The U.S. Chamber of Commerce lists digital literacy and data literacy as among the top 10 in-demand job skills over the next 10 years, with IT growth estimated at 0.6% growth. What that tells you is hiring will be flat and enterprises will be making exceedingly careful, strategic hires. They will be looking to continue cost efficiencies, further automate more routine processes and dedicate IT time to AI functionality, improving CX experience and moving ahead on their cloud journey. In this environment, looking ahead to 2024, enterprises will want endpoint management to require minimal IT time, as IT focuses on cloud computing, AI, application development and other value-added tasks.

In EMEA 2024 looks to be similar with enterprises wanting to find efficiencies in IT budgets and further liberate IT from day-to-day processes like endpoint management. None of this is surprising to IGEL. We live and breathe virtualization and endpoint management every day and deliver an endpoint platform that enables IT to quickly and easily control, manage and secure remote endpoints. At the heart of our platform is IGEL OS which has been and will continue to be the solution to a streamlined, secure, efficient way to deliver data to our hybrid workforce generation.

“Mobilizing” the Desktop

In the hybrid work environment, 2024 will be a great time to evolve the concept of the desktop to thinking of it as more like a mobile device – regardless of what you’re using and where you are, you can have access to the data and applications you need, much of which is delivered from the cloud.  When you’re in an airport lounge using your mobile device to do some work, you’re not normally engaging IT.  This flexible, independent way to work – the ideal digital experience – is how we should be thinking in 2024 and beyond, and especially for our desktops.

How do we ‘mobilize’ our desktops? Well, it’s not just about buying laptops. First and foremost is separating the device and OS from the applications and placing as many applications as possible in the cloud, either via DaaS or moving them to SaaS. This move enables a secure environment, where applications and data are no longer on the device – meaning the enterprise is less prone to risk. Whether you use an iOS or Android, you can easily retrieve your applications – no handholding from IT necessary. Desktops must mirror this, acting as mobile endpoints and requiring little IT support due to having an endpoint management platform that enables approved users to get what they need, when they need it. Part of this environment is a stellar threat defense with user access control through policy enforcement, multi-factor authentication, and single sign-on, all requiring minimal IT time.

Another aspect of endpoint freedom is, that by separating OS from applications, security patching, backend updates, and other updates can be done automatically in the cloud, saving considerable IT time and costs.

Freeing IT from the Endpoint

Besides automated updates and patching, IT staff needs an endpoint management system that is organized, unified, and does not add needless complexity. In IGEL’s case we have been providing our management platform – the latest release being UMS 12 – upgraded and user friendly, enabling IT to deliver secure workspaces and access to applications, wherever they are, on any endpoint device.

As 2024 fast approaches, we at IGEL are committed to helping enterprises make the best use of their valued IT teams, moving the focus from the traditional desktop, to a more mobile like, cloud driven endpoint and providing the tools to spend less time on endpoint management and more on CX and business value.

Contact us and let’s see how we can help you benefit from the best endpoint solutions-in 2024.

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The principle of ‘waste not, want not’ was first declared 300 years ago. It is a reasonable idea, to avoid wasteful use of resources and provide for a more secure future. However, the principle has lost ground; the IT environment being one example. A spending study by Flexera reports underutilization or wasted IT spending of 36 percent for desktop software, 33 percent for data center software, 32 percent for SaaS and 32 percent for IaaS/PaaS.

The study confirms that enterprises continue to spend needless dollars and use precious IT time, loading up their hardware endpoint devices with up to a dozen pieces of software – and required agents – before the end user can even work productively with the device. It also confirms some of this software spend never even makes it to the desktop.

Waste Not Your Software Spend

A good place to start leaning up IT’s approach to software investment is the OS. IGEL is passionate about telling enterprises that the best strategy is using an OS – preferably Linux – that can deliver only the apps a user needs – from the cloud. Rather than front load a bunch of software that may never be used, an OS designed for an economic need-only model, is the smarter choice.

To support this model IT needs to house data and applications in the cloud, separating them from endpoint devices. Leaning up the endpoint with IGEL OS can deliver a 90% reduction in footprint size compared to Windows since the data has been moved off the desktop to the cloud. That is a key pillar of IGEL strategy: using a secure OS that not only supports cost savings but reduces risk by taking critical data off the endpoint and further minimizing an attack surface.

Leaning up with Hardware Conservation

A leaner approach also applies to the hardware itself which has several key benefits:

• Taking applications off a hardware device and moving them to the cloud enables IT to use existing hardware as a much leaner, efficient endpoint platform. Application updates then occur in the cloud, with a faster, more accurate, and less energy-consuming process.
• Combined with a hardware-agnostic OS like IGEL, enterprises can execute Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) on Azure, saving money by extending the life of existing hardware and minimizing CAPEX.
• With a hardware-agnostic IGEL OS, enterprises can convert any x86, 64-bit device into a secure, standardized endpoint, supporting a seamless transition to any virtual workspace platform.

Flagging Underutilization

Through asset management platforms IT can audit, and track software license use to flag software and SaaS investments contributing to wasted spend. IGEL adds to these budget controls via its COSMOS IGEL License Portal (ILP), a cloud-based solution to manage IGEL licensing. Assigning, removing, moving, monitoring, and subscription administration are accessed via an intuitive interface and set as automatic or manual handling.

A Leaner Blueprint

As more workloads move to the cloud, and a hybrid/distributed workforce is the standard, the necessity of investing in costly hardware is diminishing even further. Rather than purchase hardware with little ROI, the lean smart approach is using a secure OS with the capability to deliver apps via the cloud and VDI platforms and to get tighter control of software and SaaS spend via asset management and better license usage administration. This combination will help reduce wasted spend and free up budget for tasks that can provide clear ROI.

Ready to see it for yourself? Get started today with a free trial and see how easy it is with IGEL OS. Or, for more information, listen in to our webinar “Reduce your Endpoint costs – save budget and the planet” by registering here. 

The post Digital Thinking: Work Leaner and Smarter at the Endpoint appeared first on IGEL.

From pension funds to healthcare providers, ransomware is still finding plenty of victims. After a post-pandemic drop, the rate of ransomware is accelerating. Two groups getting attention are CIOp and BlackCat (ALPHV). Cl0p’s MOVEit Transfer hack to date has affected 15 million people and 121 organizations, including two large pension funds, CalPERS and CalSTRS. BlackCat (ALPHV), skilled at exfiltration, threatened to leak photos and sensitive data of a plastic surgeon’s patients and, according to a Check Point report, previously leaked patients’ photos and medical records after an attack against American healthcare provider LVHN earlier this year.

The Endpoint as First Line of Threat Defense

BlackCat is a good example of why all of us need to shift our thinking about security from a focus on servers and infrastructure, to focusing on the user edge, at the endpoint. A TrendMicro analysis of BlackCat notes that blocking malicious emails and employing the latest security solutions to email, endpoint, web and network are essential defense practices.

At IGEL our mission is to provide the best security at the endpoint, to prevent businesses becoming the next ransomware victim. We believe the best defense is to separate business data and applications from the hardware device and store the data in the cloud to reduce the attack surface. This separation enables a user to access data via a secure OS and have the flexibility of location and device.

Cloud-based workloads, coupled with role-based access controls and mandatory multi-factor authentication (MFA), can further strengthen threat defense. Limiting access to work-essential files and applications, being aware of employees’ changing responsibilities, and being diligent about shutting down access when offboarding, will lessen opportunities to penetrate the network.

Separating data and applications from endpoint devices is the first line of defense in disaster recovery. It must be combined with a secure operating system (OS) which supports a hybrid cloud environment and is compatible with VDI platforms like VMware, AVD or Citrix – serving up SaaS, DaaS, and other virtual services. Linux OS, for example, operates fully separate from apps and services, shrinking the attack surface on each endpoint to its absolute minimum and enabling efficiency in how end-user apps and cloud services are procured, downloaded, and updated. It enables fast tracking Windows updates and patching across the enterprise for improved security.

Disaster Recovery: How the Endpoint Fits

When a ransomware or other cyberattack is successful, business continuity depends on safe data recovery and the ability of people to return to work quickly. The solution is a secure OS, like Linux, which is rapidly recoverable and can reboot back to its known good state. This requires a read-only nature and the ability to partition data to aid in priority recovery of critical applications. Since these applications are separated from any piece of hardware, they can be securely accessed from the cloud and support business continuity.

Remember the Endpoint

CIOp’s MOVEit Transfer and BlackCat are just two examples of sophisticated hackers threatening businesses. Creating a specific endpoint security strategy, including moving critical applications to the cloud, is imperative as hybrid workers toggle between locations and often insecure devices.

It makes sense that a disaster recovery strategy must start looking more closely at the endpoint and an OS that supports secure cloud compute as an integral factor in business continuity.

To learn more about endpoint security and IGEL OS go to https://www.igel.com/endpoint-security-software.

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