Cloud Computing: Scaling Up In a Shifting Industry

By Zach Fortin, Executive Producer, Mr. Bronx Audio Post

Even legacy companies, with their established structures, can adapt to operate lean and efficiently in today’s fast-paced industry. But scaling in 2025 presents unique challenges, especially as trends like generative AI, cloud computing, and remote workflows reshape how businesses operate. Whether your goal is to attract a broader range of clients, build new departments, or compete with larger organizations, understanding the right approach is critical. What should your first and second steps be? And what initiatives can wait until you have a solid plan in place?

I joined Mr. Bronx audio post this year to help with just that, based on my experience scaling VFX studios. Both types of companies utilize state-of-the-art technologies on large projects that require an acute knowledge of how to scale correctly: securely, seamlessly, and with as little friction as possible. Below I list the ideal starting point for scaling a creative business--including how to make you stand out from the crowd--and the ideal order of operations to follow:

Start In The Stratosphere

Using audio post as an example, it used to be that you had to build your studio infrastructure first. Any tech equipment-heavy industry, like VFX for instance, can relate: build the studio, source the technology, source the people--hopefully source the early business leads--and then launch. This tricky tightrope walk made or broke many companies due to its financial drain.

But, thanks to cloud computing, companies can now scale operations without needing a large studio infrastructure. Both input and output processes are more efficient, enabling more to be achieved with fewer people. In other words, you no longer have to scale up before you're ready. Render farms are becoming obsolete, as freelancers can leverage pay-as-you-go options while studios focus on building full-time support teams.

I’m sure you’re probably familiar with Amazon Web Services (AWS), by far the most popular cloud computing platform. We use the same software we’ve always used for post, music and sound design, but now we host them on the AWS cloud computing service. Picture the same kind of computer you would have in a home or office studio--don’t worry, still using NVIDIA graphics cards--but your desktop now serves as a window to a much, much faster processing server in a Virginia unit. It’s not reserved for just major businesses--Mr. Bronx is a very lean team. What they accomplish is growing into the “next-gen” phase of cloud computing, where all computing will work like this--from work, to entertainment and streaming, to video games.

To delve a bit deeper Weka is a niche platform that uses a unique computer language to access large data sets, replacing the need for extensive RAM. Initially developed for advanced machines to share data, such as in human genome mapping, its technology can now enhance streaming reliability for services like Netflix. This innovation will shape the future of cloud computing hardware and programs, which is vital for scalability.

Onboard Over Time

Companies launching in the cloud computing landscape today pose a clear advantage. Companies that launched decades ago and want to transition now have to overcome some temporary growing pains to experience cloud computing efficiencies. They don’t have to go all-in right away. They can migrate parts of their business into the cloud gradually, easing the transition. Cloud computing, and collaborating with freelance talent who primarily work independently, position companies to scale up as needed, without investing time and money into scaling everything before they get the new business to support their efforts.

But this transition also mandates a mental shift in how companies work. With hardware systems, companies just paid for the power. With cloud computing, companies pay for output and render farm use, which can balloon for those accustomed to the scale of work they rendered with hardware. Companies have to be more efficient with what they render using cloud computing, hence the staggered onboarding process.

Don’t Forget the Workflows

And, I’m not talking about creative tools—I mean the administrative systems that often get overlooked during scaling. For example, when companies downsize, they often neglect to adjust the administrative systems, increasing the burden on the remaining employees. But with well-designed workflows and pipelines, businesses can scale up or down efficiently, fostering better collaboration and resource-sharing with clients while maintaining operational balance.

A digestible tool that most everyone uses now, but that demonstrates what I mean, is what Mr. Bronx uses internally: Slack. Combined with other similar project deliverable platforms, we sync Slack channels with clients for quick communication, which trims down a host of time as well as resources. Besides comms, we use cloud pipeline tools to make our deliverable processes more efficient. The key here, though, is to build systems that work now but are scaleable later. Before cloud computing, you would invest in hardware that you keep indefinitely, render on as much as possible, and then replace when needed. You paid for the physical stuff, not the information on the device, as I said earlier. But with cloud computing, you pay for information stored on the cloud over time, and so you should only store what you absolutely need, with as few steps as possible. This mindset and system transition will come with growing pains, but in the long run, can open up your business to up or downscale (hopefully just upscale) as many times and as often as you like. 

We’re at the start of a significant shift in workplace technology and ideology that is particularly visible from my perspective in creative audio. Generative AI is a prime example of this transformation. To meet the demands of emerging tech trends, companies must scale—either by expanding their teams or increasing their output. Both approaches place considerable strain on hardware for file rendering and storage, making traditional solutions like 'farms of old' increasingly unsustainable.

From the audio post viewpoint, at-home entertainment experiences will become even more robust thanks to Dolby and surround-sound speaker technology in tandem with new spatial hardware like Apple HomePod. With new ways to experience sound comes more considerations we have to take to build the best-performing sound…which means more output. New deliverables based on scalability and tech will benefit the companies that can streamline their scaling and operations best, which solely depends on cloud computing. The way it gets better, truly, is if we all get better at working faster and smarter.