Moving, in whatever context, is always fraught with unexpected variables, whether it is moving to a new physical home, or to a digital one. Every business, from time-to-time, has to move from one digital home to another as the standards of computing evolve alongside business requirements. Over the past quarter century this has meant moves from Unix, DOS, or Windows 3.1 to Windows NT, 95, 98, or XP, then to Vista, 7, 10, and now Windows 11. Perhaps your situation involved a shift to virtual desktops or even a cloud-only or hybrid cloud platform.
The change usually begins with individuals making the shift, and then throughout entire organizations. The problem for business is that the process is complex, expensive, and time-consuming. The process of changing OS or hosting platform (e.g., public or hybrid cloud) is not dissimilar to that of moving to a new house. In an older home, you often reach a point where conditions make the house no longer viable - termites in the foundation, a leaky roof, not enough space - and it’s just easier to simply move.
Now imagine that in the process of moving, you discover that some of your furniture and appliances won't fit through the doors of your new home, leaving you with valuable assets sitting out on the driveway, and a prayer that a thunderstorm doesn’t hit. When organizations move from one operating system to another, some applications will work as expected, but others will not. And if a critical application happens to be among the incompatible, all kinds of issues ensue. It's a predicament.
Some companies avoid the issue by delaying their move to a new OS or hosting platform, leaving their systems vulnerable when their current OS is no longer supported by security updates. Endless reports of hacks and data breaches of businesses using outdated systems have proven the danger of this approach. Others dive in and hope – assuming that critical applications will work properly and dealing with issues as they arise. And with new “high-density housing” like the Azure Virtual Desktop service from Microsoft and options like AppAttach, it’s more important than ever to work with a trusted partner to help you understand the mortgage costs (licensing and compute), mover’s rates (migration of digital workloads to the cloud), and condo fees (your operating costs month over month and the best options). Compugen’s recent Azure Virtual Desktop Advanced Specialization from Microsoft means we could be one of your trusted partners. We’ve just joined the group of certified organizations with the expertise to help you make this move. And with our exclusive Citrix Platinum Plus, we can also advise on the right “property management” solution.
Unfortunately, if the wrong application is inoperable, chaos can ensue. What you really need is the equivalent of a professional house mover for your applications. Someone to review both the new operating system and the old, and ensure that all those crucial applications will “fit” and function comfortably in their new digital home. With Compugen’s Modern Workspace expertise, we provide the right tools and industry-led guidance for organizations looking to transition to a new operating system or hosting platform.
The process starts with a compatibility analysis - reviewing each app to see which ones can move immediately to the new home, and which ones will need customization, virtualization, or replacement. From there, we customize or virtualize any apps in need of change, and finally, we can help deploy. Our service design team uses a methodology grounded in industry-leading practices and decades of experience with applications, desktops, and now cloud migration to help customers get their move done so they can focus on seizing new opportunities.
If you are interested in finding out more, or maybe you just want to understand your options, send me a note at JOBrien@compugen.com, and let’s get started.