by Theresa Miller, CTP
This was my third year hosting a Lunch Table at Citrix Synergy, and I was joined by CTPs Mike Nelson and Jo Harder for these great conversations. Overall the conference was buzzing with high energy, and over our lunches we had some really great conversations. The table was full of great individuals representing the Financial and Insurance industries every day of the conference. Let’s dive into some of the relevant topics that we discussed during lunch each day!
Remote Workforce
Remote workforce was a hot topic at the table as we learned that some very progressive organizations are making the move to allowing all of their employees to work remotely using Citrix technologies. While this was currently a project that they were planning, we discussed the many different dynamics that would bring this type of project together. From securing corporate data, backend infrastructure requirements, to the types of devices that will be allowed to function within this cultural shift. We covered it all.
Security Requirements
With corporate security getting more attention than ever we discussed the intensity that organizations are seeing coming from their organizational security teams. The need for greater security is creating a level of environmental change that can be challenging to keep up with. However, many of the decisions made revolving around financial data require that data is secured. Security is changing how we do our work forcing us to update systems more frequently, and take a closer look at our overall approach.
VDI or Hosted Desktops
The table had mixed feels about whether or not hosted shared desktops or VDI would work best for their organization. Auditing who is making changes to these Citrix environments was also an important part of this conversation. To lockdown changes to systems, a strategy of persistent VDI was used to ensure that any changes made would not be saved. For auditing, use of 3rd party tools collecting logs was a common strategy over and above the audit logging options natively available in Citrix products.
Conclusion
Overall the financial and insurance table had a lot to share with each other. We are interested in hearing more about your virtualization experiences. Comment on this post and keep information sharing going.