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ESG Brief
Top Three Reasons to Explore Amazon WorkSpaces
Date: March 2016 Author: Mark Bowker, Senior Analyst; and Leah Matuson, Research Analyst

Abstract: With the growing workplace mobility trend, many workers are no longer using conventional or
company-owned PCs or laptops, but employees still rely on their organization’s existing applications
investments and business processes to access a traditional Windows environment. So how do organizations
provide workers with the tools they need to be productive? Amazon WorkSpaces is one viable option,
providing a cost-effective and secure, managed workspace in the cloud. And, while Amazon Workspaces
offers a number of advantages, the top three compelling reasons to explore this solution include: greater
operational control, reduced capital expenditures associated with corporate-owned devices, and a secure,
easy-to-access workspace.

Overview
In today’s business environment, it’s becoming increasingly commonplace for business to be transacted anytime,
anywhere, and on any device. The growing enterprise workforce is demanding more flexibility in their workstyles, as well as
secure, 24/7 access to data and applications. But while the traditional corporate-owned PC or laptop may no longer be a
worker’s primary device, employees still rely on their organization’s existing applications investments and business
processes to access a traditional Windows environment. So how do organizations provide workers with the tools they need
to be productive and competitive?

Amazon WorkSpaces is one viable option, providing a cost-effective and secure, managed workspace in the cloud. And,
while Amazon Workspaces offers a number of advantages for organizations across the board, the top three compelling
reasons to explore the solution include:

1. IT benefits: IT gains greater operational control, simplified management (from operating systems to applications), and
improved security.

2. Business benefits: Business wins by being able to reduce capital expenditures associated with corporate-owned devices.

3. Employees benefits: Employees receive a secure, easy-to-access workspace from multiple devices and locations,
which aids in increasing productivity, and enhancing the user experience.

Amazon is no stranger to delivering cost-effective IT services from the cloud and disrupting legacy IT service delivery. ESG is
witnessing Amazon Web Services (AWS) become an appealing alternative to startups and companies that are looking to
distance themselves from being in the data center business. In fact, according to recent ESG research, 36% of current AWS
users believe their organizations are spending significantly less with traditional IT vendors as a result of their relationship

© 2016 by The Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 Brief: Top Three Reasons to Explore Amazon WorkSpaces 2

with AWS, while 42% of those surveyed responded that they believe their organizations are spending somewhat less with
traditional IT vendors as a result of their relationship with AWS.1 Once initial AWS adoption commences, companies are
typically embracing additional IT services and Amazon WorkSpaces is an prime example of a valuable IT service to
organizations that require employee access to a workspace without the traditional hassles. Amazon’s WorkSpaces could
potentially have the same impact as its other IT cloud services are having in the data center.

FIGURE 1. AWS Is Diverting Spend Away from Traditional IT Vendors

Do you believe your organization is spending less with traditional IT vendors as a result of
its relationship with AWS? (Percent of respondents, N=129)
Don’t know, 2%

Yes, we are spending

No, spending with AWS significantly less with
is incremental to what traditional IT vendors,
we spend with our 36%
traditional IT vendors,
20%

Yes, we are spending

somewhat less with
traditional IT vendors,
42%

Source: Enterprise Strategy Group, 2016

Amazon WorkSpaces
Amazon WorkSpaces is a managed desktop computing service in the cloud, providing a Windows 7 desktop user
experience, while eliminating the need for capital investments and reducing the complexity of managing and maintaining a
complex virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) environment. Amazon WorkSpaces provides users with access to persistent
storage in the AWS cloud, which means that user settings, applications, and data are maintained at each logout. In
addition, with Amazon WorkDocs Sync client, users can sync their WorkSpaces, Amazon WorkDocs, and other computers
so they’ll be able to access their data regardless of the device used.

Over the last six months, Amazon WorkSpaces has added a number of enhancements, comprising:

 Connection Health Check website. Users can quickly determine whether their network connectivity will be sufficient to
deliver a high-quality user experience.

 Regional support for WorkSpaces Application Manager. IT can now create a single application package, and then share
out that package with many users.

 Endpoint hardware support. This includes support for audio-in capabilities for applications such as Microsoft Skype for
Business.

1 Source: ESG Research Report, 2016 IT Spending Intentions Survey, February 2016.

© 2016 by The Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 Brief: Top Three Reasons to Explore Amazon WorkSpaces 3

Simple Replacement for Traditional Desktops

Amazon WorkSpaces can be used as a simple replacement for traditional desktops and laptops. IT maintenance and
management are streamlined, and provisioning cloud-based desktops is easy, providing users with secure access to data
and applications from any supported device including Windows and Apple devices, Chromebooks, iPads, Kindle Fire tablets,
and Android tablets.

Favorable Economics, Reducing CapEx and Operational Expenses

For remote employees, developers, seasonal workers, and students who don’t require local compute hardware,
centralizing workspace delivery can be advantageous—but can also burden organizations with complex and costly on-
premises infrastructure. Amazon’s pay-as-you-go model allows organizations to eliminate IT capital expenses and reduce
software costs, while streamlining IT maintenance and infrastructure management.

Secure, Centrally Controlled Environment

With security top of mind for nearly every IT initiative, Amazon WorkSpaces not only delivers a high-quality desktop
experience, but also helps organizations meet security policy requirements and compliance. WorkSpaces uses a remote
display protocol to compress, encrypt, and encode data so that only images are transmitted. Additionally, Amazon offers
the ability to encrypt WorkSpaces storage volumes.

The Bigger Truth

With the growing workplace mobility trend, traditional desktops are no longer a requirement for every employee. Many
organizations that are looking to the cloud as a viable option to reduce CapEx for employee devices, as well as shrink
ongoing operational expenses, simplify IT management by maintaining centralized IT control and compliance, improve
security, and provide employees with an enhanced user experience (and the list goes on), would do well to explore
Amazon WorkSpaces. The employee workspace is a prime target for IT vendors and Amazon will need to continue to add
workspace services inclusive of the features found in enterprise mobility management (EMM), identity management, and
user experience monitoring if it plans leap forward and compete in a market that is quickly marching ahead. These
solutions can offer an economically feasible means for organizations to address a variety of business, IT, and workforce
needs with a cloud-hosted delivery model while completely disrupting existing application, desktop, and data delivery
models.

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© 2016 by The Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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© 2016 by The Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.