{"id":1041,"date":"2015-10-04T14:46:34","date_gmt":"2015-10-04T18:46:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/the-next-incarnation-of-autodesk-product-to-platform\/"},"modified":"2015-10-04T14:46:55","modified_gmt":"2015-10-04T18:46:55","slug":"the-next-evolution-of-autodesk-product-to-platform","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/the-next-evolution-of-autodesk-product-to-platform\/","title":{"rendered":"The Next Evolution of Autodesk : Product to Platform?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Did you know that designers for the last 19 Academy Award winners for Best Visual Effects used\u00a0<span class=\"quotecard ng-isolate-scope\">Autodesk (ADSK)<\/span>\u00a0software? Autodesk software is an integral component in the world&#8217;s biggest engineering, architecture and entertainment projects.<\/p>\n<p>Autodesk\u00a0was founded in 1982 by\u00a0John Walker, a coauthor of the first versions of\u00a0AutoCAD, the company&#8217;s flagship\u00a0computer aided design\u00a0(CAD) software. Its AutoCAD and Revit software is primarily used by architects, engineers, and structural designers to design, draft, and model buildings and other struc<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1019\" src=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/10\/Autodesk-300x209.jpg\" alt=\"Autodesk\" width=\"300\" height=\"209\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/10\/Autodesk-300x209.jpg 300w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/10\/Autodesk-600x418.jpg 600w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/10\/Autodesk.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>tures. Autodesk software has been used in many fields, from the New York Freedom Tower\u00a0to Tesla electric cars.<\/p>\n<p>Today Autodesk generates revenues of $ 2.5 Billion annually and is one of the most successful software companies in Silicon Valley. Autodesk has been able to maintain a consistent growth trajectory over the past 3 decades, in part because of its beautifully designed software products and in part because of its deep understanding of the importance of \u00a0platforms.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0key platform centric decisions in Autodesk&#8217;s\u00a0history are :<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In 1986, Release 2.1 of AutoCAD opened the door for\u00a03rd party developers\u00a0to extend AutoCAD&#8217;s functionality to address a wide range of\u00a0markets. This move was critical to\u00a0strengthening AutoCAD&#8217;s market penetration.<\/li>\n<li>In 1997, Autodesk realized the impending\u00a0dominance of Microsoft\u00a0and started developing exclusively for Windows and stopped development for Mac. This decision helped it to focus resources and ultimately develop\u00a0a massive global\u00a0userbase<\/li>\n<li>Autodesk charges less than half the amount as\u00a0its nearest competitors for comparable products,\u00a0these subsidies have helped it gain pole position in marketshare (85%)<\/li>\n<li>Autodesk successfully managed to makes its file formats as the industry formats which forced its competitors to provide compatibility and thus ensuring its market dominance<\/li>\n<li>Autodesk realized the role software piracy played in the propagation of its products &#8211; In comparison to Microsoft, Autodesk was benign towards the offenders, particularly in the developing world.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Arguably, Autodesk helped to facilitate the outsourcing revolution by providing the digital tools to designers. Today, outsourced design work (engineering\/graphics\/animation) has emerged one of the biggest categories of outsourcing. Companies such as upWork(oDesk) provide a platform for employers and contractors to meet and facilitate business. Autodesk can position itself to become such a platform. It has unparalleled trust from both the designers and the organizations. Companies such as Intuit have already tried this, but it is a much more natural fit for Autodesk.<\/p>\n<p>The challenges to develop such a business model for a product based company are non-trivial. Again, the approach of Quicken can serve as a potential path to success for Autodesk. Starting small, leveraging on its strength in education\/certification, and developing rating systems\u00a0can help Autodesk bring this\u00a0idea to life, which can then serve as a sustainable competitive advantage.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Autodesk : Time to capitalize on the design revolution it catalyzed?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102,"featured_media":1042,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[],"class_list":["post-1041","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/assignment\/competing-with-network-effects\/","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Next Evolution of Autodesk : Product to Platform? - Digital Innovation and Transformation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/the-next-evolution-of-autodesk-product-to-platform\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Next Evolution of Autodesk : Product to Platform? 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