There’s a certain image in our culture of the hermit inventor: a mad scientist-type holed up in a basement surrounded by gadgets who has a “Eureka!” moment and heads to the local patent office. This may have been how inventing worked in the past (or closer too, at any rate), but with the advent of cloud computing, the whole process of inventing has changed. Nowadays, your typical inventor is less a lone scientist and more of an entrepreneur, connected to a whole team online. Here are seven ways that cloud computing has changed the process of bringing an invention to market.
1. Cloud-Based Technologies Change the Process of Inventing
Cloud-based technologies are fast changing the way business is done, in the realm of inventing and beyond. Processes that used to be done with local computer programs – or going back further, by hand or mechanical devices – are now being carried out by the mysterious, many-headed monster of the internet. One example is prototype development. While prototypes were once designed by plaster and putty, and more recently by expensive software living on a local computer, these days more and more CAD designers are moving to the cloud. Programs like Tinkercad and FreeCAD provide cheap and easily accessible alternatives to expensive design programs and are likely to gain in quality and popularity as time goes on. Prototyping also more likely to be carried out on the cloud. Are you at the prototyping stage of your invention? If so, get in touch and we’ll connect you with the best design and 3D printing experts on the web.
There are several other areas where the cloud is gaining ground on traditional business practices. Cloud-based security, for one, is a booming. File storage and backups are now predominantly taking place in the cloud, rather than large physical storage systems as was common even as little as five years ago. Whatever your technological need, a cloud-based solution probably exists, and chances are it’s faster and easier than traditional methods.
2. Work Can Now Be Delegated on the Cloud
Once, if an inventor wanted to delegate a task, he or she had to single-handedly carry out a long and arduous hiring process. Those days are over. Now an inventor can not only delegate any aspect of the inventing process, he or she can use an online service that will carry out the hiring and selection process itself. Both the task and the process of finding a person to do the task can be delegated! Here at Cad Crowd, for example, you let us know what you’re looking for and we connect you with a CAD design or 3D printing expert whose skills are ideally suited to your specific project. We can also organize contests which allow your Services like ours allow you to streamline the inventing process, spending less time on delegating and managing a team, and more time focusing on the work of being an inventor. Take a stroll through the cloud and maximize your entrepreneurial potential!
3. Navigating the Regulatory Processes Will Become Easier
For many creative-minded inventors, navigating the minutiae of the patent office, government regulations and paperwork can be the most time-consuming and aggravating part of the inventing process. Fortunately, the cloud has made this process a lot easier. Rather than each inventor having to do his or her own research from scratch, an inventor can benefit from someone else’s research, with articles like these that distill the complexities of a regulatory process down to their bare essentials. Better yet, an inventor can hire someone online to help him or her navigate this bureaucratic world.
4. Inventors Can Market and Sell Their Products Online
Traditional storefronts no longer hold the monopoly on the inventor’s products. These days, people are just as likely to do their shopping online, and inventors can take advantage of this. Not only does selling online lower barriers to accessing consumers, particularly for small and emerging inventors, but it also cuts costs. One way to take advantage of online markets is through direct sales marketing, where a business cuts out the retailer as a middleman and sells to the consumer directly. On the cloud, you don’t need a storefront, office space, or even warehouse. If your product is made with 3D printing, instead of mass-produced, you don’t even need to keep an inventory of your product in stock – you can just print off a copy of your product whenever someone buys one.
5. The Cloud Gives Small Business a Leg Up Against the Big Guys
With the advent of the cloud, the small fish in a big pond has never had a better shot. With online marketing and sales, inventors no longer need to rely on commercial contracts to get their products in front of consumers. This level field creates an atmosphere of healthy competition – the perfect environment for entrepreneurship to thrive.
6. The Cloud Allows Inventors to Sell Their Products All Over the World
The cloud is nothing if not international. With the cloud, any inventor, whatever the size of his or her operation, can sell his or her product all over the world. Gone are the days when small businesses are local, and large businesses multinational – these days, all businesses can be as global as they’d like to be, borders be damned. This raises the stakes – it means more opportunities, but also more competition for everyone. You know what they say – a little competition never hurt anyone!
7. Easier Access to Information Means Greater Flow of Ideas
In the olden days, if you wanted to see which new products were on the market, you’d have to go to the local corner store, pick up a product catalogue, and flip through the few dozen inventions featured in its pages. If you wanted to see older inventions, it would cost you an afternoon at the library.
These days, you can see thousands of great ideas from around the world with a few swipes of your fingers. The exponentially increased ease of information flow is fertile soil for a creative renaissance, in the field of inventing and beyond. Seeing other people’s great ideas makes it easier than ever to come up with your own, and more and more we’re seeing people take advantage of this information boon in interesting ways.
Are you an inventor wanting to take advantage of everything the cloud has to offer? Contact us and we’ll connect you with top CAD and 3D printing freelancers to help you model your idea, build a prototype, or even print off a version for consumers!