Securing your proprietary engineering designs while maintaining strict regulatory compliance is a major challenge for modern firms. Fortunately, combining Converge’s Managed Cloud Application Services (MCAS) with EpiGrid hosting provides a bulletproof managed-security solution. Together, they protect your SOLIDWORKS CAD and PDM intellectual property (IP), simplify compliance audits, and drastically reduce operational risk.
What MCAS + EpiGrid Deliver
MCAS functions as your specialized, fractional CAD and PDM administrator. It eliminates the heavy administrative burden from your internal team. By partnering with EpiGrid’s CAD-agnostic cloud hosting, this managed ecosystem delivers comprehensive capabilities:
- Proactive CAD & PDM Maintenance: Continuous system monitoring, PDM vault health checks, and annual upgrades prevent crashes and optimize workflows.
- Infrastructure Alignment: The platform coordinates software, servers, and network configurations with SOLIDWORKS best practices.
- Cloud Performance: Engineers can leverage high-availability servers, dedicated GPU remote graphics servers, optimized WAN configurations, low-latency file access, and persistent sessions.
- Data Integrity & Control: Standardized file naming, controlled user permissions, rigid encryption, and automated license optimization keep your environment secure.
- Business Continuity: Centralized, immutable data snapshots and regularly tested restores isolate files from catastrophic loss.
Security & Compliance Advantages
Relying on ad-hoc, on-premises servers to protect critical IP leaves firms highly vulnerable to ransomware, hardware failures, and audit non-compliance. Alternatively, a managed cloud approach enforces tight security and corporate governance. 
By bridging the gap between engineering needs and IT requirements, MCAS establishes clear separation of duties and strict role-based user access controls. Structured workflows and standardized approval paths ensure an unalterable version history and document control trail. If an auditor requests a review, you can instantly provide comprehensive compliance audit logs and clear interoperability tracking. This proactive posture effectively shields your organization from costly data breaches and downtime.
ROI for Any-Sized Organization
Implementing a managed infrastructure model delivers rapid, measurable financial payback. Below are conservative estimate calculations showcasing the tangible return on investment. (Assumptions: Fully loaded internal administrator FTE = $120,000/year; Average engineering downtime cost = $100/hour).
Small Organizations (1–25 Engineers)
- Tangible Drivers: Eliminates the cost of a full-time IT/CAD admin. According to Converge, typical small-firm CAD administration wastes 10% to 25% of an internal employee's time ($9,616 to $24,040 annually).
- Calculation Estimate: Saving 20% of a $120k engineer's time from admin tasks + avoiding just 12 hours of total system downtime per year ($100 × 12 hours × 15 engineers) = $42,000 saved annually.
- ROI Summary: Payback achieved in less than 9 months.
Medium Organizations (26–250 Engineers)
- Tangible Drivers: Eradicates engineering and IT resource misalignment. It reduces system crashes and optimizes license usage.
- Calculation Estimate: Reclaiming wasted admin hours across 60 engineers ($1,500/engineer/year) + preventing one major 8-hour PDM crash outage ($100 × 8 hours × 60 engineers) = $138,000 saved annually.
- ROI Summary: Estimated 150% to 200% ROI in year one.
Large Organizations (250+ Engineers)
- Tangible Drivers: Provides global infrastructure scalability, predictable hosted license provisioning, and reduced risk of multi-million dollar compliance breaches.
- Calculation Estimate: Streamlining cross-department workflows for 300 engineers saves an average of 2 hours per engineer per month ($100 × 24 hours × 300 engineers) = $720,000 saved annually in reclaimed productivity.
- ROI Summary: Substantial payback under 12 months.
MCAS combined with EpiGrid hosting gives your business a definitive edge in security, compliance readiness, and financial efficiency. Let your team focus on engineering innovation while the experts secure the environment. Contact Converge today to request a custom ROI assessment or a technical platform brief.
