How Cloud Service Providers Help Reduce Engineering Costs

According to recent reports, more and more companies are turning to the cloud to spur innovation, increase efficiency, and cut costs.

In one report, 84% of the 137 IT executives surveyed said they plan to move more workloads to the cloud within the next two years. According to the report, cost savings was a driving factor behind the switch. In the survey, 94% of respondents said the cloud would reduce setup and maintenance costs, and 47% said their IT costs would drop by 30-50% from the use of cloud infrastructure and apps.

Cloud services can be beneficial for a wide range of businesses. This includes the engineering sector where cloud service providers are helping to reduce costs. Whether it’s having a SaaS backup solution to protect critical data, the use of cloud computing in production environments, or utilizing the cloud for development and testing, engineering firms are seeing substantial cost savings.

That’s due in part to the cost-savings inherent in adopting cloud platforms. According to the report, 47% of IT executives like public cloud budgeting flexibility that lets them avoid large capital expenditures. Additionally, in the survey, 47% cited usage-based pricing models that enable infrastructure decisions based on business needs.

Let’s take a look at how engineering firms are utilizing cloud service providers to reduce costs.

IT personnel and infrastructure

Cloud service providers can help reduce IT costs by allowing companies to scale down their internal IT workforce. It also enables IT personnel to redirect their efforts to core engineering duties. For example, engineering firms can utilize cloud services like desktop support to reduce the overall burden on IT support. This enables IT personnel to prioritize other tasks like engineering analysis.

Outsourcing IT functions to cloud service providers also reduces the need for certain kinds of IT infrastructure. According to a report, 47% of respondents cited a desire to avoid capital expenditures on hardware, software, IT support, and security as a driving factor behind their decision to shift to the cloud. Instead of expending valuable internal resources, engineering firms can enlist cloud service providers to maintain necessary hardware and infrastructure.

Production, development, and testing

According to a recent report, 40% of IT professionals said they are using the cloud in production environments, while 33% said they were using it for development and testing. That’s because cloud services can be essential components in driving innovation and cost savings in production, development, and testing environments.

Engineering firms are using cloud service providers to optimize their computing resources at a lower overhead cost than if they had to continuously invest in up-to-date hardware. For example, firms that use computer modeling and simulations in the cloud see a significant decrease in the cost of installing, running, and maintaining simulation software. Other avenues for cloud computing in engineering firms include cloud-based acoustic modeling and system-level failure analysis.

Disaster recovery

According to one report, 20% of organizations are using cloud infrastructure for disaster recovery. For example, utilizing a cloud-to-cloud SaaS backup solution to safeguard your data can ensure your engineering firm is protected in the event of a data breach. Cloud service providers often employ multiple data centers to protect your data, which provides firms with the peace of mind of knowing their data is safe.

Utilizing a third-party SaaS backup solution ensures your data is protected against accidental or malicious deletion and helps you maintain business continuity, thereby minimizing the cost for engineering firms. For example, Backupify’s automated cloud-based SaaS backup platform protects and secures data to help companies quickly recover from cyber attacks. Our solution ensures a seamless recovery with minimal downtime, giving engineering firms the ability to focus on other areas of their operation. 

Want to help reduce costs at your firm? Contact us now to try Backupify’s SaaS backup solution.