Using Hosted Desktops to Facilitate Home Working

When switching to flexible or full-time home working, you need to know that your IT infrastructure is up to the challenge. This includes speed, consistency, accessibility (by employees), security (against hackers and malware), scalability and general ease of use.

Hosted desktops from GoCloud tick all of these boxes, enabling entire workforces to operate remotely as much as required without any disruption, delays or downtime.

Why choose hosted desktops?

Hosted desktops are a very simple yet extremely powerful cloud-based tool.

We take your existing system and host it in our secure data centre rather than on your in-house server and hardware.

This comes with so many benefits due to it being both efficient and highly versatile – below are a few to get you started.
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• You access your desktop using any device that has an internet connection, making remote working extremely easy to implement.
• Your system should speed up a little due to there being much less stress on your hardware (your devices simply access your files and software rather than storing them, which streamlines the process).
• All of your staff will be working with the same level of digital protection, guaranteeing exceptional security for your company’s data and communications.
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A seamless transition

The beauty of hosted desktops is that you and your staff will use them every time you log into your work accounts without spotting any difference.

As a result, working from home genuinely is a seamless process, as it’s an identical desktop experience no matter where you’re based.  

When you log into your personal hosted desktop, you’ll be greeted with your usual files, folders, software, emails, shortcuts, settings and even your desktop wallpaper.

Everything works exactly the way it normally does, the only differences are your surroundings and the devices you choose to work on.
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Increase your productivity

Your personal hosted desktop can be accessed securely by you and you alone from anywhere at any time.

This doesn’t just facilitate home working, as it also means you can work smoothly in a meeting room at your commercial premises, at a client’s offices, during an event such as a conference, and even when you’re on the move.

Whether you’re running a stall at an expo, giving a presentation to a hot lead at their workplace or simply catching up with emails whilst on the train, hosted desktops make it very efficient and hassle-free.
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Accommodate individual needs

Global pandemic aside, there are many other reasons why staff may want to work from home either on a regular basis or just now and then.

Sometimes it will be unique or unanticipated situations that means they need to stay at home, such as a tradesman visiting, a child being off school due to illness, or their car having its MOT.

For others it could be due to their specific circumstances, such as reduced mobility or living very far away from your premises.

When you have hosted desktops in place, you can easily accommodate your employees’ needs and also optimise the way you work.

As well as giving staff the option to work from home when they feel it would be mutually beneficial, you can also recruit amazing professionals who are based in different cities and don’t want to relocate.

Why lose out on top talent simply due to geographical boundaries? This is the 21st century – physical distance should never stand in the way of your business having the very best people on its payroll.
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Fancy reducing your bills?

It’s amazing how much energy an SME can guzzle up on a daily basis.

Add to this the cost of maintaining, repairing, updating and replacing hardware and you have a lot of ongoing costs that seriously affect cash flow.

Choosing hosted desktops will make a substantial difference thanks to their highly efficient method of operation.

First of all, your server and hardware have a lot of pressure removed from their processing systems, which results in the machinery not having to work as hard and in turn using less electricity.

Next, you could even replace your old hardware with thin clients that are designed to simply access hosted desktops via the internet – this comes with an initial outlay but also very attractive ongoing savings.

On top of this, you can get rid of your on-site storage and backup systems, which not only seriously reduces your utility bills but also frees up a lot of physical space.

And as if that isn’t enough, there’s one more point that we need to make…
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Roll out a BYOD policy

Bring Your Own Device, or BYOD, is a system of working that’s been around for a while but is only recently growing in popularity due to hosted desktops.

It’s a pretty self-explanatory concept, in that your employees are allowed to bring their own devices and use them either alongside or in place of company hardware.

What used to put a lot of companies off BYOD was digital security, as business owners worried about viruses and hackers infiltrating company data through workers’ personal laptops and smartphones.

However, when your staff access their GoCloud hosted desktops across all of their devices (including ones they bring from home), you gain the peace of mind that every data transferal is protected by end-to-end encryption.  

By offering your employees the option of BYOD, they can work more smoothly and productively whilst minimising the amount of hardware the company needs to buy, maintain and upgrade for them to get their jobs done. It’s a win-win situation!
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Switch to hosted desktops

Make the switch to hosted desktops from GoCloud and we guarantee you’ll wonder how you ever lived without them. Get in touch on 01482 751133 or email hello@gocloud.co.uk.