Pivot to the Cloud

Pivot to the Cloud

I have been around IT organizations long enough to recognize what is happening right now, and it is not pleasant. We are dealing with a massive global health situation that will inevitably affect the way companies do business in the future. Much like the aftermath of insider trading in 1986, Y2K, 9/11 in 2001, or the mortgage crisis that lead to the Wall Street meltdown in 2008, IT executives are sitting at home thinking about the implications of the current situation. The reality is they are trying to figure out how to manage their organization with less funding and probably less resources.

After experiencing these situations multiple times throughout my career, I know that with every unanticipated situation, companies that pivot to meet new challenges head on will survive and prosper. As executives develop new plans, the first realization is that most of yesterday’s top priorities are still going to be top priorities. The second realization is that there are going to be additional top priorities added to the list. Most of these new priorities will be associated with making organizational and architectural changes, while still accomplishing the original set of top priorities.

One of the areas well-equipped to be utilized for increased efficiency is the use of the cloud for PLM environments. While cloud hosting strategies have proven secure and effective for an increasing number of functional areas, companies have not leveraged the cloud at the same velocity for their PLM environments. In the CIMdata 2019 Market Analysis Report, CIMdata stated “The other big change in the offering for the PLM market is the cloud. While most PLM solution providers have cloud offerings, few, including the large providers, are getting material results from them as yet.” They went on to say “Cloud-based PLM adoption has been slow, with perceived security risks over-emphasized by prospective users. CIMdata estimates that less than 10% of the global cPDm market is from cloud.”

As executives identify opportunities to off-load non-core activities from their IT departments, moving additional technologies to the cloud will inevitably be high on their list. As security related concerns about cloud hosting continue to decrease, moving PLM systems to the cloud will grow. In the IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Manufacturing Product and Service Innovation 2020 Predictions, IDC stated “Cloud-based applications and an on-demand approach to product design, development, and delivery are emerging as a must-have for manufacturers to compete by moving quickly and cost effectively.” They continue by giving the guidance “Complement on-premise development systems with cloud-based PLM and SLM with innovation marketplaces, IoT platforms, and manufacturing-as-a-service platforms: these environments today can provide support for application development, data capture, federation,
and analytics, as well as additive and subtractive manufacturing.”

The benefits of pivoting to the cloud reach beyond the initial move of the PLM infrastructure. Many companies are also seeing additional benefits when establishing a Managed Service Agreement to ensure skilled resources to build and manage their environments. By establishing a Managed Service Agreement, the CIO minimizes the commitment of his own resources and at the same time ensures design, performance, security and sizing requirements are continually met, over time, by people who understand their PLM environment best. A true win-win scenario for everyone.

The time to react to today’s business altering events is now. Aras is ready to help you pivot to the cloud and provide managed services to guarantee your PLM environment is secure and equipped to support your business without interruption or utilizing your valuable internal resources.

For more information on Aras’ cloud offerings, contact us.