Why VDI?

Your credit union can save a lot of money by getting rid of expensive PCs, but that's just one of VDI's many benefits. Desktop virtualization is also valuable in disaster recovery. Suppose you lose a branch in a tornado. With a PC setup, every scrap of information in that branch would be lost. But with VDI, all data is stored on centralized servers. Your employees can quickly be up and running at a hot site or other location with no disruption of operations. Their customized operating environment is available from virtually anywhere.

Desktop virtualization is much more secure. Employee data theft is still the most common type of fraud in financial institutions, but that's not an issue in a VDI environment. Since no data can be stored on the thin-client terminal, no data can be stolen from the thin-client terminal. Likewise, the thin-client terminal has no means to store or execute malware. Finally, if someone stole a thin-client terminal – which no knowledgeable thief would– they will have obtained absolutely no useful credit union data.

If you're thinking about moving your core processing and other IT infrastructure to the cloud, VDI is a good fit.

Things to consider before moving to VDI

Desktop virtualization was designed for mainstream users, so most common business software will run fine in a VDI environment. The one piece of specialized software to which you must pay particular attention is your core processing system. Depending on that platform's age and architecture, you may need to address unique issues before you can virtualize your employees' desktops. If you're seriously considering desktop virtualization, makes sure you talk with your core processor before you make any decisions.

Is desktop virtualization for every credit union? Probably not — but it's certainly worth exploring.