As end user computing (EUC) enters a new phase shaped by hybrid work, cross-platform complexity, and evolving security demands, organizations are being forced to rethink long-standing assumptions about how digital workspaces are delivered and managed. To better understand where EUC is headed, Digital IT News asked leading members of the Parallels VIPP community to share their perspectives on the trends defining the next few years—from the rise of hybrid and multi-cloud architectures to the growing role of AI in automation and operations.
Now marking its 10th year, the Parallels VIPP Program brings together a select group of highly respected practitioners and thought leaders who provide real-world insight and candid feedback that helps shape Parallels’ product direction and the broader EUC ecosystem. Their collective input reflects what’s happening in the field today and what organizations must prepare for next.
- Is cross-platform flexibility becoming a competitive advantage, or a survival requirement, in modern end user computing?
“In any case, freedom of choice is particularly important in Europe. Cloud-only concepts are increasingly being questioned, and although more workloads are moving to the cloud, hybrid is a must-have.” – Thomas Krampe (Director Managed Service, Previder Germany)
“Cross-platform flexibility is increasingly a survival requirement because most organisations support mixed device fleets and hybrid working patterns. The best platform still depends on the role; for example, many .NET and C# teams remain Windows-first because the full Visual Studio IDE is Windows-based. The competitive advantage comes from enabling choice while keeping identity, compliance, and application delivery consistent.” – Ryan Mangan (CEO, EfficientEther)
“Cross-platform flexibility can only be an advantage if the corresponding use cases, workflows, and core applications exist. These are often dictated by the industry or by compliance regulations. Therefore, the question is difficult to answer in general terms and requires a more in-depth requirements analysis.” – Benny Tritsch (Managing Director, Dr. Tritsch IT Consulting)
- Are enterprises still treating Mac and Windows coexistence as an exception to manage or as a strategic workforce design decision?
“Throughout my work with clients, I’ve observed that Mac users represent a small fraction of the user base, with this gap widening significantly in large corporate environments. Consequently, IT support teams often struggle to deliver the same level of support to Mac users as they do for Windows users.” – Steves Begin (Virtualization Expert, Infrastructure Architect at Groupe Conseil TI)
“I see that many companies actually offer both options and allow employees to choose the one they believe will make them more productive.” – Krampe
“More organisations are treating Mac and Windows coexistence as a strategic workforce decision rather than an exception. This shift is driven by role requirements and talent expectations. Modern identity and management tooling also makes it much easier to apply consistent compliance and conditional access across both platforms, including tighter macOS sign-in integration with Entra-based credentials.” – Mangan
“I’m seeing more and more customers using both Mac and Windows as digital workplace endpoints. This is why I added a Mac Mini M4 as a reference endpoint device to my performance benchmarking setup, alongside a Windows and an IGEL endpoint device — simply to reflect the reality in the field.” – Tritsch
- In today’s cost-constrained environment, where are organizations seeing the most measurable ROI in EUC investments?
“In fact, most ROI comes from savings in ongoing operations. Products that can be implemented and operated without significant personnel and training costs, and that can also be easily transferred to a managed service, are ahead of the pack here.” – Krampe
“In a cost-constrained environment, the clearest EUC ROI tends to appear in operational efficiency. This includes faster onboarding, fewer support tickets, and less downtime through automation and proactive remediation. Organisations also see measurable savings when they consolidate overlapping endpoint, remote support, and identity tools and standardise policy enforcement across device types. These operational improvements free EUC teams to focus on higher-value change and security outcomes.” – Mangan
“Operational efficiency and security are the main drivers for EUC investments. However, in some cases the perceived user experience does not meet end-user expectations. In these cases, careful consideration of infrastructure design decisions is necessary to strike the right balance between both sides. This naturally also affects ROI.” – Tritsch
- Has hybrid work permanently reshaped EUC architecture, or are most organizations still operating in a transitional model?
“EUC originally helped enable hybrid working. In fact, it made this way of working possible in the first place. Today, hybrid work has become the new standard, and even more traditional companies are no longer in a transitional phase.” – Krampe
“Hybrid work has permanently reset expectations for secure, anywhere access, but many organisations are still in a pragmatic architectural transition. Legacy applications, regulatory constraints, and cloud cost pressures mean that a mix of on-premises and cloud services remains common. As a result, EUC architectures are converging on hybrid and multi-cloud patterns rather than a single pure model.” – Mangan
“Hybrid is king again.” – Tritsch
- Security teams are tightening controls while users demand frictionless access. Is that tension intensifying or finally being resolved?
“Security is not always comfortable. Both sides are important, but there does not necessarily have to be tension. A good information culture and proper training help to balance security and usability.” – Krampe
“The tension is intensifying because credential abuse and third-party compromise remain major drivers of real-world breaches. This pushes security teams toward tighter governance. The path forward is not weaker controls but smarter ones. Zero trust and risk-based access combined with passwordless or SSO approaches reduce user friction while strengthening security.” – Mangan
- AI is reshaping nearly every IT discipline. Where will AI most disrupt end user computing over the next three years?
“In the EUC space, AI will likely have the greatest impact in administration, monitoring, and security. Examples include self-healing infrastructure, pattern recognition, and anomaly detection. The effective use of these capabilities will also be reflected in improved ROI.” – Krampe
“Over the next three years, AI will most disrupt EUC in day-to-day operations such as support triage, policy creation, and guided remediation. We are already seeing copilots and agent-style tools embedded into endpoint workflows to reduce administrative effort and speed investigations. At the same time, defenders will need to adapt as threat actors also use AI to scale phishing and vulnerability discovery.” – Mangan
“The progressive tightening of security policies is gradually becoming an accepted and well-understood standard across organizations, IT teams, and end users alike. While the growing number of controls may initially surprise some users, it has become part of daily operations. EUC teams benefit significantly when security decisions are formally endorsed by the business and clearly communicated to end users.” – Begin
“Configuration, optimization, and error analysis of EUC environments will increasingly be supported by AI in the future. In addition, NPUs in endpoint devices will be used to optimize the transmitted image quality of remoting protocols in real time.” – Tritsch
- If you could eliminate one limitation in today’s EUC environments, what would it be and why?
“One limitation is still the protocol layer. Although protocols continue to improve, there is still significant potential here. Smooth video conferencing and graphics workloads are essential in today’s hybrid working world.”
“I also see a shift in Europe from classic EUC to web applications, where the browser effectively becomes the endpoint device. In this scenario, protocol performance remains just as critical.” – Krampe
“If I could eliminate one limitation, it would be inconsistent application performance across networks and endpoints, especially for real-time collaboration and rich media workloads. Users judge EUC environments by whether core applications feel responsive and reliable, not by the underlying platform. Improving consistency would reduce downtime, lower support demand, and make hybrid work feel seamless.” – Mangan
“With the widespread adoption of cloud environments and their associated costs, many clients request that servers be shut down when not in use to reduce expenses. In multi-user environments, the challenge is finding the right balance between shutting down servers and avoiding any negative impact on active users.”
“Currently, there is no method to migrate a user from one server to another without requiring a session logoff. Such a capability would greatly simplify resource management and cost optimization in multi-user cloud environments.” – Begin
“Graphics quality and UI response times remain two of the most common sources of end-user frustration in EUC environments. If these issues can be significantly improved at the protocol level, it would represent a major breakthrough.” – Tritsch
The insights shared by the Parallels VIPP community highlight a clear reality: EUC is no longer just about enabling access, it’s about delivering secure, flexible, and high-performing digital workspaces that meet the evolving needs of both users and the business. As hybrid models mature and new technologies like AI reshape operations, the value of real-world expertise has never been greater.
Explore how the Parallels VIPP Program is shaping the future of end user computing here and see what distinguishes the latest VIPP Class of 2026 and its community of industry leaders.
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