Will Amazon’s Workspaces Mean the End of Cubicle Life?

The concept of virtual desktops has been a distant dream for many in the IT industry for a while. Instead of purchasing a PC or laptop and installing software on each device, businesses would only be responsible for providing a device that connects to the network, where a user’s entire operating system is stored.

Enter Amazon Workspaces

So far, the technology has been too expensive to be accessible to most businesses. But Amazon stands to potentially change that. Through a Managed AWS provider, businesses can sign up for Amazon Workspaces, a service that provides cloud-based work areas to each of its workers. Because its affordability makes it accessible to businesses of all sizes, Workspaces stands to be a game-changer in the virtual desktop space.

But the most appealing feature of virtual desktops isn’t that businesses are no longer required to purchase desktop PCs to access work data. Virtual desktops appeal to the emerging mobile workforce, which is gradually being redefined as mobile rather than desk-based. A cloud-based workspace means workers can log on from a smartphone, home PC, or smartphone and see the same desktop–icons, applications, files, e-mail connectivity, and the like. This constant accessibility may remove the final barriers to a mobile workforce, freeing workers to conduct business while on the go.

On-Site Support Reduction

Businesses are increasingly moving away from having a full staff of I.T. workers on site. Instead, on-site and remote support is becoming the norm in a growing number of organizations. While businesses may still need help with troubleshooting printer problems and issues with network connectivity in-office, most customer support can be done at the cloud service provider level, with businesses only being charged when they call for help. Since software is managed at the server level, though, there are likely to be far fewer glitches and bugs than there are with hundreds or thousands of separate installations in one organization.

Amazon is unveiling several new offerings as it continues to grow in the cloud services space. Workspaces is a promising new offering that can potentially change the way both personal and business customers access the cloud today.