Is CAD the way to go?
Let’s examine the abbreviation CAD. As many of you know, it stands for Computer Aided Design. Some of us think it stands for… Costly And Disorganized. Systems integrators, we understand your pain.
CAD seems to be a step-up from static floor plans and paper notes on site walks, right? So why not invest countless hours and money in training and computer updates for CAD in your office? Well, let’s talk about the pains of CAD and some ways to eliminate them.
A Day in the Life of a System Integrator
Coffee. Obviously, every day starts with coffee. Now, you walk into the office and sit down at your desk to find new floor plans and notes scattered everywhere. “Ah, so this is what my tech retrieved from his site walk yesterday,” you think to yourself. And as if this mess wasn’t bad enough, you spill your coffee all over it. Great. Now it’s all ruined. At least the floor plan is on CAD on the computers.
You pull up your tech’s CAD file to find a jumbled mess. The floor plan is inaccurate, not set to scale, and includes only half of the elements the customer requested. You think, “There has to be a better way…”
How is CAD Beneficial?
- Your techs didn’t go to art school, so CAD is definitely better than hand-drawn floor plans.
- Your computer is smarter than you, right? So using CAD should reduce human error.
- You can save and edit your ideas without having to waste paper and ink.
Examining the Pain Points of CAD:
- The training is extensive, time-consuming, exhausting, and expensive.
- Expensive. Yes, CAD has officially made a dent in your account. Not only does the initial software cost a large sum, but it also has frequent updates and requires the highest performance technology on your computers in order to run smoothly and efficiently.
- It’s entirely useless to on-site techs. They have to make on-site notes and then transfer those to CAD, which means doing work twice. They waste time and risk making errors in the process.
All in all, a lot of time and money is spent on CAD, and it doesn’t give much time or money in return. Not to mention, if your computer crashes, all of the data could be lost. That would be detrimental to your company. Plus, CAD doesn’t cut down on the amount of time techs spend out in the field and hardly simplifies the design, installation, and maintenance process. It isn’t mobile-user friendly, collaborative, or easy to maneuver.
Man, I’m exhausted just thinking about how System Integrators manage to make it through a day at the office using CAD as their primary design tool.
Coffee, anyone ?
Check out an interview with one of the founders of System Surveyor to learn more about the alternative to CAD and how to cut the CAD cord.
