Research Shows Enormous Upside for CAD SaaS Providers
Research conducted by the Business Advantage Group set out to gather data on CAD use in the cloud. CAD stands for Computer Aided Design and if the research by BAG is any indication of CAD’s future, cloud and CAD will become synonymous with one another as each technology continues to mature. CAD isn’t anything new. In fact, the technology itself has been around since the 1980s. One of the biggest barriers to entry for CAD has been GPU power, storage space and costs.
The old way of doing CAD is GPU intensive requiring the user to have a robust video card located in their personal desktop computer. The limitations of VDI and virtual application delivery have made past attempts at CAD in the cloud to be mediocre at best. Since NVidia and others have recently released technology that allows GPU instances to be run in the cloud, CAD and the public cloud may finally be mature enough for each other to co-exist.
The market is ready for the marriage of cloud and CAD, according to research by BAG. Only 7% of CAD users are using a cloud solution currently. The upside comes from the fact that this figure should increase by a rate of 130% over next 12 months and within 5 years, the rate is expected to increase 260%. The study went on say that cloud CAD awareness is actually quite high. 47% of those queried said that they had “High awareness” while 25% said that they expected to use a cloud CAD SaaS solution.
What does all of this mean? Cloud CAD innovation continues to make strides and the adaption will not only encourage existing CAD professionals to make the switch, it will inspire a new generation of CAD professionals who may not have had CAD as easily accessible to them. BAG went on to say that they predict an “Upward trend within the cloud-based CAD industry. “
