Nerdio Virtual Desktop Sharpens Suit For ‘Modern Work’ Capabilities

Workplaces evolve. Nobody around today needs to be told about how we as a global society reinvented so many workflow processes and functions to get through lockdown; it was a realignment that in many ways reflected the workplace changes that have been happening ever since the PC revolution really started some half-century ago now i.e. if a job, task or function can be digitised, automated and managed electronically, then we generally gain more control over it.

This is of course no small part of why desktop virtualization has been proliferating. The ability to provide organizations of all kinds with cloud-based desktop services is something that managed services providers have been delivering and refining as the cloud model itself eventually becomes a more de facto standard for technology.

Working to provide Azure Virtual Desktop management for what it now calls "modern work" capabilities is Nerdio, an organization that works directly with MSPs to simplify their management of Microsoft 365 services among other technologies. The Nerdio Manager for MSP platform has now been updated with these modern work functions along with an updated pricing model.

What Is Endpoint Streamlining?

The company says that this late 2024 enhancement allows MSPs to manage their clients' full Microsoft 365 environments with options to streamline the management of endpoints and get complete control over devices to improve overall operational efficiency.

When Nerdio talks about "endpoint streamlining" in this sense, it means being able to create and delete user accounts for both virtual desktop and physical desktops that are no longer in use. It also relates to automating aspects such as authentication, managing updates and patches, performing configuration fixes and delivering troubleshooting for system anomalies and related issues. On that last point, Nerdio Console Connect is a remote control function for troubleshooting issues on both physical and virtual endpoints.

"We're making it easier than ever for MSPs to manage their clients' cloud infrastructure in one place, while ensuring top-tier security and compliance," said Vadim Vladimirskiy, CEO of Nerdio. "By integrating the full Microsoft 365 environment into Nerdio Manager for MSP and partnering with CIS, we're providing a comprehensive cloud management suite designed to simplify operations and enhance security."

Baselines, Policies & Management

With the addition of Modern Work capabilities, Nerdio Manager for MSP offers baselines, policies & management controls for Microsoft Teams, OneDrive/SharePoint & Exchange Online. That means centralized management for settings, file storage, email and compliance policies so that collaboration and data management all happen at the right time. Working in line with Center for Internet Security (CIS) policies - a New York headquartered non-profit body dedicated to cyber protection - Nerdio also says it has simplified the application of identity management and security policy across multiple environments.

Nerdio is also now offering a flexible commercial pricing model designed to accommodate MSPs of all sizes, as there is a new per-customer, or per-tenant, pricing structure. This allows MSPs to pay a flat rate regardless of the number of users, which is argued to make managing entire customer environments (whether small or large), more predictable and affordable.

"At Kite Technology Group, the new per-tenant pricing model has given us the flexibility to grow without worrying about costs scaling with each new user," said Adam Atwell, chief technology officer, Kite Technology Group. "The ability to manage our clients' entire Microsoft 365 environments has simplified our operations and enabled us to focus on delivering a better service experience to our customers."

Are Virtual Desktops The Future?

We don't need to ask Nerdio whether virtual desktop services are the future of computing - it's the company's bread & butter, of course it is sold on that vision - but we can look to the wider trends at play here and attempt to assess why organizations in any industry vertical might find this approach work efficient, productivity efficient and cost-efficient.

As the entire spectrum of end user computing continues to change with so many services either stemming from the cloud model or being accelerated by AI automations (or both), the concept of virtual desktop infrastructure is popularized by virtue of its ability to help businesses scale, its generally more powerful disaster recovery functions, its quick onboarding efficiency and its security. But really, the key benefit is its virtual nature and the fact that it means employees can work from anywhere through remote application streaming services, which kind of brings us full circle back to where we were in the lockdown reference.

Real world devices and desktop installs of your favorite operating system will still exist for those use cases that demand it for a very long time, but virtual provision is now a part of our computing culture from gaming to word processing to spreadsheets and everything in between.