Autodesk - Movement Forward

Since Autodesk first entered the market of computer-aided design it has passed more than thirty years. Over the years the industry has changed a lot, but today Autodesk remains the world leader in 2D- and 3D-design. Autodesk Vice President of Global Services Callan Carpenter answered the questions of Tall Buildings magazine.

Mr. Callan, it has been long since we last mentioned Autodesk in our publications. What characterizes the company today?

As you know, there are three main scopes of activities Autodesk specializes in: architecture and construction, manufacturing, graphics and animation. We develop and grow in all three business profiles, and certain technologies are used in each of these fields. For instance, what we developed for graphics and animation is now used in industrial design. It is actually not new. But today I would like to mention entirely new aspects for us. First, Autodesk is currently implementing major changes in respect of its business model, similar changes do not only take place at Autodesk, but also at other vendors. What are the changes about? In the past we would sell the license for the software, and it would cost quite a lot. Now we are turning to another model - we sell subscriptions, temporary licenses.

What are the benefits for the participants of the business process – the vendor and the final consumer?

The change of the business model triggers a lot. The consumers can easily attribute the cost of the software to the budget of a specific project. For example, if the customer works in construction, let’s say, highrise building, he or she can buy a temporary license for the software effective during the operational period. Consequently, the relationship with our customers changes significantly. To us it is especially important that they renew their subscription, thus, we need to develop additional ways to support customers, we need to maintain a relationship with them. And the risks move; if earlier it was mainly the customer who would bear them, then now it is Autodesk that bears more risks as the client pays only when the software is used. In this regard, there have been some organizational changes - in particular, four years ago my unit was created; it deals with services and consulting.

Is it possible to subscribe to some certain software or do you offer a multi-purpose product?

We offer both. For large enterprises and customers we have more complex offers. For instance, a very large enterprise can pay the socalled “loans” and choose the products within the deposited amount on their own as the need arises.

In addition to the change of the business model, what other changes has Autodesk experienced?

They are related to cloud-oriented technologies. To better understand the nature of these changes, let’s look a little back. The story of Autodesk started back in 1982. It appeared along with the invention of the personal computer. We started to develop a new market, to create products for personal computers. Moving to the cloud can be called such a change. This is a new platform that opens new markets to us and provides new technical opportunities, such as “generative design». These two basic changes – that of the business model and the computer platform primarily determine the current state of things in Autodesk.

Does this mean that in five years Autodesk Revit software will be entirely in the cloud?

It is hard to say, the future is in general very difficult to predict. I would say that now the environment is not uniform, some people prefer to work on their computers, some – in the cloud. Our forecast on how quickly everything will move into the cloud can change almost every day. It mostly depends on how quickly we will address the technical issues that relate to the performance, line or channel capacity, etc. But I still think that some software products will remain local. At the same time there will be more combinations - something will be in the cloud and something will not. Most likely, in five years there will be more products available in the cloud than what we expect today.

Many people do not use cloud technologies for fear of lack of security, and data protection.

This is certainly an important aspect. But all these issues are solved. Otherwise financial structures that work with a lot of money would not use the cloud.

Let’s turn to the matter of architecture and construction. The realization of the design, especially the construction of the building and its operation is a multi-stage process. To implement it we need to use a number of programs, and do that step-by-step. Can one somehow bring all these programs together using the cloud technologies?

Yes, we aim at integrating various disciplines – the architecture, construction and operation of the building; to do this we particularly use the cloud. We believe that the cloud integration is the next important step in the market. The advantage of actively expanding BIM technologies in the areas of design and construction is that information is accessible and open to all the participants of the project. Indeed, in the creation of any object always involves a lot of companies. We will continue to develop specialized tools for every participant of process, but we will create a consolidated environment for data management as well as for the management of the entire project.

Still today not everyone is ready to switch to BIM. What are you planning to do about CAD product development? Many people prefer such products.

In terms of software AutoCAD remains the leader. The design team keeps on improving the product, expanding its functionality, and adding cloud technologies on top. It indeed is a very good tool that will be in demand for a long time. Drawings will be done in AutoCAD. As for design, Revit is a much stronger program, whereas it is more convenient to use AutoCAD to work on documents. We believe, however, that over time this trend will change – one will build a model, and it “will provide” the documents. But we expect AutoCAD and Revit to coexist for a long time, and one of our tasks is to try to improve the interaction between these programs. I assume that eventually they will get integrated even more.

Not everyone is ready to switch to new tools yet as the old, familiar products effectively solve the given tasks.

I have been working in computeraided design for about thirty years. Within this time I have got confident that each transition to a new product always faces an issue. It lies in the fact that its predecessor that has been used for many years has got optimized during this time and is practically perfect. To continue to use only it, to move along this curve may seem the best solution. But it may be another curve. Switching to a new product, one may be losing something at first. But one should move further onwards along this curve. And each point along this curve is a new level that brings more efficiency. Some functions on this curve, however, may be less efficient than the previous perfect product. We have decided to move faster along this curve. And to accelerate this process it is sometimes necessary to make such difficult decisions (such as, to reject the previous program).

How do you estimate the trend of promotion of Revit on the Russian market? This is a fairly new product for our country.

Revit is just a tool that helps to realize the full potential of BIM. Judging from the personal experience, I can say that Russia is very slow to accept new technologies. But things change. Four years ago there was almost nobody who heard anything about BIM in Russia and now this concept is much talked about. I believe that in this respect Russia will soon catch up with those countries where BIM technologies are widely spread. And we in our turn have to show the benefits of BIM and such software as Revit. In Russia we have always had wonderful engineers and designers; and we need to update and improve their working tools and methods. I must say that we also work as a consulting body, and, what is more, we work in different areas: data management, new visualization technologies, mechanics, industrial production; but today Russia pays the greatest deal of attention to BIM. One of our main tasks is to explain to people what the essence of this concept is and what its advantages are.

What are the global concepts of distribution and use of BIM?

Here North America where all the projects are implemented with this technology is the leader. The United Kingdom, the Scandinavian countries, Singapore, and South Korea are on a high level. In southwest Asia design and construction with BIM technologies are actively developing. Today we give a lot of advice on this issue in Bangkok, the Middle East, Qatar, Dubai. BIM culture is developing in Latin America, the leading companies in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile are quickly switching to the new program. China is getting much stronger in this area. The largest public projects in China now have their BIM-group. The results of BIM implementation in the central and southern European countries are already evident. The economic benefit of this technology is so serious that it cannot be underestimated. Here is a very vibrant example: during the construction of the tower in Shanghai I met Mr. Gyo, the chief engineer. He is fully convinced of the benefits of BIM. According to him, as a result of the use of BIM technologies the loss of steel structures decreased by 300 times compared to the previous project. The tower has a curved shape; each panel of the outer lining is unique and is produced off site. All panels must exactly fit together. None of the panels was lost, everything was carried out perfectly! In short, BIM has a stunning effect.

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Text: Alexander Bikin