In South Africa, organisations of all sizes are beginning to embrace the Cloud to simplify IT, reduce infrastructure, and boost productivity.

Citrix Cloud meets you where you are in your cloud journey by offering the simplest, most flexible way to deliver apps, desktops, and data — everything needed to get work done.

With Citrix Cloud, you can deliver secure digital workspaces using any infrastructure or cloud, or a combination of both, and you can focus on your apps, data, and people — not infrastructure.

“Our services allow people to move to the Cloud faster, easier and in a secure way,” says Sherif Seddik, Citrix Managing Director and Vice President for Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).

Speaking at the Citrix Partner Accelerator 2017 in Johannesburg, Seddik noted that “Cloud is becoming the preferred way of delivering solutions, as it offers many advantages, such as scale, agility, and speed.

Yet one of the biggest advantages to moving to Cloud is the fact that there is no longer a need to maintain and update the infrastructure, which can consume up to 70% of IT spend.

“Cloud helps you to free up those resources for innovation instead, and while migrating to Cloud is currently an option that we offer to clients, we expect that it will soon become the standard way that customers will consume our solutions,” Seddik added.

Citrix cloud-based management offers the following key advantages:

  • Speed: Deploy, activate, and configure Citrix Cloud services in under an hour.
  • Simplicity: Boost IT agility with the most efficient way to manage Citrix technologies.
  • Flexibility: Manage your apps and data on any hybrid- or multi-cloud infrastructure you choose.
  • Security: Secure by design, you decide where your apps, desktops, and data reside.
  • Evergreen: Never perform a Citrix upgrade again with always-up-to-date technology.

Seddik observed that the trends in IoT, Big Data and Cloud are resulting in an explosion in the number and type of applications people use, as well as in the volume of data available, along with where it is stored and how it is interpreted.

“This is the heart of digital transformation, and businesses can use this to grow. But unless you have the right application integration, your investment has largely gone to waste,” he said.

Citrix’s services free organisations from the concerns of where the data is, who can access it, and how is it interpreted through four key solutions that allow you to manage all Citrix technologies in one place.

Application and desktop delivery

App Virtualization and VDI gives employees the freedom to work from anywhere while cutting IT costs, securely deliver Windows, Linux, web and SaaS apps plus full virtual desktops to any device.

XenApp & XenDesktop deliver secure virtual apps and desktops and provide secure remote access to employees while cutting IT costs.

This complete virtual app and desktop solution has been designed to meet all your needs from a single, easy-to-deploy platform and gives employees the freedom to work from anywhere.

Delivery networking

Netscaler allows you to deliver apps and data with the security, reliability, and speed trusted by thousands of networks worldwide.

NetScaler SD-WAN has become especially popular in South Africa, Seddik said, because it deliver the mobile workspace to remote branches securely, reliably, and efficiently.

It is the only SD-WAN solution that combines real-time path selection, edge routing, end-to-end QoS, and WAN optimisation.

Enterprise mobility management

Deploy Citrix XenMobile in as little as two hours and get full access to mobile device management (MDM), mobile application management (MAM), mobile content management (MCM), secure network gateway, and enterprise-grade mobile productivity apps in one comprehensive solution.

XenMobile enhances the user experience on BYO or corporate devices, without compromising security.

“We take a unique approach, helping customers securely live with the reality that their data is already everywhere — on Dropbox, Google Drive, and their company server. So we get the files needed from wherever they are and secure them in transit,” Seddik explained.

Enterprise file sync and share

ShareFile is an enterprise file sync and sharing (EFSS) service built for mobile users.

It gives users true enterprise-class data services across all corporate and personal mobile devices, while maintaining total IT control.

Users can access, sync, and securely share files from any device. Offline access keeps productivity up, even when users are on the go.

“Citrix has been positioned in the Leader’s Quadrant of Gartner Magic Quadrant for each of the above categories, and we are the only company that plays in all four aspects,” added Seddik.

He added that Cloud is not one-size-fits all, and customers need to look at their application portfolio holistically to determine their own needs, adding that Hybrid Cloud appears to be the future, and Citrix is well-positioned to help customers consolidate their Private and Public Clouds.

However, he notes that “We are seeing more enterprises choosing a Public-Cloud-first strategy, where their default is to use a Public Cloud unless there is a reason that Private Cloud is needed.

“And with this, security is becoming more important and a holistic approach is needed there too, rather than trying to secure individual pieces of your network.”

The future is bright in South Africa for Citrix, and Seddik mentioned plans to recruit, train and invest in the country through partner-enablement.

“Some of the key trends in sub Saharan Africa include a clear move to mobile, and as a result security is important so we see a lot of growth opportunities here. The emerging markets in Africa are also a key opportunity for us, and as the business in South Africa grows, we will look at where else in Africa to expand to.

“We are very excited about the opportunities that are ahead of us, and our focus is around how we can enable our South African customers to accelerate digital transformation services, in a secure, agile fashion that gives them the best experiences,” Seddik concluded.

For more information, visit the Citrix website.