Desktop as a Service (DaaS): cloud desktops without the operational complexity.
A complete Windows desktop streamed from the cloud, which breaks the dependency between what somebody can do and which laptop they happen to be holding. Microsoft sells two versions of this. One is managed by your own IT team, pools several people onto shared hosts and gets cheap at scale. The other is per-person software as a service and is by far the simplest thing to operate. We deploy and run both, choosing on fit rather than preference, and we do it remotely. What you get is predictable cost per person, onboarding measured in hours, remote working that is genuinely secure, and considerably less endpoint management.
- AVD + W365Both Microsoft DaaS options
- Per-userPredictable cost model
- Any deviceAccess from BYO, corporate, or kiosk
- Managed24/7 operations option
Six dimensions of a managed DaaS deployment.
Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD)
Windows 11 desktops your own team manages, pooling multiple people onto shared hosts. The economics turn decisively in its favor somewhere past fifty users, and both the image and the applications are yours to customize. This is the correct answer for contact centers, outsourced operations and any shared workstation scenario.
Windows 365 Cloud PC
A dedicated Windows 11 machine per person, delivered as a subscription. Nothing else in this space is as simple to operate or as quick to stand up, and the pricing is fixed per person so finance can budget it without a model. It suits individual remote workers, contractors on defined engagements and hybrid staff who need one consistent desktop.
Profile and image management
Profile containers hold user state centrally on the multi-session side, so sessions themselves stay disposable. Base images are versioned through a compute gallery rather than edited in place, and applications reach users either streamed separately from the image or through your existing endpoint management.
Security and access policies
Access policies are not optional here, they are the perimeter. Device compliance enforced, a second factor required, geographic restrictions applied, sign-in risk evaluated. Endpoint protection runs on the cloud desktops themselves, and everything is logged for audit rather than assumed.
Cost optimization
On the shared side, scaling plans shut idle hosts down automatically and reserved capacity covers whatever genuinely runs continuously. On the subscription side it is about matching each person to the right configuration tier rather than defaulting everybody to the middle. Either way somebody reviews the numbers every month.
Managed operations
Monitoring around the clock, patching, image updates, scaling plans tuned against observed usage, and profile containers actively managed rather than left to grow. Your people raise desktop tickets with the same service desk handling everything else in your IT, under the same SLA, with a 5-minute P1 response for managed clients.
Four reasons clients pick us for DaaS.
Right tool for each user group
This is a category rather than a product, and treating it as one product is how organizations end up unhappy. Shared cost-efficient scenarios get the multi-session platform, individual remote workers get the subscription Cloud PC, and where genuine ecosystem reasons exist we will recommend Citrix or Horizon instead. The tool follows the scenario rather than the other way round.
Microsoft tenant-native
Both Microsoft options run inside the tenant you already own. One identity, one security model, one monitoring stack, and no additional platform for somebody to learn and operate. There is a compliance benefit worth noting too: the evidence covering the underlying platform is inherited from Microsoft own attestations rather than something you have to produce yourself.
Compliance-aligned configuration
Data handling aligned to HIPAA, GLBA and NYDFS Part 500: clipboard restricted, removable storage blocked, screen capture controlled, loss prevention policies applied and everything logged. For a good number of our clients this is the whole reason they chose a cloud desktop, because sensitive material then never reaches the device somebody is sitting in front of. Interpretation of your obligations stays with your compliance advisors; building the controls and evidencing them is ours.
Cost predictability
What you pay is a per-person subscription plus whatever cloud consumption sits behind it. Sizing happens properly during scoping so the monthly figure is predictable from the outset, and it gets reviewed every month afterwards specifically to catch drift before it compounds. Nobody should be surprised by an invoice.
Six scenarios where DaaS beats local PCs.
Remote and hybrid workers
Workforces spread across home offices and personal hardware who still need controlled access to company applications, without anybody shipping laptops around the country.
Regulated access
Financial services and healthcare organizations that need people working with sensitive data inside a controlled environment, with none of that data ever written to the machine in front of them.
Contractor and offshore access
Contractors and offshore teams reaching internal systems through a controlled desktop you provision and revoke, rather than through hardware you have never seen and cannot manage.
M&A integration
People at an acquired company get working access on day one instead of waiting out a hardware refresh cycle, which is exactly why cloud desktops appear in so many post-close integration plans.
Healthcare clinical workstations
Shared clinical terminals needing genuinely fast switching between practitioners, tight data controls, records platform access, and protected health information that never touches a local disk.
Education labs and BYOD students
Every student reaching the same laboratory software whatever machine they own, while the institution keeps its data handling centralized rather than scattered across personal laptops.
Four approaches to cloud desktops.
| Feature | AVD (multi-session) | Windows 365 (single-user) | Citrix DaaS | VMware Horizon (on-prem VDI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Per-user pricing model | Azure consumption + M365 entitlement | Fixed SaaS | Per-user + Azure | CapEx-heavy |
Cost-efficient at 100+ users | Mid | After break-even | ||
Simplest to operate | Mid | Highest | Mid | Lowest |
Customization depth | High | Mid | High | High |
M365 native integration | Connectors | Connectors | ||
Multi-cloud capability | Azure-only | Azure-only | Azure + AWS + on-prem | On-prem |
US region availability | On-prem | |||
Setup timeline | 6-12 weeks | 1-2 weeks | 8-16 weeks | 12-24 weeks |
Four phases from assessment to managed DaaS.
- 1
Assessment and option selection
1-2 weeks
We profile your populations properly: how many people are genuinely concurrent, how demanding their applications are, what regulation requires of them, and what you can spend. You get a written strategy setting out which platform each group should be on and why.
- 2
Foundation deployment
2-4 weeks
AVD landing zone and host pools deployed if applicable; Windows 365 provisioning policies if applicable. Conditional Access, Intune, and Defender on cloud desktops. Application packaging.
- 3
Pilot rollout
2 weeks
Pilot user groups for each DaaS option. Friction captured (printer access, USB, peripheral compatibility). Cost validated against the model.
- 4
Full rollout and managed state
2-4 weeks plus ongoing
Full user base onboarded. Monthly cost and adoption review. Quarterly capacity planning. Image refresh cycles. Handoff to steady-state managed support with 24/7 coverage.
What buyers ask before adopting.
Services that pair with DaaS.
Book a DaaS scoping call and we will return an option-mix proposal in 5 days.
A scoping call covers your user populations, application mix, security requirements, and budget envelope. Output: a written DaaS proposal with the AVD / Windows 365 mix per user group, a cost model, and a timeline, scoped per engagement.
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