Team Ultima started 2019 by attending the Citrix Summit in Orlando, Florida. Citrix Summit is the kick-off for the year, where partners find out the latest and greatest Citrix have to offer and understand the messaging and strategic direction for the year ahead.
Ultima started strongly on day one, by being named Partner of the Year for EMEA! Considering some of the other esteemed organisations that were in the running for this award, we’re especially proud to be recognised by Citrix for our ability to deliver Secure Digital Workspace solutions for our customers.
The event was unusually light in terms of public announcements, but much like a swan there is significant activity occurring under the water. Many of the topics discussed are under NDA so we can’t share these with you today, however there are some exciting enhancements which should be announced around Citrix Synergy in May this year.
Overall Citrix had a very successful 2018 and are performing ahead of their own ambitious targets. Citrix are still working towards providing users with an integrated workspace solution, using fewer tactical solutions.
A lot of the discussions were around improving user engagement and reducing friction to enhance experience. Ways that Citrix can help the employee experience, by not just aggregating applications and data, but guiding users and adding a layer of intelligence in a way that promises to change the way that people work. By extending the solutions on offer beyond the traditional Virtual Apps and Desktops capabilities.
The solutions that Citrix continue to provide are being developed using three key principles:
Security – Ensuring that products are secure by design and that security doesn’t inhibit employee engagement.
Experience – Ensuring that products provide an exceptional user experience and drive user engagement.
Choice – Ensuring that users and organisations have the choice of how and where to consume the Citrix Workspace. Be that on-premises or in the cloud of their choice, from any device, anywhere.
Cloud may be the eventual destination for Citrix, however they have not lost sight of the on-premises customers amongst us. With most customers anticipated to remain in a hybrid state in the short term, the on-premises solutions continue to be developed while the cloud hosted solutions continue to take leaps and bounds, simplifying the customer journey to hybrid cloud.
Citrix’s capabilities around Intelligent Workspace will become prominent this year, with the acquisition of Sapho in November 2018 taking a central role. Simplifying how users work by guiding them towards key activities, actions and data by integrating with the many varied applications that users have to interact with throughout the working day, providing a single place to get work done. Expect to see more on this topic in the run up to Citrix Synergy in May this year.
Overall the future is bright, and there are exciting things to come! If you want to discuss how Citrix Workspace can add value to your organisation, let us know.
- By Andy McCullough (Solutions Architect)