Autodesk sees an increase in subscriptions

[Nejc Kilar]

I just quickly browsed my FB news feed and somebody posted this reuters link. Not sure who it was because the feed refreshed, lol :)


Yup, I suppose it was expected but Autodesk is reporting a "significant" growth in their subscription revenue.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-autodesk-results/autodesk-reports-smaller-loss-than-expected-shares-jump-idUSKCN1GI2TW

What is of extra interest is this statement:
"As part of its long-term plan, the company will seek fewer but higher-value subscriptions from businesses, Anagnost added."

So I guess they know they will lose a good chunk of smaller studios and private shops / freelancers and are fine with that.

What I'm wondering is just how much of that chunk of users affects their bottom line and whether people are starting to find value in other packages (C4D, Blender etc...) that are getting significant updates lately.

Thoughts? :)

edit: I do wonder how many people moved on the subscription train and the value they see in it. Any opinions would be welcome!

[pokoy]

In other news they are now getting into hardware, opening up other business opportunities such IoT and further focusing on CAE/CAM. They still earn a lot from CAD, but their entertainment branch will not gain more interest in the long run, it's only a small part of their revenue after all.

http://gfxspeak.com/2018/02/28/autodesk-manufacturing-birmingham/

The truth is they want to make subscriptions as profitable as possible and it was already stated that the loss of small businesses can (and will) be compensated by getting more money from large companies. Since CAE/CAM is where the real big money is they will succeed. Pretty sure another round of lay-offs will hit the news later this year, together with increased prices.

[Nejc Kilar]

I hear ya, I've been looking through their financial reports as well. That said... Wouldn't a price hike really have a bad effect on the "ecosystem"? Considering they are already planning on losing a lot of small businesses that might in turn affect a lot of the plugins and things of similar nature.

I'm just not sure which direction they are going in... I suspect that "the average Joe" is just going to continue pirating the software and hoping he doesn't get caught so that won't change here.

[Benny]

I would love to be a fly on the wall on one of their board meetings or strategy sessions.

It seems as if the whole architecture world is adopting Revit, and still new feature development is miniscule. Ironic that if there are too few users it is too expensive to develop for it, and if there are too many you don't have to.

[Philip kelly]

Funny thing is.
I am sole trader  and I have a subscription for 2018, I won't be updating anymore.

All the big companies I work with, send me a Revit 2015 2016 files.
I'm more up to date then the big boys............Funny.

[Jpjapers]

The good thing with enterprise subscriptions (I work for a huge global retailer and we have a massive autodesk account) is that its a credits based system so it gives you access to the entire autodesk product range. So if for whatever reason i needed to use inventor i could, or VRED or stingray etc. It means that for enterprise alot more of the workflow in that business can become reliant on autodesk products if theyre freely available to them. Smaller studios are probably going to use one maybe two programs from them at most and can be agile and switch programs fairly easily. an enterprise they can really get their autodesk teeth into and make it hard for them to move away.

[pokoy]

The good thing with enterprise subscriptions (I work for a huge global retailer and we have a massive autodesk account) is that its a credits based system so it gives you access to the entire autodesk product range. So if for whatever reason i needed to use inventor i could, or VRED or stingray etc. It means that for enterprise alot more of the workflow in that business can become reliant on autodesk products if theyre freely available to them. Smaller studios are probably going to use one maybe two programs from them at most and can be agile and switch programs fairly easily. an enterprise they can really get their autodesk teeth into and make it hard for them to move away.

For some reason they don't get that small businesses would win, too, if they had access to their entire portfolio. It's Lose/Lose for 'short people', and to learn that it's intentional or simply collateral damage for ADESK hurts even more.

[Benny]

Funny thing is.
I am sole trader  and I have a subscription for 2018, I won't be updating anymore.

All the big companies I work with, send me a Revit 2015 2016 files.
I'm more up to date then the big boys............Funny.

That's because there is a cost to upgrade Revit in terms of work. You have to update all your company families, separate out your own from Revit's if you have a shared environment, and in 2017 the text system changed so drawings won't look the same if you open an earlier version. All of this for small increments in features makes many wait for that big upgrade that will make it all worth it, and since that never seems to come, every other or third year.

[Jpjapers]

For some reason they don't get that small businesses would win, too, if they had access to their entire portfolio. It's Lose/Lose for 'short people', and to learn that it's intentional or simply collateral damage for ADESK hurts even more.

Oh for sure, outside of my day job id love to be able to work as easily as I can at work.
They dont see the value in keeping people onboard because once you learn software, you dont often change and they dont seem to appreciate that.

[Jpjapers]

Funny thing is.
I am sole trader  and I have a subscription for 2018, I won't be updating anymore.

All the big companies I work with, send me a Revit 2015 2016 files.
I'm more up to date then the big boys............Funny.

And what happens when they all upgrade to 2019? You cant do anything with their files.
Im certain its just a plot by autodesk to force the construction industry to update.
I also know that its often within a project brief to have to work to a certain BIM level on a certain version of the software since revit isnt backwards compatible in the slightest which sucks.