Bandwidth consumption can range from 30kbps to over 1Mbps depending on if you are audio calling or in a group video call. Usage of Teams has more than doubled in recent months, with now over 70 million active users using it around the world. People need to stay in touch daily, from having meetings regarding ongoing projects or simply keeping in touch to prevent feeling isolated. That is, minimal lag, a responsive application that also launches quickly, and is available whenever they need it.Īudio and video technologies such as Zoom and Teams have become much more popular due to the pandemic and staff working remotely. Staff still expect that if they can connect to their virtual apps and desktops, that the performance they receive is similar to what they were used to when working from the office. I often find these devices also running unsupported versions of Citrix Receiver that simply haven’t been updated since they were initially installed.
This is often only a very small percentage of the userbase though, as most devices will run a mixture of operating systems from Windows 10 to Windows 7, and older macOS versions that have not been updated in 3-4 years. This is something corporate IT can’t control.įurther to this, if staff are likely using their personal devices to connect in, those devices in some instances could be the latest and greatest Windows 10 or Apple devices that are fully patched running the latest versions of web browsers and Citrix Workspace app.
We now have staff connecting into our datacenters from a range of different internet connections, from 3G, 4G, Wi-Fi hotspots and broadband. These technologies such as VPN and ICA proxy are great at allowing efficient remote working, however, there are more external factors introduced with remote working that can impact the end-user experience. Other organizations may use the Citrix Gateway for VPN access, and have staff again use their corporate devices, or personal devices subject to posture checking. These organizations have had to adapt quickly because of the pandemic, and that may have been a rushed, painful process especially if the organization did not initially have the correct infrastructure in place to allow effective remote working.
On the other hand, some organizations did not have staff working remotely at all.
While there are organizations that previously had staff working from home one or two days a week, these organizations may now have staff working from home full time or the majority of their working week. However, working remotely may now be for many of us the new normal. Organizations such as Citrix have provided technologies that have helped with achieving this, and many times in the IT industry we hear how the office is now just another place people can stop by to work from. People have been working outside of the office, such as from home or other public places, for many years now. I say new way of working, but it isn’t actually new at all in the grand scheme of things. Remote working has become the new normal, and IT needs to adapt quickly to support this somewhat new way of working. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted how every business on the planet works.