I'm working in a small company where we're transitioning to a hybrid work model for about 10-15 users. Currently, we have tower PCs set up in the office, and the plan was to have employees remote into their workstations using RealVNC or GoToMyPC over a VPN. However, I'm starting to have some doubts about that setup. An alternative would be to use W365 cloud PCs for remote work or provide each employee with a budget-friendly $400 PC that we can manage through Autopilot (Intune) and restrict it to just using VNC. Normally, I would prefer giving each employee a second managed device for remote use, but budget constraints are really pressing. Any advice on the best approach? These employees will be in the office three days a week and working remotely two days.
2 Answers
In our experience, issuing laptops instead of desktops is far more effective for hybrid work. Having a laptop with dual screens and a docking station provides the same performance while allowing for easier transitions between work locations. Trust me, we’ve found that splitting devices leads to complaints about double the updates – it's just not worth it!
You might want to consider whether laptops with VPN options would work for your team. I'm curious about what kind of applications you're using. For basic O365 apps and web applications, a laptop with VPN should be pretty adequate, but I totally understand your hesitation about mixing personal devices with work software.
Totally agree! We did the same and only the team that is strictly office-based doesn't use laptops. It's just simpler that way.