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Autodesk expands on 2023 study, going longitudinal
Key Takeaways
- Autodesk launched their 2024 State of Design & Make global research study in New York City on 10 April 2024.
- Nearly 5,400 industrial practitioners from around the world responded to the 2024 version, of what will now be an annual research effort.
- The formal program featured a lengthy one-on-one between Mr. Andrew Anagnost, Autodesk President & CEO and Mr. James Cameron, a major filmmaker and long-time Autodesk partner.
- Prior to the formal event, Autodesk senior executives provided a detailed update on their strategy, licensing evolution, customer success, and other company initiatives to the analysts attending.
CIMdata had the pleasure of attending the launch event for Autodesk’s latest global Design & Make research in New York City on 10 April 2024.[1] The one-day event had two sessions. The main event was a formal launch on the Observation Deck of the Freedom Tower. Just before that session, the analysts in attendance were briefed by Autodesk senior executives.
At Autodesk University 2023, Autodesk discussed their 2023 Design & Make Study, a partnership with Ipsos, a global research firm, to survey and interview 2,565 industry leaders and other experts in their target industries: Architecture, Engineering, Construction & Owners (AECO), Design & Manufacturing (D&M); and Media & Entertainment (M&E). The phrase “Design & Make” is core to Autodesk’s positioning and the research focused on key topics like resilience, talent, and sustainability, mainly as a result of the months-long qualitative research that helped define the surveys and interview questions used with the respondents. CIMdata applauds such research efforts by companies like Autodesk, which is valuable in a space that often lacks broad-based, well-constructed, global research.
Clearly the company saw great value in the 2023 study because the 2024 version expanded to include 5,399 global respondents. The company announced that this study will now be conducted annually, a huge benefit to Autodesk and the market. Companies can use these studies to roughly benchmark themselves in their industry and geography based on the detailed study results. Those interested in learning more can access their results at https://www.autodesk.com/design-make/research.
The formal launch event started with a lengthy Q&A session between Mr. Anagnost and Mr. Cameron. Mr. Cameron’s films have grossed over $8 billion worldwide. Mr. Cameron is known for pushing the boundaries of filmmaking technology, often creating his own software and hardware to fulfill his vision for his films. The director related that he extended MotionBuilder, an Alias product, to better support his needs. Autodesk’s 2006 purchase of Alias helped lead to the long-term partnership with Autodesk. Their tools were essential to his blockbuster hit Avatar. The second part of the event, titled “Building an AI-Powered Workforce,” was led by Axios, an American news website known for their digital native-friendly content (e.g., 300-word stories, short videos). It consisted of short interviews with notable industry figures like Mr. Josh Silverman, CEO of Etsy, and Dr. Tarika Barrett, the CEO of Girls Who Code.
Prior the formal launch, Autodesk executives held an analyst session to provide updates on Autodesk’s Platform Vision & Strategy by Ms. Raji Arasu, Autodesk CTO, their Industry Portfolio Strategy by Mr. Vikram Dutt, Vice President of Industry & Portfolio Strategy, Autodesk’s Customer Success program by Ms. Elisabeth Zomes, Chief Customer Officer, and Autodesk’s Business Transformation Model by Mr. Carl White, Vice President of Global Business Transformation. These sessions were very informative and a nice compliment to higher-level information typically provided on the main stage at Autodesk University. Autodesk is one of three leading product lifecycle management (PLM) solution providers that are pursuing a platform strategy and their business model and ecosystem approach is different and potentially more open than their competitors and more valuable for partners. While Autodesk Fusion, their D&M industry cloud, is more advanced than Autodesk Forma for AECO and Autodesk Flow for M&E, the company is making rapid progress in building out their capabilities and ecosystems for all three.
After the session, Autodesk stated their intention to ramp up their efforts with analysts, a very welcome evolution and an important one given Autodesk’s position in offering capabilities to enhance the Design & Make efforts of their global customers in vital industries like AECO and D&M, and culturally important ones like M&E.
