Autodesk: “We’re no longer a CAD company”

Autodesk has had a very busy week. On Monday the company launched its 2012 line of products, concentrating on small, bigger and biggest bundles targeted at specific user functions. Today, the company’s Manufacturing group held a webinar to present this segment of Autodesk’s business to investors. Sweet Suites? Underpinning much of the presentation to investors were the suites introduced earlier in the week. To recap, Autodesk unveiled Building Design Suite, Autodesk Design Suite, Infrastructure Design Suite, Product Design Suite and Factory Design Suite. Each is an integrated solution that targets a particular workflow or user type. The Product Design Suite, for example, includes a drafting, design, data management and visualization (with simulation in the top-end product). These Suites will start shipping next month and have a manufacturer’s suggested retail price starting at US$5,495. * The Suites come in Standard, Premium, and Ultimate and include tools that are not available on a stand-alone basis, such as the conveyor modeler in the Factory Design Suite. During the investor call, Buzz Kross, SVP, Manufacturing Industry Group, said that suites add an important competitive separation for Autodesk as well as boosting customer satisfaction, because their common user interface and data integration create a smooth workflow. Mr. Kross said that most of the demand for Suites right now comes from small and medium businesses; they want to simplify and lower the cost of license administration. (Autodesk’s larger customers use flex licensing, which provides access to most of Autodesk’s products.) The Suites should enable Autodesk to increase its revenue per seat and share of wallet — always assuming that the solutions in the Suites are as good as or better than the point solutions they replace and that the integration makes the switch worthwhile. From the images shown during Monday’s webcast, the user experience integration certainly seems to be there. Simulation Everywhere Simulation is a cornerstone of Autodesk’s strategy to reach beyond its traditional boundaries. Mr. Kross said that Autodesk has invested over $500 million to build out its simulation offering and feels that, while there is still work to be done, the scope of solutions is equal to ANSYS’. Mr. Kross said that ANSYS both a partner and a competitor and that Autodesk’s software now “does everything theirs does, but we’re new in the market and are still integrating it all together. We will always charge differently than they do — that’s what gives them the 48% operating margin — and customers see this too.” Today, Mr. Kross said, Autodesk simulation customers are typically ones “we already have a relationship with. We need to establish credibility in the analyst space and grow our sales force to reach out to new users.” It wasn’t addressed on the call, but this isn’t a simple undertaking since analysts relate best to other analysts. Autodesk will have to acquire or grow very technical sales talent. “Much more than CAD” Mr. Kross told investors that Autodesk’s areas of opportunity all lie outside the typical CAD realm. These are currently small revenue contributors but are showing good growth: Inventor Publisher for assembly and operations; Factory Design, a “more affordable” digital factory design solution; Simulation and enterprise PDM. This last is a bit of a surprise, given Autodesk’s historical anti-PLM stance, but note the “D” — it’s not an “L”. Mr. Kross said that Autodesk Vault “targets engineers. Our focus is making sure our customers can manage, control and release their data. PLM extends outside engineering into the enterprise; we’re focused on the engineer. Our customers are asking us to integrate with established PLM systems that reach out into the enterprise. We’re focused on vaulting within the engineering domain.” Finally, one non-Suite item from Monday deserves mention: Inventor Fusion will be included in the 2012 editions of AutoCAD, Inventor, Moldflow and Autodesk Simulation (formerly Algor). Fusion allows direct (as opposed to parametric) manipulation of 3D models from a wide variety of formats and has been available from Autodesk Labs for something like 2 years. One example of Fusion in Algor is in this Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWb0r4hdfO4. It shows how an analyst can easily manipulate a model without really needing to know anything about CAD. This widespread distribution will put easy-to-use 3D capability into the hands of 2D users, casual 3D users and simulation analysts as well as experienced 3D users. It was a big week for Autodesk. Lots of cool stuff in the 2012 release, even apart from the Suites packaging; free Fusion bundled into AutoCAD; and Suites shipping on a USB key (how cool is that?!). The user feedback I’ve heard says that the 2012 releases include a good mix of customer-requested enhancements and Autodesk-driven market development features. Autodesk is, indeed, much more than a CAD company. * Check the Autodesk website (US, UK) to discover exactly what is in which suite and for the latest pricing.