In our previous article, we explored why most AI projects fail before they start and concluded that AI depends on trusted engineering information. But trusted information is only part of the equation. Organizationsaniztions need a secure, scalable way to manage and access that information across the enterprise.
This is where cloud readiness becomes important. Cloud readiness is the ability to manage engineering information without the burden of maintaining the underlying infrastructure. For engineering and industrial organizations pursuing AI and digital transformation initiatives, the cloud can provide the infrastructure needed to support new technologies and growing volumes of engineering information without the burden of maintaining it in house.
Key Takeaways:
- Cloud-based engineering information management is becoming a foundation for AI readiness.
- IT staffing shortages and cybersecurity risks are making infrastructure management more challenging.
- Modern cloud platforms help organizations improve scalability, resilience, and operational efficiency.
- Organizations retain ownership of their data through the shared responsibility model.
- Adept Cloud helps engineering organizations focus on information management instead of infrastructure management.
The Hidden Burden of Managing Engineering Information
Historically, organizations deployed engineering document management systems on-premise. This approach provided direct control over infrastructure and, for many years, served organizations well.
Today, maintaining those environments has become increasingly complex. IT teams are now expected to manage servers, apply security patches, perform backups, oversee disaster recovery, monitor system health, upgrade software, and ensure system availability—all while supporting cybersecurity initiatives, digital transformation projects, and growing business demands.
At the same time, many organizations are facing staffing challenges. Recent research found that 72% of technology leaders report a skills gap within their department, and 77% say the impact of that gap has increased. As a result, scarce IT resources are often consumed by maintaining infrastructure rather than supporting strategic initiatives.
When engineering information systems become difficult to maintain or unavailable, the consequences extend beyond IT and directly affect productivity, reliability, compliance, and operational performance. Major capital projects frequently exceed budgets and schedules, while unplanned downtime can cost industrial organizations more than $300,000 per hour.
The challenge is no longer simply managing engineering documents. It is managing the infrastructure required to keep those documents secure, accessible, and available when they are needed most.
You're Spending Time on the Wrong Layer
Infrastructure management has started to become a distraction from higher-value work. Engineering leaders are measured on project performance, operational reliability, compliance, safety, and productivity—not server administration. Likewise, document control teams are responsible for ensuring the right information reaches the right people at the right time—not managing operating systems or backup schedules.
Cloud-based platforms shift infrastructure responsibility to the software provider. Instead of maintaining servers, organizations can focus on:
- Managing engineering information
- Improving workflows and user productivity
- Supporting digital transformation and AI initiatives
Why are Engineering Organizations Moving to the Cloud?
Organizations are starting to ask whether maintaining engineering information systems on-premise still delivers the greatest value. The challenge is not that on-premises systems no longer work. It's that maintaining them consumes resources that could be focused elsewhere. As organizations pursue digital transformation and AI initiatives, many leaders are concluding that their competitive advantage comes from managing engineering information—not managing servers.
The broader market reflects this trend. Approximately 94% of enterprises now use cloud services as part of their core business operations. It's clear that cloud technology belongs in the enterprise. So, how can it be leveraged to improve security, resilience, scalability, and operational efficiency?
Security Has Become a Cloud Conversation
Security remains one of the most important considerations when evaluating cloud technologies. Cybersecurity is no longer just an IT concern—it is a business continuity issue. Organizations must patch systems, monitor vulnerabilities, manage backups, validate access controls, and respond to emerging threats while supporting day-to-day operations.
According to IBM's 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average global cost of a data breach reached $4.88 million. As cyber threats continue to evolve, organizations need to evaluate whether they can consistently maintain the same level of security monitoring, testing, patching, and resilience internally as specialized cloud providers.
A decade ago, cloud adoption raised concerns about security. Today, it's the opposite. Modern cloud platforms often provide capabilities that are difficult and expensive to replicate internally, including:
- Single Sign-On (SSO)
- Continuous vulnerability scanning
- Automated security monitoring
- Identity-based access controls
- Encryption in transit and at rest
- Third-party penetration testing
The conversation has shifted from whether cloud platforms can be secure to whether organizations can consistently maintain the same level of security, monitoring, and resilience on their own.
Why Scalability Matters for AI Readiness
AI initiatives require both trusted information and scalable infrastructure. As digital initiatives expand, engineering information volumes continue to grow. Drawings, procedures, vendor documentation, maintenance records, and operational data accumulate over decades.
Organizations need platforms that can:
- Scale without major infrastructure projects
- Support growing document repositories
- Enable distributed teams
- Deliver consistent performance
- Accommodate future technologies
Cloud architectures separate business growth from infrastructure limitations, allowing organizations to expand capabilities without expanding server rooms.
Cloud is More Than a Hosting Strategy
Cloud migration is now viewed as a business decision rather than a technology decision. In fact, approximately 82% of organizations cite operational efficiency as a primary driver of cloud adoption.
For engineering organizations, the value extends beyond infrastructure. Cloud-based engineering information management can help simplify upgrades, reduce IT burden, improve accessibility, strengthen resilience, and support distributed teams.
More importantly, it provides a scalable foundation for future initiatives. As organizations pursue AI, analytics, digital twins, and other digital transformation efforts, cloud platforms make it easier to expand capabilities without continually investing in new infrastructure.
Organizations that succeed with AI are rarely those that adopt AI first. They are the ones that have already invested in the information management and infrastructure needed to support it. Cloud-based engineering information management is a critical part of that foundation.
Building the Foundation for the Next Generation of Engineering Information Management
At Synergis, these realities helped shape the development of Adept Cloud, the cloud-native evolution of Synergis Adept engineering document management platform. After decades of helping organizations govern engineering information and workflows, we recognized the growing burden infrastructure places on IT and engineering teams. Rather than simply hosting an existing application in the cloud, Adept Cloud was built as a fully managed SaaS platform that preserves the workflows, governance, and engineering information practices organizations already rely upon while eliminating much of the operational complexity of managing infrastructure.
Organizations retain ownership of their data, permissions, and business processes while Synergis manages the infrastructure, security, backups, scalability, and ongoing platform operations. The result is a platform that enables engineering teams to focus on the information that drives safety, reliability, compliance, and productivity—not the infrastructure supporting it.
Once organizations establish a trusted information foundation through engineering information management and a scalable platform such as Adept Cloud, a new opportunity emerges: applying intelligence directly to engineering information through technologies like Adept AI.
In our next article, we'll explore what AI looks like when it's built specifically for engineering documents, drawings, metadata, and workflows—and why engineering organizations require something very different from generic AI tools.
Because once information is trusted and accessible, intelligence becomes possible.
See Adept Cloud in Action
Join us for an upcoming webinar, Engineering Document Management in the Cloud: Secure, AI Enabled, and Integrated with CAD, to see how EDMS creates a trusted foundation for engineering information and get an introduction to Adept AI and how its built into the platform.
