记住当你用于购买a license for Microsoft Office 97, then three years later buy an upgrade for Office 2000, then Office XP? Not anymore! Most users have migrated to Office365 and are paying a yearly subscription for the software, and in return they do not need to worry about individual upgrades. They are always on the latest version of the platform. Most modern software, from Office365 to Facebook to Zoom, has migrated to this software-as-a-service (SaaS) licensing and delivery model.
While business and commercial software has already made the transition to SaaS, these models are just now starting to pick up momentum in the manufacturing world. Adoption has been slower in automation and manufacturing for legitimate reasons: frequent software updates for complex and interconnected systems can introduce significant downtime risks, a reliance on internet connectivity can prove a challenge for industrial networks and IT teams, it can be difficult to balance operational and capital expenses, and storing significant product and manufacturing data in the cloud introduces new security concerns.
Software providers are continuing to move towards SaaS models for developing, delivering, and monetizing their work, and that trend is breaking into the manufacturing space. Many traditional manufacturing software providers are offering SaaS and subscription options, and some new players may not offer classic licensing models at all.
SaaS is not just some scheme to put more money in the pockets of software providers. There is real value to be gained by manufacturers who learn when, where, and how to embrace this new paradigm.
现在，保持软件最新比以往更为重要。不一定要访问所有最新功能，而是要确保该软件已完全修补并抵抗网络安全风险。大多数对制造商的网络威胁都利用已通过补丁和软件更新来解决的已知安全缺陷。没有SaaS，制造商有责任获得任何软件升级，维护与软件供应商的服务和支持协议，并计划和安装任何补丁的合适许可。在SaaS模型中，制造商始终可以访问最新软件，并且供应商负责软件更新，从而使制造商可以更多地专注于计划和支持更改。本质上，SaaS使我们更容易做我们应该做的事情。规划和支持这些软件升级并不是一个简单的壮举，尤其是在诸如变革控制过程如此重要的生命科学之类的受监管行业中。与SaaS提供商分享责任可以简化流程并降低总体风险。
简化的基础架构和可扩展性是在云中托管并通过SaaS模型交付的另一个重要好处。在过去的40年中，大多数制造工厂在现场建造了自己的工业数据中心，公司IT团队拥有并管理重要的服务器和网络基础架构以运行整个制造业务。这是并且仍然是出于必要而完成的，因为在某些应用程序中仍然是最佳实践来托管本地。但是，如果以及在云中托管应用程序的机会，可能会有大量成本节省的机会。云托管导致较少的IT开销，并且在现场很难采购和维护的现场基础架构更少。这也使云托管的SaaS应用程序更易于扩展，尤其是对于多站点应用程序。
SaaS and cloud-hosted software are not silver bullets to solve all our manufacturing problems, but they do help us better focus on them. Manufacturers do not need to be in the business of negotiating one-time license costs, managing all aspects of every software upgrade, or procuring and maintaining expensive server infrastructure. Every hour and dollar spent patching software, procuring servers, and installing upgrades is effort we are not spending on continuous improvement programs, training, and optimizing our operations. When we use SaaS applications, we get tangible benefits like up-to-date software and no-hassle hosting, but we also get our time back to focus on what matters most: manufacturing!
