Why IT teams are switching from Citrix to Horizon

Across industries, organizations are hitting a breaking point with legacy VDI environments. What once served as a reliable foundation now creates friction: rising licensing costs, unpredictable performance, complex management overhead, and limited flexibility in how and where desktops run. At the same time, the business expects IT teams to do more: support hybrid work, enable modern collaboration tools, and deliver seamless digital experiences that keep employees productive.

For many, this has led to a clear conclusion: it’s time for a more modern approach.

Omnissa Horizon is purpose-built for this shift. Rather than forcing organizations into rigid architectures or costly licensing models, Horizon delivers a flexible, hybrid-ready platform that simplifies operations while improving performance and user experience. IT teams gain centralized control across environments, streamlined application delivery, and the ability to scale without adding complexity, whether on-premises or in the cloud.

But what makes this transition compelling isn’t just the architecture—it’s the outcomes.

What changes after the switch

Organizations moving from legacy virtualization solutions to Horizon see measurable, real-world impact almost immediately. For some, that means reducing VDI costs by as much as 40% while improving performance for end users and eliminating the lag and instability that previously slowed teams down. For others, it’s about simplifying IT operations, reducing administrative overhead, accelerating issue resolution, and enabling faster deployment of desktops and applications.

Performance is another consistent theme. Customers report more responsive virtual desktops and significantly better support for modern collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams, helping employees work more effectively without disruption. And in highly regulated or mission-critical environments, such as financial services and healthcare, organizations gain stronger security, better control, and more consistent access to critical systems, all while improving the end-user experience.

Perhaps most importantly, Horizon gives organizations choice. Instead of being locked into a single vendor stack or deployment model, IT teams can align infrastructure decisions to business needs, whether that’s optimizing for cost, performance, or scalability, without compromising on user experience.

The result is a shift from reactive IT operations to a more proactive, controlled, and scalable digital workspace strategy.

The following customer stories highlight what that transformation looks like in practice, from global banking to healthcare to engineering and manufacturing, and how organizations use Horizon to move beyond the limitations of legacy virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI).

Yapı Kredi: Modernizing digital banking at scale

As one of Türkiye’s leading banks, Yapı Kredi needed a modern platform to support secure, scalable digital banking experiences for millions of customers. By adopting Omnissa solutions, including Horizon, the organization enhanced security, streamlined operations, and improved the user experience across its workforce.

The shift enabled centralized management and better control over devices and applications, which is critical in a highly regulated industry. Employees benefited from faster access to resources and fewer disruptions, while IT gained the ability to proactively resolve issues and maintain consistent service delivery.

Frustration with the previous solution prompted the move, as Uğur Koçer, Windows Applications Design and Planning Manager at Yapı Kredi, explained:

“A year or so earlier, we’d faced ongoing VDI issues, so we migrated everything to Horizon, guided by the Omnissa Professional Services team. As a result, the daily helpdesk tickets dropped significantly, and end-user satisfaction soared.”

For Yapı Kredi, moving to a modern digital workspace was more than an upgrade; it was foundational to delivering better banking services in a competitive, digital-first landscape.

Wiewelhove GmbH: Replacing complexity with confidence

For Wiewelhove GmbH, the need to eliminate complexity and improve performance drove the move from Citrix to Horizon. Its previous environment introduced operational overhead and inconsistent user experiences, making it difficult for IT to scale effectively.

After migrating to Horizon, the company saw immediate improvements: faster, more responsive virtual desktops, reliable collaboration performance (including Microsoft Teams), and simplified application management.

Just as importantly, the move removed licensing uncertainty and reduced administrative burden, giving IT teams more confidence in their environment.

As the Head of IT Stefan Etgeton put it:

“By switching to Horizon and the new VDI infrastructure, we were not only able to significantly improve the performance of critical apps, but also noticeably simplify IT administration – a real step towards futureproofing.”

The result is a VDI platform that not only performs better but is easier to manage and scale as the business evolves.

Haaglanden Medisch Centrum (HMC): Enabling better patient care through IT

In healthcare, performance and reliability aren’t just IT metrics. They directly impact patient outcomes. Haaglanden Medisch Centrum (HMC), a network of hospitals, needed a solution that could unify its digital workspace while reducing strain on IT teams.

By moving to Horizon, HMC created a fully virtualized, centrally managed digital workspace that streamlined clinician workflows and improved access to critical applications.

This transformation lets healthcare staff to securely access systems from anywhere, reducing friction in day-to-day operations and freeing up more time for patient care.

As Edwin Mentink, Communications Technology Manager at HMC, explained:

“With Omnissa Horizon, App Volumes, and Workspace ONE, we built a fully virtualized, centrally managed digital workspace that enhances security, efficiency, and mobility.”

For HMC, Horizon didn’t just modernize IT; it enabled better healthcare delivery.

Dunaway: Cutting costs while boosting performance

Engineering firm Dunaway faced a common challenge: VDI environments that were costly, laggy, and a drag on productivity. By transitioning to Horizon, the firm dramatically improved both cost efficiency and performance.

The results were significant: a 40% reduction in VDI costs alongside faster, more reliable performance for end users.

This let teams across Texas work more efficiently, without the delays and frustrations that had previously disrupted their workflows. At the same time, IT gained a more scalable, and future-ready platform aligned with its long-term roadmap.

Cost wasn’t the only reason Dunaway reconsidered its VDI vendor. Performance and user experience were also major pain points, as VDI Administrator Spenser Brown explained:

“The main issues with the Citrix VDI were overall stability and user experience. VMs were slow. Profiles would corrupt. We were troubleshooting constantly. The user experience was really poor.”

Dunaway’s experience highlights a key theme: modernization with Horizon saves costs as well unblocks better performance and innovation.

A clear shift toward modern VDI

Across these customer stories, a consistent pattern emerges. Organizations moving from Citrix to Horizon are not just replacing one platform. They’re modernizing how IT delivers digital workspaces.

They’re reducing costs. Simplifying operations. Improving user experience. And gaining the flexibility to run workloads wherever it makes the most sense.

Most importantly, they’re moving from environments that constrain them to platforms that enable them.

Ready to make the switch? Talk to your Omnissa or partner sales team to see how Horizon can modernize your VDI environment.