Tech leaders form Digital Workspace Ecosystem Alliance (DWEA)
All too often really great technology vendors work in the same industry or business sector and never collaborate on a common purpose to further the common good. The obvious reason for this is competitive differences. However, when businesses are able to set aside these competitive differences and come together to achieve a common goal, it can lead to tremendous benefits for everyone involved. Cameyo, a leading vendor in virtual app delivery, has joined forces with a coalition of top vendors to form the Digital Workspace Ecosystem Alliance (DWEA), an exciting partnership of technology leaders. I was honored to be a humble part of the overall information gathering process for the release of the DWEA whitepaper. It is great to see Cameyo spearheading this initiative to help bring clarity to the often-murky waters of the “Digital Workspace,” especially during a time where it could not be more important. What is the Digital Workspace Ecosystem Alliance? What purpose does it hope to achieve?
What is the Digital Workspace Ecosystem Alliance (DWEA)?
The new Digital Workspace Ecosystem Alliance is a consortium of technology leaders that are helping organizations enable a secure and seamless Digital Workspace experience for all employees, whether these are on-premises, remote, and hybrid workers. The Digital Workspace Ecosystem Alliance is committed to providing a vendor-neutral approach to educating organizations on the various technologies and strategies needed for their business.
There are many different ideas on what the term “digital workspace” means across a wide variety of vendors, platforms, and solutions. It is a term much like “artificial intelligence” and “machine learning” that means something different depending on which vendor is using the term. The digital workspace term is often used in “marketecture” by many different solutions. It can lead to tremendous confusion for IT buyers and can hinder the ability of businesses to enable a cohesive, seamless, and secure Digital Workspace for their employees due to misinformation.
Rather than a single solution making up an effective Digital Workspace, the Workspace is more accurately defined and comprised of a “stack” of different technologies and solutions that businesses can use to effectively empower their end-users with a seamless Digital Workspace.
Cameyo founded the Alliance and organized the initial ten members. However, the Alliance is an independent organization with equal representation across all Members. The hope and intent, as expressed, is for this independent, vendor-neutral organization to continue to grow and add members to help positively define and shape the digital workspace across many verticals.
Andrew Miller, Co-Founder & CEO of Cameyo, a Digital Workspace Ecosystem Alliance member:
“The Digital Workspace is a framework of technologies that can integrate to help organizations enable their entire workforce – whether remote, in-office, or hybrid – to securely and productively work from anywhere (WFx), on any device. But without standard definitions of the various technologies involved in the Digital Workspace, it’s not easy for organizations to determine which solutions they actually need based on their specific use cases. For this reason, the Digital Workspace Ecosystem Alliance has come together to create a vendor-neutral guide to understanding and evaluating the various components of the Digital Workspace ecosystem.”
What layers make up the Digital Workspace?
The DWEA has defined the layers of the Digital Workspace as the following:
- Virtual Desktops
- Virtual Applications
- Secure Endpoints
- Collaboration Tools
- Policy & Management
- Analytics Monitoring & Testing
- Print Management
- Security
What goal does the Digital Workspace Ecosystem Alliance (DWEA) hope to achieve?
One of the primary goals of the DWEA is to develop standard definitions of the tools and technologies found in the Digital Workspace “stack.” The lack of standardization across the board can make it extremely difficult for businesses to understand and determine which technologies and solutions their business actually needs.
By defining a standard set of definitions of the various components that make up the Digital Workspace ecosystem, the DWEA hopes to simplify the overall process for businesses to select which technologies are needed in their implementation of their Digital Workspace. This will help businesses make better-educated decisions to choose specific technologies to address their specific use cases and requirements.
Digital Workspace Ecosystem Alliance Initiatives
The Digital Workspace Ecosystem Alliance is today releasing the first industry whitepaper detailing the Digital Workspace technology ecosystem along with definitions of each technology in the ecosystem. The whitepaper includes a list of vendors, both associated with the Alliance and those that are not, as examples of technologies and solutions defining each area of the Digital Workspace Ecosystem “stack.” The DWEA hopes to continue to release surveys, research reports, and other vendor-neutral data and materials to the business community as a source of trusted, unbiased information for business stakeholders.
Current members of the Digital Workspace Ecosystem Alliance
The current members of the Digital Workspace Ecosystem Alliance include:
- Cameyo
- appCURE
- deviceTRUST
- directprint.io
- Fortinium
- IGEL
- Login VSI
- PolicyPak
- Tehama
- Tricerat
Is membership in the Digital Workspace Ecosystem Alliance static? No, the plan is to continue to grow the Alliance over time. Membership is open to any technology vendor that offers products/solutions across the different layers of the Digital Workspace “stack” layers. Prospective members must be committed to contributing to the creation and distribution of unbiased, vendor-neutral materials focused on market education.
Download the Digital Workspace Ecosystem Whitepaper and join DWEA
Where can you download the Digital Workspace Ecosystem Whitepaper? The whitepaper is entitled “Evaluating the Digital Workspace Ecosystem” and is freely available for download below. Organizations interested in joining can do so at the same link by submitting the form at the bottom of the page.
Wrapping Up
It is great to see successful technology leaders working together for the greater good to promote a better understanding of the often convoluted and confusing solutions and technologies in the realm of Digital Workspaces. I applaud Cameyo for its efforts to form the Digital Workspace Ecosystem Alliance. It will be great to see the continued positive effects from the Alliance as they help to provide clarity to IT buyers and promote a better understanding of the evolving technology landscape making up the Digital Workspace.
