Global Finishing Solutions
Manufacturing firm achieves greater flexibility and expands the pool of available talent with cloud desktops and workstations.
Challenge:
Global Finishing Solutions is a forward-thinking organization that had always supported remote work, primarily through a VPN. However, the VPN solution could not deliver performance that was acceptable to the firm’s CAD engineers, essentially requiring them to be in the office to perform their work. The IT team really wanted to be able to accommodate these valuable employees, so when some of the engineers raised their desire to work remotely with management, the hunt was on for the right solution. Contacts at Microsoft introduced Workspot, and after initial evaluations of two competing approaches, GFS decided to commence a proof of concept with five cloud workstations.
Solution:
When the POC launched, “We immediately heard from the team that this was working well,” says Scott Funk, IT manager. At about two weeks in to the POC, the COVID-19 stay-at-home order was issued in Wisconsin, and Funk and the team were responsible for sending 80% of the workforce home to work. “We were fortunate enough to be ahead of that necessity with Workspot so we could get the room we needed in the Microsoft Azure cloud. That was a Monday, and on Wednesday, we deployed 55 desktops. So, in a very short period of time, that infrastructure expanded to meet our demands,” says Funk.
Benefits:
- A reliable remote work solution that supports anywhere-work for employees
- Fast, easy scalability across cloud regions
- A larger talent pool that extends beyond a commutable distance
- Employees can securely use their device of choice
"I just can't say enough about our Workspot champion."
“Workspot not only gave us the agility to scale quickly during the pandemic, but it also provides ongoing value to hire the best employees in any location, with an optimal end user experience.”
— Scott Funk, IT Manager
