There are several ways in which life will change forever after this Coronavirus pandemic has subsided, but I’d like to talk about the one way in which design firms and manufacturers can no longer back-burner provisioning a remote option to keep their designers and programmers working. The way we work has evolved tremendously over the past 5 years, and the Cloud has finally realized its potential as “the next big thing” and is now the modus operandi for several business essentials – Office 365, Adobe Creative Cloud, Zoho CRM, HubSpot Marketing platform, the list goes on. But CAD software tends to lag behind when it comes to “the next big thing”, and CAD adoption of the Cloud has been slower to the party.
We’re just now beginning to see viable Cloud-based options in the CAD space, so engineers and designers around the globe are beginning to ask how they can utilize the Cloud and incorporate these new tools into their current workflow. Onshape and Fusion 360 are two relatively new CAD suites that leverage the Cloud in different ways. Onshape was recently acquired by PTC, and Fusion 360 was created by Autodesk. Both PTC and Autodesk are what you’d call “legacy” companies when it comes to CAD. Upon inspecting both companies’ current product portfolio, they are both betting on a hybrid approach that includes locally installed CAD software that is enhanced by the Cloud-based capabilities of Onshape and Fusion 360. But if you’re a SOLIDWORKS user you must ask, “is changing CAD systems worth it?” SOLIDWORKS Cloud attempts to answer that question.
Changing CAD systems is costly – there are new license costs for the new CAD system, training requirements to bring your team up to speed on the new tools, and potential double-costs for maintaining SOLIDWORKS while transitioning away. But the hidden costs of transitioning go beyond that – resentment from a workforce mandated to switch from a CAD tool they know and love, IT costs for understanding the new requirements imposed on the CAD team, and time invested in understanding a new support model to name a few. The good news is that you do not have to ditch SOLIDWORKS in favor of a more modern Cloud-based CAD System because our EpiGrid solution provides the bridge between your existing SOLIDWORKS tools and the Cloud to create SOLIDWORKS Cloud.
Whether your team wishes to keep their SOLIDWORKS tools and just ditch the IT burden that comes with SOLIDWORKS PDM, or ditch the local workstation in favor of a Cloud-hosted SOLIDWORKS VDI workstation, EpiGrid has the expertise and the Private Virtual Network to help you get the absolute most out of your SOLIDWORKS tools TODAY with SOLIDWORKS Cloud.
I’d also like to mention that SOLIDWORKS has its own entry into the Cloud game – to compete against the likes of PTC and Autodesk – known as the 3DExperience Platform. This new platform will also require an additional learning curve. Converge is dutifully understanding this new platform and it’s truly impressive. In addition to the learning curve, it will also require a bit of a migration path, and once we’ve mastered this new platform, we’ll begin to help you understand how you can incorporate these new Cloud tools into your CAD workflow.
Contact us today to learn how you can best leverage SOLIDWORKS Cloud today to enhance your existing CAD tools.
