One problem faced by all businesses, now more than ever, is budget constraints. Whilst demand for the latest IT services continues to increase, it's becoming ever more difficult to get CapEx sign off for IT projects.

Solution
No capital expenditure - all hosted desktops are provided on a simple, per user monthly subscription. This means no capital expenditure is required, all costs are transparent and predictable, and you only pay for what you use.

Many mid-sized organisations utilise Citrix presentation services and XenApp to provide some access to services outside of the working environment. However, the cost is prohibitive and means your IT organisation is managing this as well as the desktop environments.

Solution
True hosted virtual desktops provide users with their same environment wherever they connect from, and for the IT organisation it means one simple service to manage, not two. The cost of hosted desktops is also considerably cheaper, with no capital investment required.

Most businesses need regular desktop refreshes in order to keep their PCs up to date and able to run the latest applications at workable speeds. However, this is a very inefficient, cumbersome and CapEx-intensive process.

Solution
Phased move to hosted desktops - instead of refreshing redundant PCs, moving to hosted desktops can extend the life of existing hardware or, for added efficiency, offer the chance to move to a thin client model. Also, because it's not an 'all or nothing' model, any move to hosted desktops can be phased to tie in with your existing refresh timeframes.

Businesses of all sizes are increasingly looking to enable remote workers, both those on the road and those wanting to work from home for some or all of their working week. This can present serious challenges to IT teams, who have to provide the platform to make this possible.

Solution
Anywhere access - hosted desktops can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection, be it the office, at home, an internet cafe or even abroad. No matter where users log on from, they're presented with their own individual desktop, meaning that, from an IT standpoint, it's irrelevant where they choose to work from. And, as no data ever actually leaves our data centres, they can do so with complete security.

Many enterprise businesses have multiple offices/sites and need to maintain a consistent IT infrastructure between them. With the difficulties of mass managing desktop PCs across multiple locations, this consumes a large amount of time and resources.

Solution
Unified hosted infrastructure - among the key benefits of hosted desktops is the ease of mass management because all desktops reside centrally and yet can be accessed from anywhere. What's more, hosted desktops can integrate with your existing network to act as a seamless extension to your infrastructure, allowing you to pull together disparate locations.

Outside of IT-specific businesses, most start-ups will have little or no IT expertise and probably equally little desire to acquire it. With the myriad other issues that need attending to in order to get a business up and running, IT headaches are the last thing most entrepreneurs want to deal with.

Solution
None needed - ThinkGrid's model is based on taking the IT pain away. All you need to know to use your hosted desktop is your log-in and password, and the user experience is exactly the same as a normal PC. There's no complex set-up and no worries about patching, managing and maintaining - we do all of that for you, and our UK-based support teams are on hand to help 24/7.

Approximately 80% of businesses that suffer a severe IT failure close within 18 months and, even without such a catastrophe, any unplanned downtime can have a huge financial impact. However, whilst this creates an obvious need for business continuity provisions, building truly resilient, n+1 IT solutions is often prohibitively expensive.

Solution
Complete security and availability - we take advantage of the economies of scale we enjoy to deliver desktops that are completely secure, backed-up and disaster-proof, with guaranteed availability and 24/7 support from exclusively UK-based teams. Because your data is no longer tied to local hardware, even in the event of, say, an office burglary, all your data is completely safe and your desktops are still immediately accessible.

With so many things to focus on, it's difficult for IT teams to find the time to implement new projects. Given that new solutions require rigorous research, finding reliable partners, lengthy sign-off and procurement processes, learning new technologies, then finally installing, configuring and deploying the solution, it's hardly surprising that this can be painfully cumbersome.

Solution
Instant, agile IT - hosted desktops can be deployed immediately, on any scale - they don't require hardware investment or CapEx, nor is it necessary to worry about choosing from multiple vendors or learning any new technologies. A standard hosted desktop can be delivered in minutes. All users need to know is their log-in and password and the experience is exactly the same as with a normal PC.

Most IT teams have to spend a disparate proportion of their time dealing with the day-to-day headaches of managing, maintaining and supporting their users' desktops, leaving them too little time to concentrate on their true function of actively adding value to the business.

Solution
Let ThinkGrid do the work - with hosted desktops from ThinkGrid, you can let us take as much or as little of the day-to-day management off your hands as you like. We take care of all patching, maintenance and upgrades, and all desktops are supported by exclusively UK-based teams, 24/7.

Despite not having the reach of a large enterprise, many small and medium businesses have multiple offices/sites and need to maintain a consistent IT infrastructure between them. With the difficulties of mass-managing desktop PCs, particularly across multiple locations, this is a time and resource-consuming business.

Solution
Unified hosted infrastructure - among the key benefits of hosted desktops is the ease of mass-management they afford, because all desktops reside centrally and yet can be accessed from anywhere. What's more, hosted desktops can integrate with your existing network to act as a seamless extension to your infrastructure, allowing you to pull together disparate locations.

Many businesses, particularly the professions, are subject to increasingly stringent IT regulations. With employees having their own PCs and laptops across a disparate infrastructure, it's very difficult for IT teams to control all desktops and ensure compliance.

Solution
Central management, controlled access - all hosted desktops, no matter where they're accessed from, can be centrally managed by IT teams, with permissions and controls easily applied and monitored as needed.

Many businesses have significant seasonal changes in their workforce, taking on a number of additional staff for short, peak periods. Traditionally, providing desktop resources for these workers meant investing in PCs that were otherwise redundant for most of the time.

Solution
IT on demand - all hosted desktops are provided on demand, which means they're only a click away. Desktops can be provisioned and up and running within a matter of minutes, all with a full set of Office applications and ready to use. Users can be added or removed as needed, meaning that if you need 10 extra desktops for two months, you simply turn them on and pay for them for that period, then turn them off and no longer have to pay for them.

With a traditional desktop PC infrastructure, moving offices is a huge headache, for obvious reasons. As well as the physical effort involved, desktops will be unavailable during the move.

Solution
Centrally-housed desktops - with hosted desktops, on the other hand, all desktops exist virtually and reside centrally, and are always available and not tied to individual hardware, making them completely mobile.