Amazon WorkSpaces Application Manager (WAM) makes it easier to deploy and manage Windows desktop apps by providing users with virtualized instances that run right inside Amazon WorkSpaces.
Key Takeaways:
- Amazon WAM virtualizes your Windows apps, allowing you to centrally control their deployment and management
- You can curate your desktop apps, choosing the best ones, conserving resources, and reducing redundancies
- You can control who has access to apps, gain visibility into app usage, and deploy applications at scale to meet shifting needs in your workforce
Organizations have to deploy, upgrade, and manage applications at a rate that often presents difficult challenges for IT staff and admins. And scaling may have to happen quickly without sacrificing the quality or consistency of app installs. With Amazon WorkSpaces Application Manager (WAM), you can consolidate all your Windows desktop applications in a virtualized environment. This enables you to deploy them quickly and to as many people within your organization as you want.
Amazon WAM also gives you a mechanism for collecting and curating all your Windows Desktop apps, making it easier to choose the most effective solutions and cull out redundant apps. This can optimize both app-dependent processes and the resources that host your business’ apps.
Curate a collection of desktop apps
With Amazon WAM, you can virtualize all your Windows desktop apps, gathering them together to get a full view of the apps available to run your operation. At times, this may reveal under-utilized apps that you can use more efficiently. The curation process may also reveal apps you no longer need or some that perform redundant functions.
Suppose, for example, your business has several Windows apps in its arsenal, and you use Amazon WAM to gather them into a virtualized environment. Your list includes OneNote, Slack, Trello, Dropbox, Zoho CRM, Infoflo CRM, Invoice 360, and others. People across your organization have been using these apps in various combinations, choosing the ones they prefer or just using whichever one they saw first.
Right away, you notice some potential redundancies. Perhaps both Slack and Trello users could all use Slack. This could add continuity and break down communication siloes between departments. If some of your sales team has been using Zoho CRM while others have been using Infoflo CRM, you may enhance collaboration by bringing everyone to Zoho or vice versa.
Control access to apps
With Amazon WAM, you can exercise granular control over who can use which apps. This makes it easier to conform to data security regulations and shrinks the attack surface for hackers. Further, using a least-privilege approach to app access, you can limit access to certain apps to those who absolutely need them to do their jobs. In this way, you can stop hackers who take advantage of workstations left open or credentials not properly secured.
Gain visibility
You can reduce or eliminate the practice of paying for apps that you’re either under-using or not using at all with Amazon WAM. Because you get full visibility into the apps that are being used, when they are being used, and by whom, you can see the ones that often lay dormant in your system. You can then end or modify your subscriptions accordingly.
With the visibility Amazon WAM provides, it’s also easier to identify anomalous behavior that may signify a threat or other security vulnerability. For example, presumably “authorized” users logging into an app at odd times of the day may indicate an attempt to exfiltrate data. Or an app left open long after work hours have finished may allow an unauthorized individual to access sensitive information.
Deploy applications at scale
Virtualizing your Windows apps makes it easier to deploy applications at scale because you merely have to provide access to the virtualized instances of workers who should use the program. This can be done in a matter of minutes when hiring new workers or orienting a new team during a merger.
Easier, faster deployment also streamlines the onboarding of remote workers, making it simpler for them to access the apps they need for their jobs. Instead of an admin having to go to individual workstations, everything can be deployed from a central location. Also, instead of worrying about whether workers are properly configuring their own installs, an admin can manage the process remotely and make sure everything is set up correctly.
Amazon WAM reduces the workload on your IT staff while enabling you to conserve resources, limit security vulnerabilities, and enhance visibility. When it’s time to scale up, Amazon WAM streamlines the process by allowing you to deploy apps to anyone in your organization as needed.
To learn more about how to get the most out of Amazon WAM and Amazon WorkSpaces in general, connect with the CloudHesive team today!
