Revit in the cloud hosting by AECCloud offers accumulative cost-saving benefits that yield a higher ROI than traditional server management. Small business owners looking for a Revit cloud server can seem somewhat surprised at the initial investment for migration and sadly, do not see the enormous economic and efficiency benefits.

In discussions with potential clients, I help them see the forest from the trees by pointing out that Revit can significantly transform the way they work and thus, free up more time to spend on revenue-generating tasks. While you may have several purposes to move to the cloud, take a look at several ways Revit in the cloud saves you both time and money.

1. Enable your workforce to access programs and files from anywhere at anytime

Companies are always looking for ways to improve productivity. There is no better way to increase your output than to have applications, files and communication available from anywhere at anytime. Previously, access was limited to a physical office space, however, now in 2020, everyone is working remotely Remote access from the home office, local café or during travel allows you and your staff to work on-the-go without having to ‘physically’ connect to the office network.

For example, an architectural, design and engineering firm may have a team consisting of 10 consultants that require a Local Area Network (LAN) set-up with a file server, as well as applications for Revit in the cloud such as CAD and Adobe Creative Suite. If the user is operating a desktop computer while confined to the office, all is fine. However, in situations where users need to work from home or operate a laptop at a client’s site, accessing files is going to be a problem. For a SME made up of 50 users, access through an FTP site or VPN connection is not even viable as the system simply will not handle the load.

If your consultant is presenting to a client or collaborating with a supplier on a major project, they will most certainly need to access, upload and download files from the server quickly and easily. Restricting this capability is essentially restricting new business development, sales opportunities and revenue. Therefore, cloud migration is the way forward to 24/7 accessibility.

2. Cut down on server management and associated IT costs

Managing physical servers requires time, labour and expense. Monitoring, updating, configuring and repairing servers is better done by specialized IT experts. Most, if not, all architectural, engineering and construction firms need to outsource their server management, which adds extra costs to the balance sheet.

Servers are an absolute necessity for small businesses to host and secure data so there is no escaping it and sadly, it is impossible to do-it-yourself! Thankfully, Revit cloud makes the entire server management process much more efficient. To save your IT team time on manual maintenance, cloud-based computer systems and applications can be centralized, standardized and even automated across the organization.

Updating, syncing and transferring data can be done seamlessly over the cloud and in some cases, become automated. Automating repetitive tasks such as updating licenses and setting up user profiles means less time running your IT and less billing hours. If there is a tedious change such as access rights or security settings, you can configure it centrally without having to open up individual licenses on each user’s computer. Times this by however many other manual tasks that are undertaken by your IT service and you have saved yourself money in the long run.

3. Limitless capacity in the cloud to power-up CAD programs

CAD applications require graphic-heavy CPU systems that can withstand the processing of enormous design files. While desktop computers with large memory capacity can operate these applications without any problems, what about laptop computers?

Deploying CAD applications on a cloud-based graphic emulated server ensures all users across the organization can not only access the program at the same time, but also withstand the combined workload. Revit cloud has truly transformed the way companies work, by boosting power and performance when operating graphic-rich programs. Furthermore, storage capacity can easily be upgraded as your business needs grow and scale.

4. Easy, efficient and simplified file management

Creating, sharing and editing multiple copies of the same working file can be a nightmare for project teams. Instead of working on several different versions of the same document or spreadsheet, you can create a single file that is shared and synchronized for selected team members. Revit allows users to better collaborate by storing all files in the cloud. Rather than creating new and individual copies, you can all work centrally on a single file that can be updated in real time.

If a user is working on a Revit project file located in a network location, a local copy of the file is saved onto the user’s local C drive. Sending and receiving files over an FTP or VPN connection may work temporarily, however, a centralized cloud network where work-sharing is enabled is far more efficient. When operating in a cloud network, there is less headache in creating a local copy while worrying about creating additional backups.

Creating new copies for the same file by different users wastes time, which is better spent pitching to potential clients or working on a design concept. In addition, Revit can also be configured to secure access to applications, files and allow remote capabilities within a cloud network. Moving to a cloud-based solution is highly recommended, especially since Revit can be customized depending on your IT specifications.

For over 17 years, we have been helping clients to improve efficiency, productivity and profitability by hosting applications. There are several methods we use to deploy Revit in the cloud that allow remote access capability, lowers your server maintenance costs and redirects staff time on actual revenue-generating work.

If you are looking to run a leaner company that requires less overheads and yields more ROI, fill out the enquiry form and we can give you a brief overview on how Revit in the cloud can save you time and money, while helping you win more business.

To learn more Revit in the cloud, we have further resources you can read on our blog. If you need advice on finding a managed cloud IT service provider, feel free to reach out to me by email sales@aeccloud.com or call (212) 505-0381.