capabilities and styles of work to drive better business results

Just as the desktop computer was the dominant, defining model of end-user computing during the client-server era, so too will the digital workspace define the model for moving forward from today.

A digital workspace has the following requirements:

• End users want access to the applications they need, when they need them, and on the devices they choose to use.
• Lines of business are interested in delivering apps on whatever devices employees use in order to enhance productivity and improve customer engagement and collaboration.
• IT teams need to centralize policy management, maintain control, and service the organization across device types.

How does a digital workspace change IT priorities?

The digital workspace shifts the focus of IT away from managing things like phones, laptops and tablets, and towards delivering application and content experiences to employees. This outcomes-based approach to IT services decouples data and applications from the device and supporting platforms, so that any application can be accessed from any device. Untethering applications from devices delivers the ultimate experience in portability and gives users flexibility in how they access the applications and services they need.

By focusing on outcomes, the digital workspace also promotes efficient IT operations in three ways.

1. Simplifying access management

Today’s leading IT organizations are user-centric. IT must equip end users with quick and easy access to business-critical published apps, SaaS apps, and mobile apps, and create a flexible and efficient workflow by allowing simple access with barrier-free authentication across devices. This user-centric approach empowers users to choose the ways they work best, and facilitates delivery of a highly specific set of end-user services.

2. Delivering true application portability

Today’s users expect to access Windows applications alongside non-Windows-based applications, and demand the freedom to work anywhere, and on the devices and apps they choose.

To get the maximum benefit of a digital workspace, applications should be built for all popular operating systems, or otherwise abstracted from the endpoint to make them truly portable. For most organizations, this means many of the applications in their inventory.

3. Enabling unified endpoint management (UEM)

Migrating from device-based asset management to the digital workspace presents the perfect opportunity to rethink end-user-computing processes. Manual provisioning processes can be transferred to virtualized desktops and apps, with tremendous improvements in efficiency and compliance. With UEM, IT teams can also deploy and manage desktops, laptops, and devices, including OS deployment, configuration, user preferences, and software, from a central location.

The role of VDI in the digital workspace

Virtualization is a key component to providing a fast, flexible, user-friendly digital workspace environment while properly managing risk. When desktops or apps are virtualized, they run in secure data centers on-premises or in the cloud. In both scenarios, only the rendering of the user interface is transmitted beyond the firewall.

There are two primary methods for abstracting apps from their endpoints:

• Virtualizing the app itself with Microsoft Server Remote Desktop Session Host (RDSH)
• Virtualizing an entire desktop environment with VDI

To rise to the challenge of today’s sophisticated workforce, IT teams are now embracing desktop, application, and network virtualization as part of an integrated approach to security. Virtualizing network functions – such as switching, routing, firewall rules, load balancing, and VPN – provides security for east-west traffic inside the data center and enables IT to quickly respond to data breaches, minimizing their risk and impact.

(HCI) solutions offer a modular approach to building a VDI environment, which simplifies the planning, design, and rollout of virtual desktops and applications. These solutions should include compute, storage, network, hypervisor, and management resources all in a single appliance which is tuned and pre-tested for specific workloads.

VMware delivers on the promise of a digital workspace

is a digital workspace platform that simply and securely delivers and manages any app on any device by integrating access control, application management, and multi-platform endpoint management. It is available either as a cloud service or for on-premises deployment.

Workspace ONE automates traditional onboarding and laptop and mobile device configuration, and provides real-time application lifecycle management that bridges the gap between legacy enterprise client-server apps and the mobile cloud era.

With Workspace ONE, organizations can:

• Benefit from seamless integration across all end-user applications and services
• Provision a new corporate laptop out of the box, anywhere in the world, from the cloud within minutes
• Set and enforce access and data policies across all apps, devices, and locations in one place

Talk with WEI about building your digital workspace with VMware

In the age of mobile and cloud, the need to access any app from any device at any time is shaping how businesses drive digital transformation. VMware supports employee engagement by delivering a digital workspace solution that is both simple to use and secure. Contact WEI today to talk about beginning your transformation today.

The post VMware Workspace ONE: Delivering On The Promise Of A Digital Workspace appeared first on IT Solutions Provider - IT Consulting - Technology Solutions.