The pandemic has been a watershed year for Indian businesses. The preventive measures to contain the virus are creating ripples of disruption in businesses, mushrooming new workforce models like remote and hybrid. As Indian businesses gradually embrace the remote work culture, the dependence on technology will increase and so will be the change in technology needs.
According to the Work Trend Index survey, 73 percent of workers want flexible remote work options and 67 percent want technologies that provide more in-person collaboration post-pandemic. Also, technology adoption in SME businesses being new, the priority on cybersecurity has been less that has made these businesses vulnerable to cyberattackers. Therefore, businesses are now seeking technologies that are easy to use, can seamlessly work on other devices, are easy to collaborate, share, and at the same time secure the data.
To cater to the changing technology demands of companies in a dynamic business environment Microsoft has developed Windows 365 a cloud service that allows businesses and employees to experience Windows 10 or 11 in a new manner.
What is the new product Windows 365?
To enable businesses and employees to work from a remote location without interruptions, Microsoft has launched Windows 365 that takes the operating system to the Microsoft Cloud. Users using it can securely stream all apps, data, and settings from personal or corporate devices. This feature is appropriate right from the interns to contractors to software developers and industrial designers.
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According to the Work Trend Index survey, 73 percent of workers want flexible remote work options and 67 percent want technologies that provide more in-person collaboration post-pandemic.
Features of the newly launched cloud service -Windows 365
- Windows 365 Cloud PC allows businesses to securely use Windows 10 or Windows 11 irrespective of location or device.
- Windows 365 is built on Azure Virtual Desktop that simplifies the virtualisation experience by allowing businesses to increase processing power and monitor the performance of the Cloud PC.
- Its new watchdog service runs diagnostics continuously to ensure the connections are up and running at all times. In case of a failure of a diagnostic check, the watchdog will alert the business owner and give suggestions about correcting the issue.
- The cloud service supports business apps – Microsoft 365, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Microsoft Power Platform, and more. With App Assure service it ensures app compatibility by helping users to fix app issues at no additional cost.
How this new cloud service will benefit Indian SME businesses?
Affordability and User Needs: The two factors, easy to use technology and pricing prevents the Indian SME businesses to adopt technology for better team collaboration and seamless working. However, Windows 365 Cloud PC gives freedom to businesses to choose the size of the Cloud PC according to the needs of per user per month pricing. For Indian users, the Windows 365 subscription will be available at an affordable price of Rs 1555 per month. It gives businesses the option to select two product models based on performance needs that include the cloud-based offering of multiple Cloud PC configurations namely: Windows 365 Business and Windows 365 Enterprise.
Analytics for Connection Health: Windows 365 has inbuilt analytics that will help businesses to have a glance of connection health across networks ensuring Cloud PC users have access to everything they need on the network to be productive. From the Endpoint Analytics dashboard, businesses can identify which Cloud PC environments are not delivering the performance needs of a given user.
Work from anywhere, any location: Its instant-on boot experience allows employees to stream all their personalized applications, tools, data, and settings from the cloud across any device be it Mac, iPad, Linux device, and Android. The cloud service provides consistency due to which they can start their work from where they had left and the state of the Cloud PC remains unchanged even if devices are switched. This provides agility to the employees by enabling them to work from a laptop while sitting in a hotel room or tablet or desktop.
Cybersecurity: The cloud service has a Zero Trust architecture that will solve the cybersecurity challenges. Zero trust architecture will enable businesses to store information on the cloud securely and not on the device. Its multifactor authentication will verify any login or access attempt to cloud PC through its integration with Microsoft Azure Active Directory (Azure AD).
What lies ahead for SME Businesses for adopting cloud Services?
With work-from-home blurring the professional and personal lines, several companies are allowing employees for workation for boosting the motivation and productivity levels at work. For companies adopting workation, it is imperative to shift to better cloud technologies for seamless working.
With companies like IBM, TCS, and now Microsoft developing affordable cloud technology solutions for SME businesses, tech adoption is no more a multi-national company phenomenon. SME businesses are opting for a hybrid work model and realising the power of cloud technology’s potential to transform internal operations boosting productivity across business functions such as finance, HR, and procurement.
