The IT infrastructure in many organisations is changing as enterprises move to DaaS or VDI models. These modern workplace models offer a range of benefits, including being more suitable for hybrid working arrangements as well as being more agile and cost-effective.
However, they also present a challenge for the IT team responsible for your application delivery strategy, as many of the applications that exist throughout your IT landscape will need to be converted or repackaged.
This part of implementing DaaS or VDI doesn’t always get the attention that it should. While there needs to be considerable focus on areas like configuring security settings or designing the underlying architecture to ensure it can scale according to the needs of your businesses, the application delivery strategy is an essential part of the process too.
Without an effective application delivery strategy, the implementation of DaaS or VDI projects can significantly slow up, impacting everything from productivity to the user experience.
Myriad of Application Delivery Approaches
Most organisations have a vast range of applications – thousands in many cases – plus they are built using varying technologies and platforms. This ranges from commonly used applications from leading companies, such as Microsoft Office 365, to bespoke applications that are unique to your organisation. As a result, there is no single method for converting or repackaging applications.
Examples of some of the approaches that are used include:
- Using SCCM to install applications on the virtual desktop, but this technology is outdated, so it is inefficient and not always effective.
- Repackaging using popular packaging formats from Microsoft such as MSI and App-V, although both are now legacy formats as they have been replaced by MSIX.
- Using Microsoft Intune to get the best of both worlds, i.e., repackaging in the MSI format using intunewin32 when required, as well as beginning the move to the more modern MSIX format for certain applications to get the benefits of improved security and reliability, as well as to future proof app delivery.
- Using alternatives to Microsoft, with the most popular being VMWare tools like Horizon and App Volumes.
- Using modern application virtualisation solutions, such as Numecent Cloudpaging.
All the above approaches are different, plus the list isn’t even close to comprehensive as there are many, many different application delivery approaches that organisations use.
The Real Challenge with Application Delivery
The real challenge with application delivery as companies transition to a modern workplace isn’t that there are so many different approaches, formats, tools, and technologies. It is the fact that it is not possible to choose a single approach that will deliver 100 percent of your apps to a VDI.
You might deliver a majority with a single application format, but there will always be some that require a different format or approach.
Automation is the Solution
The above highlights how quickly bottlenecks in the application delivery process can develop when implementing modern workplace environments such as DaaS and VDI. Automating the process will prevent the bottlenecks from occurring, as well as helping you overcome the challenge of multiple application formats.
Access Capture is an example of a platform that automates the testing, packaging, and deploying of applications to a VDI. Crucially, Access Capture is not restricted to any particular application format, so it can produce application packages in whatever format you require.
The packages are secure and stable, plus you can enable a self-service option that is suitable for all users, including non-technical users.
By using an application packaging and deployment tool, you can optimise your application delivery strategy to ensure the successful implementation of DaaS or VDI.
