Avoiding Cloud CAD and PDM Adoption? Why Resisting Change Stunts Growth

Embracing new technologies isn’t easy, especially for product development teams. 

Recently, product design software has been reshaped by cloud advancements. Unfortunately, cloud CAD software options vary significantly in architecture, causing general confusion about the transformational benefits associated with cloud.

As a result, many engineering leaders struggle to understand their options and wind up holding onto familiar tools and processes while the world around them evolves. While they may be trying to express pragmatic concerns, their objections and apprehension make them come across as hesitant rather than effective at leadership.

The bad news is obvious. Avoiding a transition of your core design and engineering workflows to the cloud is a risky stance that perpetuates inefficiency and leads to missed opportunities. However, if prioritized, cloud-native CAD and PDM solutions like PTC’s Onshape can deliver immediate benefits to your business.

If you are holding back from discovering Onshape, consider the consequences of failing to adopt cloud. 

1. Falling Behind in a Fast-Paced Industry

The product design industry moves at breakneck speed. Resisting cloud technology and sticking with traditional file-based CAD and PDM workflows will leave you trailing behind competitors who are embracing these tools that enable them to innovate faster.  

Alternatively, adopting Onshape would accelerate your teams' productivity by streamlining design and engineering workflows, enabling your teams to work faster and more efficiently than ever before. By embracing the industry's most widely used CAD and PDM solution, you future-proof your business while positioning yourself for long-term career success. 

Envision it now. You're first to market because you were able to cut development times in half while also improving quality. With Onshape, results like these are truly possible. 

Case Study: Avidbots reclaimed 50% of their product development hours with Onshape’s real-time data management.

2. Missed Opportunities for Innovation

Don’t be the leader who holds an innovation day for new ideas but hinders their team with antiquated CAD and PDM software. Traditional file-based solutions, originally designed for single-user operation, require manual file management and version control, which discourages teams from experimentation and creative exploration. 

However, innovation can thrive when you bring together the right technology and skilled people in a conducive environment. To achieve this, you need CAD and PDM software that supports real-time, multi-user environments, the freedom to develop ideas individually, and the ability to integrate diverse solutions back into a centralized design.

It's no coincidence that the most innovative companies are designing what’s next in Onshape. Onshape's branch and merge capabilities epitomize an agile approach to innovation. They provide professional-grade CAD along with the ability to iterate rapidly and explore new ideas without constraints. 

Case Study: Beta Technologies chose to design its innovative Electric Vertical Aircraft (eVTOL) using a cloud-native product development platform.

3. Frustrating and Slow Collaboration

As a leader, if you fail to address challenges coordinating across teams and time zones and with people outside your company walls, you’ll always have difficulty consistently delivering successful projects on time. Resistance to cloud tools means missing out on secure, real-time communication, which could resolve many of your current inefficiencies. 

As a first step, you should simplify how your team finds and shares information. With Onshape, you can share collaborators into your online product development environment, where they can access design data, provide feedback, and monitor progress. By promoting advanced communication tools in your CAD package, you can establish yourself as a leader known for minimizing friction and fostering a more productive team dynamic. 

Case Study: Read how VIKASO sped up communication by 60 to 70 percent between its core design team and external partners. 

4. Stifling Career Development

As technologies evolve, the skill set required to excel in product design changes. Reluctance to learn and apply cloud tools translates to missed opportunities to deliver tangible results for your business and progress your career. 

In today's competitive job market, high value is placed on effectively leading global teams and transitioning them towards adopting modern design and engineering practices. If you want to be proactive about streamlining product development workflows or pursue more significant leadership roles, Onshape is the perfect choice. By embracing cloud-native CAD and PDM, you too can leverage the power of cutting-edge cloud technology to transform your business. 

Case Study: Engineering leaders at XING Mobility, a Taiwanese electric battery and powertrain manufacturer, found that Onshape could save them an impressive 400 engineering hours annually.

Onshape: The Gold Standard for Cloud CAD and PDM 

The consequences of “doing nothing” are steep. Don’t let confusion or concerns about the cloud become excuses that make it difficult for you and your company to evolve, stopping progress before it starts. 

Embracing Onshape for enterprise product development, your company will benefit from reliable, 24/7 access to professional-grade CAD alongside built-in PDM, simulation, rendering, and more. 

So, accelerate your cloud adoption with Onshape today. If you do, your business and your career will grow. 

Trusted by industry leaders worldwide, you can be confident when choosing Onshape. Read more about companies transforming their product development process with Onshape.