The case for cloud migration in the automotive industry

Simon Edward • 2 September 2024

The cloud has transformed many sectors and the automotive industry is no exception. See why in our article.

In some industries, products and manufacturing methods advance at different rates.

Take the flower industry. The majority of flowers you can buy now are the same, or very similar, to flowers you could have bought in Shakespeare's day. But they're now grown in ways that would make a Tudor market-goer gasp.

But in the automotive industry, both products and manufacturing methods have advanced in tandem. It's an industry that has innovation at its core – from the earliest automobiles to electric vehicles and self-driving cars. And from production lines where muscly men did all the work to robotics and AI.

So, it's no surprise that the automotive industry has been embracing cloud technologies for some time. Yet some companies still feel unsure. Is the cloud definitely going to deliver cost savings, flexibility, scalability, sunshine, rainbows and glitter?

Like anything, it depends on how well it's executed. Done well, however, cloud migration can help the automotive industry to grow – from factories to designers, from dealerships to aftermarket providers.

1. Cost reduction

On-premise hardware has its advantages. Above all, it gives you administrative control and full responsibility. But it comes at a cost.

You see, it's rare for a factory, branch office or dealership to use the exact same resources and bandwidth day after day. Demand fluctuates and your resources need to fluctuate with it.

The cloud's scalability gives it the edge over an on-premise data centre. But migrating to the cloud unlocks another saving.

By offloading maintenance tasks to a third-party provider, you no longer have to fork out money when your data centre goes down or needs a repair job. It's like renting a house – when the pipe bursts, the landlord pays for the repair.

These cost reductions apply across the board, whether you're overseeing a car factory or selling spare parts online.

2. Security

Cloud architectures vary. Different companies with different requirements will opt for private, public, hybrid or multi-cloud infrastructure. But whatever the precise nature of the set-up, one thing is crucial: security.

For a long time, security concerns made some enterprises reluctant to move to the public cloud. But these days, security is tighter than ever.

In fact, security is another thing that can be partially or entirely offloaded onto a third-party provider. Many public clouds come with industry-standard security tools and features to keep your workloads under lock and key.

Whatever part of the automotive industry you work in, chances are you handle a lot of confidential data, be it staff details, customer details or email chains with suppliers, contractors and other third parties. By moving to the cloud, you get the flexibility of remote access at the same time as watertight security.

3. Collaboration

The automotive industry isn't famed for twiddling its thumbs and waiting for things to happen. It's always at the forefront of new technologies – something we've seen recently in the production of electric vehicles, self-driving cars, dashcams and more.

No one person or company is responsible for these advancements. They come from a pool of expertise. The beauty of the cloud is that it deepens this pool and speeds up collaboration.

It doesn't matter where in the world you are. If you've got login details and an internet connection, you can collaborate with a designer, marketer or other automotive player in real time.

As well as unclogging the design pipeline, this increases speed to market – an important advantage when the consumer market is so saturated with options.

4. Disaster recovery

What do you do when an on-premise data centre goes down? The answer will vary depending on your exact set-up, but the fact of the matter is that it will eat up time, money and productivity.

Dead time is like dead air on the radio: something to be avoided at all costs. In the automotive industry, it can lead to production stoppages, design bottlenecks and other headaches.

But by sticking to an on-premise data centre, you're increasing the chances of dead time. Business continuity becomes a case of good luck rather than a priority.

Working with a cloud provider, by contrast, gives you a host of backup and disaster recovery options. This lets you embrace remote collaboration, data analytics and more without putting your bottom line at risk.

5. Data analytics

Some historians say that we've been living in the Information Age since around 1970 – an age that can be subdivided into the Internet Age and, most recently, the Artificial Intelligence Era. But the Information Age could just as well be called the Data Age.

The amount of corporate data sloshing around is dizzying. Thinking about it can be like contemplating atomic particles or the vastness of space. From the smallest start-up to the biggest corporation, data is everywhere.

This is true whether you're selling catalytic converters in Beijing or designing airbags in Gibraltar – and whether you're overseeing automobile production or providing breakdown rescue. Whoever and wherever you are, you hold a lot of information about your customers and partners.

Naturally, this explosion of data has led to an explosion in security solutions. But it's also led to developments in data analytics.

Once upon a time, data analysis was done manually. You would look at your sales figures, say, and make decisions about the next quarter.

Today, cloud solutions can chew up and spit out vast amounts of data and give you practical, actionable insights. They can help you forecast demand, fine-tune your marketing, manage your inventory, and more. And they do so at a speed that no human mind can match.

So, if you want to make decisions that are driven by data as well as by your experience and expertise, cloud-based analytics solutions can be an investment you won't regret.

Looking for an expert partner to help you get to grips with cloud computing in the automotive industry? At Ascend Cloud Solutions, we've managed more than 400 migrations for customers across a wide range of verticals. Get in touch today for a free, no-obligation consultation.

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