VDI is Dead: Is It Time to Say Goodbye?
Each week, the sales team at Venn meets with a multitude of potential customers and many of the conversations begin with the same exhausted tone…
“We’re just done with VDI.”
This statement always comes from senior IT leadership and is driven by frustration, fatigue from hearing complaints from end users, being tired of dealing with the complexity of managing VDI infrastructure, and the associated costs that seem to get bigger each year.
After reviewing calls, I can say that I’ve heard phrases like, “it felt like we were holding the whole thing together with duct tape.” Another said, “Our users hated the lag on Zoom calls. And honestly, so did we.”
Sound familiar?
The VDI Fatigue Is Real
VDI was sold to organizations (big and small) as the answer to securing remote work, but in reality, it’s become the most high-maintenance member of the team. Between high licensing costs, additional infrastructure investments, and the army of IT resources needed to keep it running, it’s hard to find anyone who thinks they’re getting their money’s worth – especially 3+ years after the original purchase.
Standing up a VDI environment feels like launching a mini data center. You’ve got to configure systems, provision users, and then hope nothing breaks. And just when it’s all working, someone new joins (or leaves) the company – triggering another round of provisioning/deprovisioning.
Even when everything is “working,” users aren’t exactly cheering. Lag during video calls, latency, and dropped sessions are common, and for anyone without a perfect internet connection, productivity can tank quickly. VDI demands a lot: reliable networks, powerful servers, and constant babysitting. For organizations that want flexibility and scale without the headache, it’s no wonder many are saying enough is enough.
It’s been wild to see how normalized VDI fatigue has become. It’s like everyone just accepted that enabling remote work had to be painful – if it was going to be secure.
But then we show them Venn — and you can literally see the shift in mindset start to happen.
Watching the Lightbulb Go On
It’s that glorious moment when the clouds part, the angels sing, and someone on the IT team literally says, “Wait… we can do this without VDI?” Seeing Venn for the first time is like realizing you’ve been using a flip phone in the age of smartphones.
When people see Venn in action, it clicks fast. The user logs in just like they always do – authenticating through their company’s identity provider and then launching their work apps right from their Venn desktop app. But here’s where it gets cool – the apps aren’t running in the cloud or on some remote server – they’re running locally on the user’s machine.
The other thing that users notice right away is Blue Border™ – the distinct visual cue that says, “you’re in work mode.” Any files created or accessed inside Blue Border™ are automatically saved to Venn Disk, a dedicated drive with an intuitive folder structure that keeps business data separate and secure. And when the user needs to check personal email, pick up something on Amazon, or browse memes of cats – they just toggle out of the Blue Border™ and do their thing. No clunky VDI, no switching computers, just clean separation between work and life on a single PC or Mac.
That’s when they ALWAYS lean in and say…
“That’s it?”
“That’s all we need?”
“Wait – and it still meets our compliance requirements?”
And then the lightbulb turns on.
So Yeah – It’s Time to Say Goodbye
If you’re stuck managing VDI and wondering if there’s a better way – there is.
We see it every day. Teams that were burnt out are now moving fast, scaling more efficiently, and delivering a better experience for everyone.
Simply put… once you’ve seen Venn, there’s no un-seeing it. Seeing Venn in action generates a powerful “finally” moment. Finally a way to secure remote work without jumping through VDI hoops, scaling budgets, or driving users (and IT) up the wall. Work can run normally, files can stay protected, and users actually really like it!
So yeah, it’s time. Say goodbye to VDI. You won’t miss it.
Curious to see Venn in action?
More Blogs
