Are You Ready to Move Your Workforce to the Cloud?

You come to work this morning and your workforce is ready to go.  Do they have everything they need to do their work?  The right materials, new work to do and the instructions they need to get it done right?  

If you use paper job packets in manufacturing, then the right information is somewhere there for them.  They just need to find it.  If you use a digital solution, then you know they have everything.  Or do you?

I’ve started running again and I find I just can’t do it well without information on how I’m doing while I’m doing it.  I want the watch to beep at me when I pass a mile.  I want congratulations when I hit 10,000 steps.  At its very basic level, I want the watch to know where I am, how far I’ve gone and how quickly.  I’ve become dependent on the information  and feedback from the device to actually do the job.  

If you provide digital instructions for your operators, they do too.

My sport watch company was recently hacked by ransom ware.  They have slowly been clawing their way back to life, but everyone using the platform has been left hanging while they figure it out.  For me, I couldn't track mileage for a while and my watch kept running through a continuous save cycle that rendered it useless for hours.  What would you do if that were your shop?  

Many companies we talk to are using their ERP to run their shop and plenty of those are launched in the cloud.  ERPs got so complex and huge that installations ate up companies cash reserves.  Installations took years and were exceptionally painful.  A natural answer to that is to move the ERP to the cloud.

A cloud application brings forced updates for you.  They standardize the platform and push out changes to all users simultaneously.  Sometimes, you don’t even know it’s happening.  

Wired Magazine cites an increasing fear that digital platforms are direct targets for hackers like the one that brought down my watch recently.  They have written so many articles on the subject recently, you can sort by #hacker and find this.  Hackers are targeting Fortune 500 companies for their platforms and rich rewards.  Is your platform next?  

We believe that a modern platform, housed where you can control it, is the very best option.  Not because we can’t launch in the cloud.  We choose not to.  Plenty of users have WiFi trouble, daily outages, slowdowns and even shut-offs.  Not even one of these is tenable for a moving shop floor.  And, if the very largest companies in the world are open to people who have their eye on taking them down, I wouldn’t suggest for a moment that you put your stuff there.  

Our platforms are all locally sourced.  Right there on your network.  So you know you have access to them every day, all day.   

We believe in the critical importance of manufacturing right here in North America and we work hard to keep you working.  Ask us questions; you will find that we are far more reachable than other software providers you may partner with.  We are here to help you find the right tools and use them, whether it's a Google doc, an Excel sheet or a Production Control system.  To learn more about meeting your targets for 2020 or just getting a question answered, visit us at www.cimx.com.