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Is Application Packaging a Dying Artform?

Think Evolution, Not Extinction.

The world of IT is constantly shifting. With the rise of SaaS, simpler Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) applications, and new deployment mechanisms, people around me have started asking whether traditional application packaging becoming a relic of the past. Is it a dying artform?

We believe the answer is a resounding no.

Application packaging isn’t dying; it’s evolving. While the methods might be changing, the need to efficiently, reliably, and securely deliver applications to end-users remains paramount. The key difference today is the emergence of powerful tools that streamline parts of the process, allowing packaging experts to focus their skills where they’re needed most.

The Challenge of Volume for Application Packagers

Traditionally, packaging every application, even relatively simple COTS software requiring minimal tailoring, demanded significant time and resources. In some cases, it requires dedicated infrastructure. Anyone in the space can tell you traditional process create bottlenecks, slowing down deployment and migration projects.

Enter Intelligent Automation with Cloudpaging

This is where innovation steps in. Tools like Numecent’s Cloudpaging® containerization technology, particularly its AI-driven packaging capabilities, are changing the game. Consider its ability to integrate with repositories like WinGet:

  • Effortless COTS Conversion: Cloudpaging AI can intelligently ingest and containerize many standard “thick” applications found in WinGet directly into its flexible Cloudpaging format.
  • No Dedicated Environment Needed: Crucially, this conversion can often happen without needing to stand up and maintain a complex, dedicated packaging environment, saving significant overhead.
  • On-the-Fly Flexibility: This enables administrators to prepare and produce application packages much more rapidly, almost on the fly, getting standard COTS applications ready for user deployment faster than ever before.

Shifting IT’s Focus: Empowering Packaging Teams

So, does this automation make packaging teams obsolete? Far from it. By handling the “heavy lifting” for a significant portion of the more straightforward applications, these tools free up skilled application packagers. Their valuable expertise can then be concentrated on the applications that truly demand it:

  • Heavily customized software
  • Complex, multi-component applications
  • Legacy applications requiring intricate handling
  • Critical line-of-business applications with specific dependencies and configurations

Think of it as augmentation, not replacement. The AI and automation act as powerful assistants, handling the routine tasks efficiently, allowing the human experts to tackle the complex challenges that require deep knowledge and problem-solving skills.

Our Experience at Cloudpackagers

Here at Cloudpackagers, we’re genuinely excited about leveraging these advancements for our customers. Using tools like Numecent’s Cloudpaging AI allows us to:

  • Accelerate Delivery: Significantly speed up the overall application delivery process.
  • Smooth Migrations: Streamline migration projects, helping our customers transition to modern platforms like Windows 11 more quickly by rapidly handling compatible applications.
  • Focus on What Matters: Dedicate more of our expert resources to packaging and delivering the unique, business-critical applications that differentiate our clients’ operations.

Ultimately, we see this technology as a vital complement to our existing packaging teams. It enhances our capabilities, ensuring we can meet our clients’ diverse application needs efficiently and effectively.

Conclusion: An Evolving, Essential Skill

Application packaging is far from dead. It’s adapting to a new landscape, incorporating intelligent automation to handle volume and simplicity, thereby elevating the role of the packaging professional. The focus shifts towards complexity, customization, and critical systems – areas where human expertise remains indispensable. The “art” isn’t dying; it’s becoming more focused, more strategic, and arguably, more valuable than ever.

About Cloudpackagers

Cloudpackagers are vastly-experienced application packaging and virtualization specialists. We offer a range of flexible services to help streamline and modernise delivery of your business’ desktop applications whilst reducing the need for long-term permanent or contract hires.

Whether you are running a major transformation project or require day-to-day input, we can help. This summer alone, we helped a financial services enterprise containerize more than 150 applications into Cloudpaging containers within 5 weeks.

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About numecent

Numecent is an award-winning cloud technology provider headquartered in Irvine, California. The company’s technology portfolio, built upon 67 patents (and counting), simplifies the mobilization and management of Windows applications across modern desktop and multi-cloud environments. Enterprises around the world – including the largest Fortune 500 companies, cloud service providers, and MSPs – leverage these technologies to package and deploy thousands of applications to millions of end-users in a friction-free manner every day.

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