Autodesk (NASDAQ) : Ushering The New Era Of Connected Construction

Autodesk (NASDAQ)

Andrew Anagnost, CEO, Autodesk (NASDAQ)Andrew Anagnost, CEO
As the construction industry is gradually coming back on track after months of lockdown, players across this field are facing tremendous pressure to deliver projects on time. To this end, it has become essential to increase productivity by breaking the information silos. The entire construction sector today needs to eliminate fragmentation of the different trades involved in a project and support real-time collaboration.

Addressing these requirements is Autodesk. As a global leader in 3D design, engineering, and construction software, the company delivers unified construction solutions and tools to help deliver projects faster while reducing risks and driving a more sustainable and efficient workflow. “Autodesk transformed the design industry by bringing CAD to the PC 35 years ago, and in the last 10 years became the clear technology leader. We were first to bring design to the cloud and mobile, and now we’re bringing construction and manufacturing to the cloud as well,” says Andrew Anagnost, CEO, Autodesk.

Initiating a New Age in the Construction Industry

Autodesk has always driven innovation and technological advancements in the construction industry. First, they led the industry from paper design to CAD and then transformed the industry from 2D design to data-rich 3D models. through connected construction. “The built world is under more pressure than ever. If you look at the big ubertrends – population growth and urbanisation – we need to build more and probably rebuild more than at any time in recent history. Yet, it’s getting harder and harder to do it. There’s not enough money and there’s not enough human capacity,” says Anagnost. Although the industry was slower in the past to adopt new technology, it is receptive to change, and many operators and contractors are moving fast to stay ahead in the game. They are adopting innovative technologies, making their processes BIM-based, and connecting all the stages—from design to construction. Most construction companies have realized the need to adopt new technologies to be more efficient and bid accurately for maximum profit, and complete projects on schedule. “We have to help companies create a higher level of model sharing in a low trust environment. That’s going to require technology that enables that, but it’s also going to require people changing the contractual environments,” adds Anagnost.

Autodesk offers a robust portfolio of construction management software products, consisting of Autodesk Build, Autodesk BIM Collaborate, and Autodesk Takeoff. These products support workflows covering all construction phases from design, planning, building to operations. Each product is unique in its category and does more than just simply check boxes. Autodesk Build is a comprehensive, easy-to-use field and project management software that empowers builders to deliver projects on time within the budget.

Its project management tool ensures that projects stay on track and enhances collaboration while reducing possibilities of miscommunication, error, and rework.

Autodesk transformed the design industry by bringing CAD to the PC 35 years ago, and in the last 10 years became the clear technology leader

Autodesk Build’s quality management tool tracks the issues at an early stage and resolves them before it affects the project. This ultimately reduces costly rework and keeps projects on schedule. Autodesk Build also offers safety management tools that allow companies to develop easy-to-adopt and repeatable safety programs, enabling team members to take ownership of site safety. Apart from this, Autodesk Build helps in cost control by connecting project management and field execution data to cost activities that enable companies to understand root causes and scope cost impacts.

On the other hand, Autodesk BIM Collaborate manages the entire design collaboration and coordination workflow and empowers project teams to work together to improve design quality and constructability. Its purpose-built model coordination functionality avoids costly bottlenecks by keeping BIM teams in sync. Additionally, its integration with Navisworks and Revit allows teams to resolve issues quickly and achieve a constructible model faster. Autodesk BIM Collaborate also brings automation into model coordination workflow through its cutting-edge machine learning capabilities. The automation of repetitive tasks empowers BIM teams to concentrate on more crucial constructability issues. It streamlines design collaboration for the entire project team by providing access to Revit, Civil 3D, and AutoCAD Plant 3D anytime, anytime.

Lastly, Autodesk Takeoff assists companies to bid competitively and obtain more projects by generating accurate estimates from integrated takeoffs and quantities. It allows businesses to align estimators and construction teams with cloud-based data management to make sure everyone works from a single source of truth. That’s not all! Going the extra mile, Autodesk Takeoff saves significant time by generating automated quantities from 3D models and performing more accurate 2D takeoffs. It creates competitive bids by capturing the most detailed quantities and thus ensures the best project scope. The product helps companies avoid rework by allowing them to visualize project scope in 3D that provides a better understanding of design intent and constructability issues. Using Autodesk Takeoff, clients can leverage a single inventory of 2D + 3D quantities during the entire construction process.

The Era of Autodesk Construction Cloud

Driving the change in the industry over the last few years, the company has tremendously focused on connecting data. Autodesk makes the construction data available to teams in the right place at the right time by enabling the seamless flow of information across the project lifecycle. Clients can make various teams work together during the design stage, push plans and models to preconstruction for coordination, quantity takeoff, and procurement, and directly push that data to their project management and field teams.

"We have to help companies create a higher level of model sharing in a low trust environment"

The breadth and depth of its portfolio and capabilities bring together meaningful workflows, ushering the connected construction through Autodesk Construction Cloud. It consists of three core pillars—advanced technology, unique builders network, and predictive insights. The first pillar, advanced technology, equips contractors and builders with user-friendly and powerful tools for every workflow in construction. This mix of power and simplicity makes these solutions appealing for adoption in the field or office as they make the job easier for various construction teams. The second pillar—The Builders Network—is a real-time, crowdsourced network powered by BuildingConnected. It connects builders and owners to the right trade partners for the best desirable project outcomes. Clients can tap into all the talent across their region instead of relying on their Rolodex. This increases their ability to manage bids and build the right team faster.

At the core of the last pillar or Predictive Insights is Construction IQ. It takes previously siloed project data, automatically identifies the patterns, and highlights different patterns to allow teams to take action in real-time. Using these powerful insights extracted from plies of data sets, companies can make informed and data-driven decisions on existing and future projects. As a result of these decisions, companies reduce risks and deliver projects safely and efficiently.

Autodesk aims to help construction companies meet the rapidly expanding building and infrastructure needs and make construction more predictable, safe, and sustainable. The company continually builds its capabilities and construction solution portfolio to drive productivity, reduce risk, and guide the industry forward. Having a laser-sharp focus on clients, Autodesk partners closely with clients’ teams in the office and job site to identify the scope for technological improvements for enhancing the ways construction or building is done. The company is dedicated to developing a robust and cohesive foundation for the vision of connected construction to enable clients to scale by leveraging data and drive continuous improvement.

- Joe Phillip
    May 17, 2021

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