The cloud is enabling a new era of modern manufacturing, yet many manufacturers remain skeptical about cloud computing. If you’re one of them, then you must reconsider your stance on cloud computing. If you’re in the manufacturing businesses, then here are 5 good reasons for you to move to the cloud!
Almost all economists agree that the next few years are looking very positive for the manufacturing industry. Manufactures will experience organic growth due to new product categories, pent up demand from businesses and consumers, more product diversity, and greater geographic reach. All these factors are poised to keep manufacturing running profitably till the foreseeable future at least.
All this growth in manufacturing almost guarantees two things: A—mergers and acquisitions will increase and B—the trend around better data management for business analysis will only grow more heated. For these reasons alone, the cloud is gaining adherents across industry, despite concerns about security and off-site hosting of critical business data.
As more and more manufacturers move toward cloud-hosting of critical data, several benefits that are not limited to security and access have been achieved. These are benefits that we will discuss here to showcase why it is beneficial for businesses in the manufacturing industry to move to the cloud. So, let’s get started.
The Case for Moving to the Cloud
Before we give the reasons or benefits of moving to the cloud, we’d like to present the case for manufacturers moving to the cloud. Let there be no doubt that the era of modern manufacturing has well and truly arrived and what has made this possible? You guessed right: it is the cloud. Today, cloud computing is helping manufacturers to not just transform their supply chain, design and production processes, but also drive innovation, accelerate growth, and enhance the customer experience—all while lowering Information Technology (IT) costs.
With the cloud playing an increasingly larger role in manufacturing, there has been an influx of workplace and productivity apps and tools designed to meet just about every need. As such, cloud-based enterprise communications and productivity apps and tools are playing a positive role in business growth of many manufacturers today. In the next section, we give 5 reasons manufacturers should move to the cloud and make use of the cloud-based apps and tools.
The Reasons to Switch to the Cloud
The deployment of the cloud has been a game-changer, yet it is often distrusted and rejected. Business that take this route are destined to fail. For this reason, manufacturers who have recently rejected or have refused to adopt cloud deployment should take another look. In fact, as the benefits of cloud computing grow exponentially, cloud deployment is the logical solution for several market drivers which just can’t be overlooked.
There are seven market drivers growing the adoption of cloud computing. These include digitalization, supply chain visibility, acquisitions and divestitures, enhanced customer experience, security, limited cash flow, and skills gap. With the factors driving the growth of cloud computing clear, it is time to look at the 5 reasons manufacturers should move to the cloud.
Minimize Costs
There are many studies that prove that switching to the cloud can significantly reduce costs. For instance, a study by Nucleus Research finds that cloud-based implementations typically require less development and testing resources, and cloud vendors usually provide much of the application support and maintenance. As a result, organizations that deploy cloud-based applications spend 40% less on consulting and 25% less on support personnel than organizations that deploy on-premise applications.
Another study by Strategy& found that, overall, the total cost of ownership for a cloud-based ERP system can be 50 to 60% less than traditional software implementations over a 10-year period.
Faster Time to Market
Rapid response is critical when unforeseen events take place such as new competition that can take market share in a matter of months. On-premise applications are generally not fast-enough to structure, expand, and scale up operations, which can put a company at a disadvantage when faced with other fast-growing businesses. The cloud can come to the rescue here.
With the cloud, deployments are faster, and there are fewer work slowdowns during implementation. Moreover, there is no need to invest capital in upgrading your infrastructure.All this can positively impact your bottom line.
Faster Growth
The cloud makes it significantly less expensive and time-consuming to establish a business presence in new and remote locations as there is no requirement for any physical infrastructure on-site for cloud deployments. This mean that if your business is growing, you can quickly scale-up in the cloud to meet expanding needs; and if your business is going bust, then your minimal investment in the cloud deployment represents a much smaller loss than you’d incur with an on-premise solution.
Improved Visibility
The cloud makes it easy to access information about plant-floor resources. This in turn allows a business to make the most effective usage of constrained resources, find areas where they can increase throughput and efficiency, and promote better material and asset management. Put simply increased visibility—in real-time—enabled by cloud, helps you to operate more efficiently, and make better, faster decisions.
Improved Efficiency
Since they can automate several traditional steps of the business processes to replace manual activities and often eliminate the need for duplicate data entry, cloud applications are considered by many as applications best-suited for improving the efficiency of manufacturing operations.
With a cloud-based ERP system, you can improve collaboration between departments, as well as externally with suppliers and distributors. Moreover, you can early-detection capabilities and real-time access to information about capacity, availability, qualifications, and interdependencies of employees, equipment, tools, and materials data. All of this helps to improve manufacturing efficiency.
For more reasons to switch to the cloud or if you would like to explore if cloud is right for your organization, get in touch with me today!
by Bobby J Davidson
We love our company and we love what we do. Check out the ‘Why Percento‘ page to learn more: Love of Technology and Business! As the President of Percento Technologies International, I provide day-to-day leadership to the company’s senior management and I am personally involved in the strategy, business development and sales activities of the firm.
The company was founded in 1999 with the purpose of providing a one call source for organizations in need of Enterprise IT Consulting and Management. We also provide a line of products in the boutique Cloud Server space with a touch of high-end website strategy consulting and design services. We personalizes the IT Service experience with a team approach, working with clients from diverse sectors of industry, including energy services, financial, legal, entertainment, healthcare, hospitality, retail and general and/or corporate business. percentotech.com/contact
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