Did you know Autodesk Vault connects to cloud-based technology? (Image: Autodesk.) The digital transformation of engineering workflows can get complex. An obvious example is when a manufacturer’s legacy technology must be integrated within an organization’s new cloud-based engineering platform. These systems may not be compatible out of the gate. There are other hurdles; for example, consider an aerospace company with government contracts. For national security, they may be restricted from storing data on the cloud. Meanwhile, another company’s in-house software may be unable to function with data on the cloud. Cloud-based engineering platforms exist, and most offer the ability to transfer whole product lifecycle workflows — from design, to manufacturing and beyond — into a single ecosystem. For many organizations, these platforms offer a great method to implement a digital transformation — but they are not for every company. “We need to meet our customers where they are,” says Philip Lord, business strategy manager at Autodesk. “We are building a complete platform for design and make, but we don’t expect our customers to adopt it all at once. We’re providing flexibility to connect systems they’re using to bring them along with future platform capabilities. One of the biggest barriers […]