Marketplace and digital trends increasingly shape the way we work and do business. More and more employees are spending time away from their office than ever before. But whether you’re on the road or in an office, you need secure and consistent workspaces that simplify collaboration with local and remote colleagues. Connect by Centrality and Microsoft Managed Desktop offer this solution, here we discuss which is the right solution for your business.
Microsoft Managed Desktop (MMD)
Microsoft Managed Desktop is a cloud-based device management solution developed by Microsoft to deliver secured, updated, and maintained systems. The cloud platform has dramatically changed the way services are delivered and managed. Such changes have created an opportunity to deliver a more modern desktop user experience.
It includes a combination of Windows 10 Enterprise, Office 365 and Enterprise Mobility + Security, all of which are built on modern devices and capable of meeting most of the company’s specifications and run time quality standard. You can be safe in the knowledge that Microsoft are managing your Windows 10 device and critical Windows security and feature updates.
If your organisation was “born in the cloud” or has fully transitioned all IT services to be 100% cloud facing, then MMD may be an appropriate option for your organisation.
However, if your organisation still has a requirement to access on-premise services e.g. filestore, network printers etc. and hardware that is not MMD compliant, then implementation may be a challenge. This is where Connect by Centrality comes in…
Connect by Centrality
Connect by Centrality provides a highly secure Windows 10 native M365 user experience on both your existing hardware and new Surface devices.
Unlike MMD, Connect by Centrality can be deployed onto any Hardware using Autopilot and can be managed by Intune, the latest features and critical Security updates are constantly deployed. This ensures both your device and your user experience is always fully up to date. With the additional ability to reach back and contact on-premise resources as required, Connect by Centrality delivers an accessible and consistent ways of working across your entire organisation regardless of your physical location.
Taking guidance from NCSC standards, Centrality has packaged the latest Microsoft products along with their own unique IP to deliver a highly secure Windows 10 Enterprise build at the heart of the solution. Multi Factor Authentication, Conditional Access and a constantly updated security posture ensures your users have the best level of security protecting them both inside and outside of the corporate network. Connect by Centrality provides an out of the box ability for you to gain Cyber Essential Plus accreditation. Centrality offers a flexible range of Services, from IT to It Support of full managed services including line of business apps and SIEM.
With the importance of flexible working whether you’re on the train, in the office or at home, Connect by Centrality provides a consistent user experience no matter where you are in the world. The totally flexible solution allows organisations to bring their own M365 licenses and own hardware into the solution. Connect by Centrality has been created for all possibilities to ensure your business doesn’t need to over invest in a solution and has been designed to save you time and money.
How long can you expect deployment of Connect by Centrality to take? From requirements workshop to initial proof of concept deployment can happen in as little as 2 weeks. Connect by Centrality can also be deployed in parallel to existing traditional infrastructure allowing organisations to take a phased approach to rollout, and can even be deployed remotely to workers at home.
Working with you every step of the way, Centrality ensures that you can roll out as much and as little to what works for you. There is no need to stop projects or worry about downtime, Connect by Centrality is a solution which was designed to work with you.
In Summary
If you compare Apples for Apples, then MMD and Connect by Centrality may on the surface appear to be very similar propositions.
Which solution is correct for your organisation depends upon a number of factors and may be influenced by the organisational appetite and willingness to migrate to a cloud enabled world.
If you are starting a business from scratch, with the latest hardware, no ties to physical locations or dependency on legacy infrastructure, then MMD may be the way to go.
On the other hand, if you have already invested in hardware, Microsoft licensing and still have a requirement to reach back to traditional on-premise services then Connect by Centrality may be the better option.
To discuss more about how Connect by Centrality can support your business, get in touch with our dedicated Connect team using the contact form below or our Contact Us page.