Blog Google Chrome Enterprise: Evolving the IT Approach to a Distributed Workforce
By Insight Editor / 29 Oct 2020 / Topics: Virtualization Windows 10 Hardware Modern workplace
As we’re all aware, the way we work has drastically changed. COVID-19 ushered in the future of work as organizations made radical changes to enable newly remote workforces. With this shift, cloud-based solutions, like ChromeOS, that allow employees to access data anytime have become a necessity for businesses as they adopt a more mobile and versatile way of working.
In 2020, the workforce has quickly evolved to where we imagined it would be five years from now. Remote working is the new normal, and although many businesses are looking for ways to bring employees back into the office, the reality is that a large percentage of organizations must permanently adapt to a distributed workforce.
New solutions for real world challenges
Chrome Enterprise has long supported workforces with innovative business capabilities by combining the powerful features of a ChromeOS cloud-first approach with the end-user benefits of Chromebooks, enabling your IT to power your remote workforce securely and effectively from anywhere. Continuing in its mission to empower productivity, additional capabilities have been launched on ChromeOS specifically designed to support the distributed workforce approach.
Simplified deployment
An exciting new addition to Chrome Enterprise is the launch of Zero-Touch Enrollment. A recent ESG study found that the average PC takes an IT admin over 25 minutes to deploy, while ChromeOS devices take around six minutes, enabling a 76% efficiency gain on average. Zero-Touch Enrollment allows you to deploy ChromeOS even faster by eliminating the need for hands-on IT configuration, enabling devices to be drop shipped directly from a reseller to employees.
Insight’s Connected Workforce team and Chrome Enterprise have partnered to bring Zero-Touch Enrollment to Insight clients, allowing ChromeOS devices to be ready for use by employees within minutes.
And for those who want to take the next step to ensure a seamless employee experience for their ChromeOS deployment, Insight’s ChromeOS Enablement Program does just that. Our Connected Workforce experts leverage deep knowledge of the ChromeOS ecosystem to provide deployment and management of ChromeOS devices at scale for businesses of all sizes. The ChromeOS Enablement Program for Enterprise is a robust, holistic and scalable tiered-services offering that combines white glove pre-deployment with professional and managed services.
Our ChromeOS White Glove Configuration Services, offered in every tier, deliver a better user experience and time saved for IT, providing comprehensive device enrollment and configuration services to ensure that devices are 100% ready to use out of the box as well as fully enrolled in your domain and assigned to a designated Organizational Unit (OU) group. Additionally, each device is asset tagged and recorded in the Google Administration Console.
Move to cloud-first devices.
As clients transition workloads to the cloud, there are still a variety of legacy applications employees may need to access. ChromeOS addresses this with Parallels Desktop for Chromebook Enterprise, a solution that helps businesses easily transition to cloud-first devices.
Parallels Desktop for Chromebook Enterprise enables employees to be productive when working from home, in the field or in the office by providing access to legacy, proprietary and full-featured applications, including desktop versions of Microsoft Office, locally on a ChromeOS device. Applications leveraging Parallels Desktop can be accessed without an internet connection, enabling users to pick up quickly from where they left off. Additionally, for IT admins, controls in the Google Admin Console allow them to easily decide which users have access.
Is your organization ready for ChromeOS?
In addition to adding new features to ChromeOS to help existing customers, Google is also developing tools to make it easier for potential new customers to prepare to make the leap to a fully cloud-first endpoint solution.
The ChromeOS Readiness Tool will help businesses make informed IT decisions as they plan their move to ChromeOS. This free and user-friendly tool will allow businesses to evaluate application utilization, analyze and segment workforces, and identify cloud-ready devices, helping to drive the adoption of ChromeOS, whether they’re fully cloud-ready or ready to switch with the help of virtualization. This tool will be available in 2021.
For those wanting to start their journey now, Insight is offering a free ChromeOS Readiness Review, a $7,500 value. In this assessment, Insight experts work with your organization to identify business needs and determine criteria for the successful implementation and deployment of ChromeOS devices.
Insight for ChromeOS
If your organization is interested in equipping your workforce with ChromeOS devices and tools without increasing the complexity of your IT environment or introducing potential security risks, it’s simple to leverage the expertise of Insight for Chrome Enterprise. By making the most of the built-in capabilities of ChromeOS, Insight delivers streamlined deployment, robust security and nonstop administrative support. This enables you to quickly and effectively power your cloud workforce across ChromeOS devices, software and solutions. Thanks to Insight’s partnership with Google, experience with third-party tools and extensive certifications, our experts are uniquely positioned to help your organization design a customized, end-to-end Chrome Enterprise solution, while keeping your end-user experience and security top of mind.
