Cloud Solutions and the AEC Benefits

The transformative change that many had to undertake due to the COVID-19 Pandemic has spurred many organizations into adopting cloud solutions and strategies to meet the needs of their organizations. Some organizations had already put some solutions in place before everything being shut down, allowing them to empower their employees to be productive working remotely. The organizations that had not had the opportunity to make those changes before the disruptive force that COVID-19 has been, were left to ponder what their journey to the cloud might look like. This post aims to help organizations in the AEC industry that are trying to navigate the uncharted waters and adopt solutions that will serve them now and in the future, providing the flexibility to deal with whatever the future holds.

What is the cloud and what makes it great?

Let’s start with what the cloud is and why it can feel intimidating. Best defined by Panzura, “… cloud is storage like a globally available data center.” With on-demand availability, access storage, computing power, and precious data without direct active management, the upsides to the cloud are clear.

The cloud is simply an interconnected world where the applications, data, compute, workloads, and more happen in an environment that if the user has an internet connection, they can access what they need when they need it. The cloud allows you to offload the burden of maintenance and complexity of managing your own infrastructure. The intimidating part is that some people want to be able to touch their devices, data, hardware, and that allows them to have a sense of control.

With the cloud, they feel that some of that ability is lost. They no longer can walk into their server room and see the data lives. The problem with that mentality is that we live in a world where there are more people looking to infiltrate your network than there are to protect it in your organization. While it may be comforting to see your data, devices, hardware, and etc., you also need to purchase a variety of other services, software, hardware, firewalls, and more to try and keep it safe. Not to mention that purchasing all of the hardware/software to replicate what can be achieved with cloud computing is costly, time-consuming, and hinders the ability to provide scalability for when the resource need is high versus low.

Peace of mind, piece of the cloud

I like to think of it as a daycare, school, sports, and etc. for children. We love our children. Our goal is to keep them safe, happy, and cared for. We also need to work in order to provide for them. This leads us to look for people to help take care of our children, or we send them to school where we can’t protect them and trust that the people we are leaving them with will do that. Much like daycare, we need to value our time and look at what makes us more effective. With the cloud, by shifting the burden to a cloud provider you are trusting them with your most valuable asset so that you can spend your time to make the company better and perform at peak efficiency. Not only that but the cloud enables your team to be much nimbler and more effective. In the AEC Industry, the growth in the data we are generating on an annual basis is increasing at a rapid clip. Technologies are advancing and the need for being nimble and being able to scale is more important than ever. The cloud offers your organization flexibility and peace of mind. Much like daycare and school can provide you with peace of mind to focus on making a better life for your family. 

Learn more about our cloud solution, U.S. CAD Cloud Workstation here.