Murphy’s Law is alive and well
Let me give you some personal insight from a CFO as to why VDI is something every organization can benefit from. Especially now that so many of us are working from home…
Sunday night, I have procrastinated enough. I have a board meeting on Wednesday and need to get the package out for review tonight. Kids are finally in bed, time to dig in and finish up. I log on to the computer in my office and my world slowly unravels. The computer is slow to respond. Hmmm, something is up. It’s a new laptop, always quick and responsive. Must just need a quick reboot. I shut things down. Even shutting down takes forever. I start having that sinking feeling. I reboot. It comes alive and it is…still slow as molasses. Oh please no. NOT TONIGHT! IT support (my brother) is asleep by now, it’s midnight after all. I can do this. Time to diagnose. I get the task manager up and ugh. CPU keeps peaking at 90% and it’s red. Red is never a good thing. Nothing is open. Why in the heck is it working so hard. NOT TONIGHT!
I think back to life this week. COVID-19 has us all home. Working and schooling with a few shared computers. Life has been…interesting. Friday, both kids had zoom meetings at the same time. My son jumped on my laptop. I stepped away for 20 minutes of sanity (tea and staring at the backyard without kids chirping about boredom is a luxury these days). I admit, I did not supervise him. I just needed a few minutes to myself. He was on a zoom call, what harm could a 5 year old do? I do remember when I came back he had found his way to some video game or another. I had work to do and I was refreshed from my silent heaven. All was fine, I didn’t think twice. In retrospect, things were slowing a bit on Friday. I remember commenting on how long the budget file took to open and thought I should make a backup just in case this version was somehow getting corrupt.
Oh lord, what did he download? Where has he been? 5 years old, that kid can find his way into trouble in a matter of seconds. Why oh why did I leave him alone? I have a board meeting, why did I procrastinate until Sunday? At least on Saturday, my IT desk (brother) would have been there to save the day. I stare at the task manager angrily screaming 93% to me in bright red. I’m probably crypto mining. Ugh. NOT TONIGHT!
Then it dawned on me. I have VDI! I typically save the use of VDI for special occasions. Weird, I know. I can get to most of my apps without it so I don’t usually bother. Why? I don’t know, it’s a separate log in so I haven’t bothered. Ridiculous as this is our bread and butter. This is what we sell! I log on to VDI and the sky opens up. I was worried as my laptop was still pinned to 90% or more. How would it handle VDI? I logged in and life went back to normal. Every app opened quickly, every keystroke registered without the dreaded lag. My budget file opened and I was able to work as though nothing was different. Deep breath, VDI truly saved my night. I’m embarrassed to say it’s been 3 weeks since the board meeting and I still haven’t addressed my laptop woes. You’re welcome to whomever is crypto mining. Life has gotten in the way. I can honestly say VDI was a life saver for me.
If your organization has people working from home that have kids, invest in VDI. Give everyone the peace of mind knowing that no matter what they click on, you can act as if everything is just fine!
The $12 per month is nothing compared to the peace of mind knowing that your kids will NOT sink your ship.