Organizations everywhere are trying to decide between desktops as a service (DaaS) and virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). There’s a lot to consider, and Citrix gives you flexible options to let you take advantage of the strengths of both.

DaaS and VDI both provide users access to virtual desktops and applications and can free up valuable time and resources for IT teams. So, how do you choose what’s best for you? Running DaaS or VDI depends entirely on your business needs, with various factors such as cost, security, and management to consider. Are you hoping to realize cost savings over time or right away? Do you want your IT to shift their focus away from managing apps and desktops, or do you need greater control? Do you have seasonal employees, or have you recently gone through a merger or acquisition and need to scale up quickly?

As a leading DaaS and VDI provider, Citrix can deliver the technologies you need to meet the unique needs of your organization and workforce, helping you move beyond traditional desktop management.

Cost Savings

If you don’t expect significant changes in your workforce or their needs, VDI’s upfront investment in servers or a datacenter to support your virtual apps and desktops can make sense. On the other hand, DaaS requires less upfront investment, and with a pay-per-user subscription model, organizations can scale up or down quickly and as needed.

Scalability

With a cloud-based DaaS solution, organizations can add apps and desktops based on their current or expected needs, without investing in additional infrastructure. Managed on premises, VDI gives your IT teams complete control over your apps and desktops.

Management

While both DaaS and VDI provide centralized management, there are a few differences. With DaaS, your vendor provides management and maintenance of your infrastructure, so you don’t have to worry about software updates and patching services. Your organization can realize the security benefits of keeping sensitive data off devices and in a secure environment, without being quite as hands-on in the datacenter. VDI, by comparison, gives your teams complete control over onsite VDI servers — maintenance, security, performance, troubleshooting, and hardware and software updates.

Integration

Deployed from the cloud, DaaS supports hybrid environments with a mixture of on-premises datacenters and cloud-hosted capacity across one or more of the major public cloud providers. With DaaS, experience simplified integration, server management, and desktop configuration for maximum flexibility. Alternatively, VDI helps your IT team ensure your unique network and integration needs are met because your apps and desktops are on premises.

Security

DaaS and VDI provides users access to the data and resources they need, securely. DaaS keeps apps and data in the cloud, centralizing access to sensitive data, mitigating the risk of data loss, and helping organizations deliver secure access anywhere. With VDI, it might be a matter of preference. Some organizations would rather manage security controls around confidential or sensitive data internally.

Regardless of your preferred virtual app and desktop delivery method, Citrix can help you leverage a decade’s worth of innovations with secure, high-performance technologies to provide you with a seamless transition to DaaS, VDI, or a hybrid of both.

Meet DJ DaaS and the Notorious VDI

Want to learn more? Get to know DJ DaaS and the Notorious VDI, two bots who will battle it out to show off how they can deliver technologies that help organizations achieve a solution in the cloud, on premises, or a little bit of both.

Check out the video below and watch out for DJ DaaS and the Notorious VDI on our social channels — Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn – as they battle it out over hybrid DaaS, hyperscalers, Citrix Secure Private Access, and more.

Learn more about Citrix DaaS and get a desktop delivery breakdown.