What does a top expert in the engineering software market say about cloud migration for product innovation, engineering, and industrial software? What interesting things can we learn about Schnitger Corp’s Monica Schnitger during her interview with Tech-Clarity’s Jim Brown? Tune into this episode of (Not Your Typical) Tech Interview, the show where we make it interesting by asking some important industry questions and then add a couple more to have some fun and learn something about our industry experts. Want to find out why Monica thinks her first computer was really cool? Or why she hated the first one she worked on? Tune in to find out.
For more information on industry readiness for the cloud, please see the first video of this series, (Not Your Typical) Cloud Interview with Siemens’ Paul Brown.
For more information on the engineering market’s rapid shift to the cloud, please see the third video of this series, (Not Your Typical) Cloud Interview with Allan Behrens.
For more information cloud perceptions, please see the fourth and final video of this series, (Not Your Typical) Cloud Perceptions Discussion with Siemens’ Paul Brown.
To get insights into your own company’s cloud readiness please check out our Cloud PLM Advisor.
Transcript
Jim:
Hi, this is Jim Brown with Tech-Clarity. Welcome to the show where we ask industry experts some really important questions, and maybe some that are just for fun.
*Not Your Typical Tech Interview Intro*
Today, I’m joined by Monica Schnitger of Schnitger Corporation. She is the President and Principal Analyst there. She’s an industry thought leader, she really helps people understand technology for engineers, designers and makers, and today we’re getting together to talk about the adoption of the cloud for product innovation, engineering and industrial software. But like we usually do, we’re going to make sure to ask a couple of questions, just to keep things interesting. Welcome Monica.
Hi Monica, thanks for joining.
Monica:
Hi Jim.
Jim:
What changes have you seen over the last year or so related to the cloud for product innovation, engineering and industrial software?
Monica:
Clearly, the news of the last year has been the pandemic, and the fact that we all needed to do our jobs from some place other than normal, we were communicating by Zoom meetings, we might be doing CAD in the cloud or CAD virtualized or something else. I think that in the last year, we’ve really compressed maybe five years, maybe 10 years, depending on the company, of movement to the cloud into a really short time period. And I think that’s awesome, and I think that’s going to stay.
Jim:
Alright, so we’d like to ask some wildcard questions. Monica, what’s your favorite browser?
Monica:
My favorite browser is Mozilla’s Firefox, because I am told that it is the most secure. I don’t know, that’s what they say
Jim:
Do you think that manufacturers are looking at the shift to the cloud as an all or nothing proposition?
Monica:
Oh, absolutely not. I think that they’re choosing what they do where. I think that they may have CAD on the desktop, but collaboration using the cloud, they may have simulation both locally because they can, and on the cloud for either extra capacity, extra compute power, or when their HPC center is full. I think that they’re choosing what they do where, because they know that they can create their own environment the best way that they want to use it.
Jim:
Monica, what was the first computer that you ever used?
Monica:
That I ever used? I don’t even remember. It was a terminal thing that was this horrible “teletype-y” kind of thing that went to a mainframe somewhere. It was awful. It was truly awful.
Jim:
So what opportunities are there for the cloud that are specific to the kind of software we deal with, product innovation, engineering, more industrial things that maybe aren’t just the same as running another application on the cloud?
Monica:
Yeah, we can’t discount the normal benefits, right? The lower cost of entry, the fact that somebody else is responsible for product updates and all that stuff, but I think that the real advantage in our space of the cloud is that it allows companies to get more types of users involved because of the lower cost of entry, perhaps, or because it’s easier to use, it’s also easier and less risky for them to try new things. And I think that’s really important. One thing that these companies all need to do is improve their resilience and adaptability because this wasn’t the only shock that they’re going to see and they’ll be better prepared for next time.
Jim:
Monica, what was the first computer you ever owned?
Monica:
Ah, that was cool, that was a Mac. It was one of the first ones that hit the market, it had a little tiny screen and you got a cassette in the box and you had to use your boom box. And so you listened to the cassette and then did things with that Mac. It was really fun and very approachable and not at all intimidating. And of course today we can connect to the cloud and get videos and all sorts of cool stuff for doing things, but back then, this was so different and really an awesome way to get started with personal computing.
Jim:
Monica, what advice would you have for manufacturers that are out looking at the cloud right now for more of their engineering industrial software?
Monica:
It’s a great question. I think what we’re starting to see is a bit of a digital divide where companies that jumped on this early in the pandemic, or even before the pandemic and sort of had this road map that they were able to execute last year, and then companies that haven’t even started. So, for the companies that are already on this path, keep going, you’re doing great. For the companies that haven’t started, start taking a look at what your options are. Do you maybe want to do more collaboration in the cloud? That’s an easy way to get started. Do you do simulation? Do you want to do some of that in the cloud? The basic idea is to get your feet wet and to try to become comfortable with security and access and uptime and all of those other things, and then expanding your footprint in the cloud as you get more comfortable with it. But you do have to start because your competitors are all doing this now. So it’s time to get moving.
Jim:
Monica, thank you so much for joining today. I always enjoy talking to you, especially when you say “boom box,” and also learn something from you every time we talk. Thanks.
Monica:
Thank you, Jim. Me too.
Jim:
Thanks for joining us today on the web show where we ask some questions that most people might not think to ask.
I’d like to thank our sponsor, Siemens Digital Industries Software
You can learn more about how the cloud really can help quite a bit in product innovation, development, engineering and other industrial areas from the Siemens website