In the age of remote working, organisations need an infrastructure and technological tools that enable staff to stay connected, productive and motivated, even when outside of the physical office.

Many businesses face challenges when trying to manage their remote works, including trying to ensure remote access doesn’t put the business at risk. Often, staff might use personal devices for work, which won’t necessarily align with internal IT policies. It also becomes much harder to manage devices when they’re not in the same physical location.

Azure Virtual Desktop is a solution to all these issues, offering secure access to your organisation’s systems from afar. In this blog, we explore the key benefits of Azure Virtual Desktop.

What is Azure Virtual Desktop?

In today’s flexible work environment, the ability to access your desktop and applications from anywhere is more important than ever. Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) – formerly known as Windows Virtual Desktop – is Microsoft’s cloud-based solution that delivers a full Windows experience to users, no matter where they are or what device they’re using.

AVD allows businesses to host Windows desktops and apps on Microsoft Azure, enabling secure, scalable and cost-effective remote work. Whether you’re working from home, on the go, or managing a global team, AVD ensures that everyone has access to the tools they need—securely and efficiently.

Core features of Azure Virtual Desktop_

• Multi-session capabilities: The multi-session functionality of Windows 10 and 11 Enterprise allows multiple users to simultaneously work on a single virtual machine. This optimises resource utilisation and reduces costs.
• Microsoft 365 optimisation: AVD is optimised for Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise, ensuring a high-performance experience even in multi-user scenarios.
• Broad device support: Users can connect to their virtual desktops and applications from a wide range of devices, including Windows, Mac, iOS, Android and Linux devices, as well as through web browsers.
• Enhanced security: Built on Azure’s robust security infrastructure, AVD offers features like reverse connect transport, which enhances security by not requiring inbound ports to be opened. It also integrates with other Azure security services.
• Simplified management: The Azure portal provides a centralised interface for deploying, managing and monitoring AVD environments. This includes managing virtual machines, users and applications.
• Integration with Azure services: AVD seamlessly integrates with other Azure services, such as Azure Active Directory for identity management, Azure Monitor for diagnostics and Azure Backup for data protection.
• Support for various application types: AVD allows you to deliver a wide range of applications, including Win32, MSIX and Appx formats.

This video from Microsoft will show you AVD in action, so you can see more of its functionality:

The benefits of Azure Virtual Desktop

With employees being able to log-in online to a virtual desktop on any device at any time and conveniently access all their files, Azure Virtual Desktop enables them their work more efficiently. As such, they’re an invaluable asset for employees working from home, with flexible working schemes or those who opt in you use their own devices for work purposes (BYOD schemes).

Here are some more benefits AVD can bring:

Enhanced security

Azure Virtual Desktop provides a significant boost to your security posture by centralising your desktops and applications within the secure Azure cloud. This inherently reduces the attack surface compared to distributing data and applications across numerous individual endpoints. Connect from the user’s device to the desktop is also secure, reducing vulnerabilities.

AVD also seamlessly integrates with the comprehensive security capabilities of the Azure platform. This includes integration with Azure Active Directory for robust identity and access management, ensuring only authorised users can access resources.

Cost efficiency

Adopting Azure Virtual Desktop can lead to significant cost savings through intelligent resource utilisation and flexible consumption models. A primary driver of this efficiency is the multi-session capability available with Windows 10 and 11 Enterprise. This feature allows multiple users to simultaneously work on a single virtual machine, dramatically reducing the total number of VMs required and, consequently, the associated compute costs.

Beyond multi-session, AVD benefits from Azure’s fundamental pay-as-you-go model. This ensures that you only incur costs for the resources you actively consume.

Flexibility and scalability

Azure Virtual Desktop offers exceptional flexibility and scalability, enabling your organisation to adapt swiftly to changing business demands. The inherent scalability of the Azure platform allows you to easily increase or decrease the capacity of your virtual desktop environment by adding or removing virtual machines within your host pools. This elasticity ensures you can readily accommodate fluctuations in user numbers or workload requirements without significant upfront investment or complex infrastructure changes.

Moreover, AVD provides flexibility in how you deliver the user experience. You can choose to provide users with a full Windows desktop for comprehensive access or deliver individual applications as Remote Apps for more targeted needs. This adaptability allows you to tailor the virtual environment to specific user roles and optimise resource consumption based on the applications required.

Improved productivity

Empowering users with consistent and familiar access to their work environment from virtually any device is a cornerstone of Azure Virtual Desktop, directly contributing to improved productivity. The provision of a full Windows experience ensures that users are working within an operating system they are already accustomed to, minimising any learning curve or disruption to their established workflows.

The broad device support offered by AVD further enhances productivity by allowing users to connect seamlessly from their preferred devices, whether they are using Windows, Mac, iOS, Android or Linux. This “work from anywhere” capability ensures that users can remain productive regardless of their location or the device they have at hand.

Simplified management

Managing a virtual desktop infrastructure can often be complex, but Azure Virtual Desktop simplifies this through its centralised management capabilities within the Azure portal. This single, unified interface allows administrators to efficiently handle all aspects of the AVD environment, including deployment, configuration, monitoring and user management. This streamlined approach reduces administrative overhead and makes it easier to maintain a healthy and performant virtual desktop environment.

Business continuity

By hosting your desktops and applications within the resilient Azure infrastructure, Azure Virtual Desktop significantly enhances business continuity capabilities. Leveraging Azure’s globally distributed infrastructure provides inherent high availability and redundancy, minimising the risk of service disruptions. This ensures that users can continue to access their critical work resources even in the event of localized failures.

Furthermore, AVD integrates with Azure’s robust data protection services, such as Azure Backup. This allows you to easily back up and restore your virtual desktop environment, ensuring that you can quickly recover from unforeseen events. This capability is crucial for maintaining business operations and ensuring data integrity in the face of potential disruptions.