Cloud workstations can benefit AEC firms in a number of ways, from reducing costs and simplifying IT infrastructure. Amitabh, CEO and co-founder, Workspot cloud solution tells us more
A recent study found that nearly half (40%) of construction firms have difficulty accessing the digital assets they need to work efficiently. Unfortunately, most firms are limited by their tech stack and are in desperate need of technology modernization. In fact, that same study found that 90% of firms agree it’s time to embrace new digital technologies, and with remote and hybrid work continuing to be prolonged by the pandemic, adopting digital strategies is paramount to the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry.
Unsurprisingly, AEC firms are now turning to virtualization and cloud workstations in hopes of advancing their business into the new digitized era. However, questions remain: can cloud services address CAD challenges including compute and GPU intensive applications, enable high-performance and maintain security? The short answer: yes.
Why is cloud transformation a must for AEC?
One of our customers’ CIOs said that an AEC firm that has not adopted the cloud will be dead in 5 years! According to him, a legacy IT architecture limits AEC customers’ ability to hire remote designers, grow via acquisitions, and lowers the margins because of higher IT expenses.
How do cloud workstations enable transformation?
AEC designer engineers use many applications, such as AutoCAD, Revit, Navisworks, Civil 3D, SolidWorks, Bentley Microstation, ArcGIS, and more. These applications typically generate very large file sizes, which can be difficult and time consuming to share over slow network links.
Cloud workstations that leverage the power of cloud GPUs, enable AEC firms to run high-performance 3D CAD applications. The data is placed alongside these high-performance cloud workstations, and drives better productivity, efficiencies and increased revenue.
How does cloud enable key benefits?
For starters, the cloud enables unparalleled business agility. As I touched on earlier, it allows organizations to easily onboard and offboard people wherever they are located. Cloud workstations can be deployed anywhere in the world, typically within minutes, giving the company’s the agility to bid on and win bigger projects, globally. They can also help the speed and simplify the opening of new offices or onboarding acquired firms. No need to build out costly infrastructure on-premises – all that’s needed is an internet connection.
Cloud workstations can also help boost firms’ competitive advantage, making it possible to securely onboard employees and contractors quickly, wherever they need to work and from any device, resulting in greater business agility and better cost efficiencies with the cloud’s pay as you go models.
Cloud-based technology also has the ability to reduce the hassles of provisioning or refreshing equipment for new employees, regardless of their location. Designers and engineers can access their cloud workstations from any device. Modern cloud workstations support technologies that are key to AEC firms, such as multiple monitors and space mice.
Cloud workstations drive productivity
One of the biggest concerns that AEC firms often have is that cloud workstation performance will be lacking when using demanding graphics-intensive applications. On prem VDI and traditional cloud VDI are not known for great performance. The underlying reason is they are not architected to place the virtual workstation in the cloud region closest to the user. This results in high latency – which equals mouse lag, slow rendering, etc. that is distracting for designers who need real-time screen response.
Modern cloud workstations can be placed in the cloud region closest to the user to enable fast, low-latency access for users globally. This will enable anywhere-productivity and creativity for CAD and BIM experts, from home, office or the job site. Choosing a SaaS-based service for cloud workstations allows IT organizations to offload the SLA of the desktop, ensuring maximum uptime and end-user productivity, while freeing IT to focus on more strategic projects.
Cloud workstations improve security
With cloud workstations, proprietary designs or data can stay securely in the cloud – not on endpoints. This ensures third-party users (like contractors or partners) have access to the specific applications and data they need, reducing the risk of sensitive or proprietary company data ending up in the wrong hands.
Cloud workstations simplify image management and improve security by centralizing the desktop OS in the cloud. Operating system and application patches can be easily applied without end-user involvement. With cyberattacks and ransomware on the rise, business continuity and disaster recovery have never been more important. AEC firms looking to adopt cloud technologies should look for Cloud PC solutions that offer backup and multi-region disaster recovery to bolster your business continuity posture.
The sophisticated, modern architectures for delivering virtual desktops have changed the game, simplifying IT processes around end-user computing and taking on the heavy lifting, cloud workstations have the ability to address the major pain points affecting AEC firms today.
