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-premis 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.
A Note About AI
We haven't even touched on the AI component, but the future of engineering is tied to the capabilities of AI, and eventually, CAD itself will be disrupted by the output engineers will get from AI. Of course, this journey is wrought with terrors and potential pitfalls, but like it or not, AI isn't going anywhere for the next 10-15 years. Those who adopt it in a strict and governed way stand to gain an edge that has otherwise not been available since the advent of steam or electric technologies, or the internet. We're laser focused on delivering AI solutions that offer immediate ROI, and a large part of our AI strategy for engineering and manufacturing space is a managed AI services model similar to our MCAS engagement. Stay tuned for more on this over the next few months.
Conclusion
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.
