Autodesk Frames Global Vision for Design Software Industry

VP Outlines Strategic Direction at Northern European Media Event
16 February 2007 — Mark Paraskeva, Autodesk vice president, Northern Europe, outlined yesterday the company’s strategic direction at its Global Product Launch event, and articulated his vision of a fundamental transformation in the design process to encompass performance, aesthetics and user experience.
Addressing scores of attending media and analysts from around Northern Europe, Paraskeva detailed the major global factors impacting design and laid out Autodesk’s intention to help companies redefine design processes to spur innovation and achieve competitive advantage. With state-of-the-art 2D and 3D design technologies, Autodesk plans to empower customers in diverse industries around the world to experience, change and improve their ideas early in the design process, and save time and money, improve quality and increase innovation.
“In a world where globalisation is constantly expanding the range of choices available to consumers, great design has become a way to stand out from the crowd,” said Paraskeva. “Fortunately for Autodesk, there’s never been a better time to be a leader in the design software category. Autodesk is on a mission to democratise this powerful ability to experience ideas before they're real, with 2D and 3D design tools that help customers of all sizes, shapes, locations and industries to fully leverage the power of design innovation.”
Design Innovation Demands More than Aesthetics
Paraskeva identified five major global forces that exert great pressure on companies to innovate as well as address social and environmental issues. Emerging economies; a boom in worldwide infrastructure, from highways to utility lines; the rise of the middle classes in nations such as China; the necessity for sustainable design; and the advent of technology and “digital” lifestyles have raised the stakes for success, requiring companies to innovate in order to remain competitive and profitable.
Paraskeva observed that as a result, Autodesk customers are rethinking the design process in order to understand the information implied by the geometry of a drawing, namely, the function and user’s likely experience of a design. Citing examples from leading customer work, Paraskeva explained how early insight into user experience has helped companies gain an edge in bringing successful concepts to market.
In order to experience ideas before they are real, companies must envision not only how an idea will look, but also how it will work in the real world. Autodesk is equipping customers to do exactly that with advanced 3D design technologies for the creation of fully functional digital prototypes, which in turn allow companies to visualise, simulate and analyse the real-world performance of concepts. This integrated environment lets customers not only see but also “experience” their ideas before they actually create anything, and take proactive steps to change designs and uphold sustainable design principles.
By making changes early in the development process, companies reap the benefits of design innovation — namely, cost-effectiveness, efficiency, faster time to market, better quality and performance — that add up to competitive advantage in a fast-changing global economy.
The ability to anticipate user experience has powerful implications for those areas of excellence that are the hallmarks of the world’s top innovators. According to global strategy and technology consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, the most successful companies in its Global Innovation 1000 index are those that show strong capabilities across four key areas: ideation, project selection, product development and commercialisation (“A Select Set of Companies Sustain Superior Financial Performance While Spending Less on R&D Than Their Competitors,” 13 November 2006). With the tools for visualisation, analysis and simulation, innovative companies can accelerate decisions in each of these functions to save costs and speed great ideas to market.

Email: vickif@whiteoaks.co.uk