Intelligent CIO APAC Issue 02 | Page 21

LATEST INTELLIGENCE First of all, you need to make sure you gather comprehensive user requirements. Analyze the tasks they’re doing, how they’re doing them, the overall workflow, and the applications involved. You should also storyboard proposed solutions and run them past the end-users, in order to solicit their impressions prior to any pilot programs and usability tests. It’s best to know that you’re veering off course early on, before you make further investments into possible solutions. Then, as you begin to ramp up end-user testing – and user testing is probably the most important part of it all – make sure that you structure the way that users carry out their tests and the way that you record the results. Interpreting end-user feedback can introduce things like confirmation bias issues, so be on the lookout for ways in which you might be interpreting feedback to confirm. The goal of end-user computing is to provide the absolute best experience for users. However, if the virtual desktop experience is not as good as the one provided by their previous physical hardware, users will soon be wishing they could roll back to that earlier environment. Users need to find their experience is just as fast (or faster), extremely stable, and easy in order for your EUC initiative to succeed. If they don’t experience this, your EUC initiative will fail. WHY DO END-USER COMPUTING INITIATIVES FREQUENTLY FAIL? Not understanding the work process in the beginning of an EUC project will prohibit technology from improving it. Gather as much knowledge as possible, and don’t make assumptions about the business that could prove to be detrimental to the technology implementation. Prepare and reduce the risk factors that will lead your business to the best user experience. Every organization that makes the commitment to an end-user computing initiative does so with the best of intentions for end-users. Freeing end-users from cumbersome physical desktop environments and unleashing the power and flexibility of virtual desktops drive the majority of EUC initiatives from an incentive perspective. But for most organizations, it’s about more than just empowering the end-user. IT and executive management are also enticed – every organization that makes the commitment to an end-user computing initiative does so with the best of intentions for end-users. Freeing end-users from cumbersome physical desktop environments and unleashing the power and flexibility of virtual desktops drive the majority of EUC initiatives from an incentive perspective. But for most organizations, it’s about more than just empowering the end-user. IT and executive management are also enticed. • Download whitepapers free from www.intelligentcio.com/apac/whitepapers/ www.intelligentcio.com INTELLIGENTCIO 21