Home  Sustainable Land Development Today May 2005
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Written by Greg Yoko
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Saturday, 30 April 2005 |
Software turf war continues in land development market.
In the not-so-distant-past, the design world in the land development industry was divided into market segments. Each segment also had its own leader in the software market.
Historically, for instance, Autodesk’s AutoCAD products led the civil design market, Bentley’s MicroStation products led the transportation design segment, Eagle Point’s LANDCADD product was the leader in the landscape design market, while architects and land surveyors also typically utilized Autodesk products.
Now, however, through acquisitions, expansion, and simple technological evolution, virtually all of the companies mentioned above overlap significantly more into the other segments than they did before. Differentiating one company’s product from another’s is becoming more difficult - for both the companys’ marketing teams as well as the consumers.
Newest Developments
In December of 2004, Bentley Systems launched a new program called "You Deserve Better" to challenge Autodesk’s forced retirement/upgrade business strategy (see www.bentley.com/ YouDeserveBetter). The move by Bentley was strongly validated by survey results it compiled.
“In our survey of AutoCAD users,” relates Tony Flynn, Bentley’s chief marketing officer, “we heard many requests - the loudest being ëwe want an open solution.’ Users need their CAD products to natively support DWG, DGN, and PDF. And they need historical, non-retiring support of these formats. Clearly, an open solution would allow them to run their businesses without forced disruption and to engage in more projects.
For those unfamiliar with a forced retirement/upgrade scenario, it means that the developer will no longer provide technical support or assistance for problems/difficulties resulting from use of an old version.
For instance, as previously stated on the Autodesk website “After January 15, 2005, Autodesk will no longer sell upgrades or crossgrades from any AutoCAD 2000i-based products or Autodesk Inventor Series 6. Additionally, Autodesk will no longer provide technical support, apart from existing maintenance patches that are downloadable from www.autodesk.com.”
There is speculation that Autodesk will soon be announcing the retirement of its 2002 products.
Within the land development industry, this can cause plenty of stress among development partners on projects. Rarely do large projects progress from initiation to completion within a few years. This makes it likely that the surveyor, contractor, engineer, and architect will be utilizing different versions of CAD software. The sharing of files becomes increasingly difficult when a new version is not compatible with an older version. What are the odds that all of the participants on a project will be able and/or willing to upgrade at the same time - especially considering they are working on multiple projects with multiple partners with multiple versions?
Bentley, which is hoping to capitalize on this strategy, is also making a significant effort to expand its market to small and medium-sized firms by improving and consolidating its software products.
One of its biggest adaptations - which has been a request of design professionals of all sorts - is the incorporation of tools to deliver its files in multiple formats, including Adobe’s popular PDF format.
“With the PDF feature,” explains Flynn, “MicroStation users can package and deliver an entire architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) project - including DWG and DGN drawings, specifications, and Microsoft Office files - into a single, interactive PDF document at the touch of a button.”
Perhaps the biggest change that illustrates Bentley’s determination to make a serious dent in Autodesk’s lead in the land development marketplace is its product packaging. They have a product called “PowerCivil” that contains a single solution for all phases and types of civil engineering and land development projects.
“Our survey illustrated that 89 percent of AutoCAD users are not happy with their civil engineering design solution,” reveals Flynn. “Therefore, we were determined to develop solutions that would be significant enough for firms to make a switch to Bentley. No longer do trivial enhancements or gimmicks entice an organization to change its design solution. We understand that an integrated approach with deliverables that make the engineering tasks easier and more efficient are what users want.”
The Changing Marketplace
With Autodesk putting up over $1 billion in sales per year and Bentley accounting for more than $300 million in revenues in 2004, the two companies are unlikely to change places anytime soon. However, the focus that Bentley is placing in the civil design market will likely have an effect.
In addition to benefiting Bentley, the changes will likely be a significant benefit for all CAD users because it will cause the normal adaptation cycle to continue. The reality, however, is that a smaller lean company like Bentley - which is still led by the five Bentley brothers - can move, adapt, and change much quicker than a large conglomerate like Autodesk.
It wasn’t that long ago, 5-10 years or so, that software companies could still make a profit by just selling software. For the most part, that simply isn’t the case anymore. They can only survive utilizing primarily one of the three business models: upgrades (Autodesk); subscriptions (Bentley), technology consulting (Eagle Point).
This latest strategy and move by Bentley should be an interesting adaptation worth watching. SLDT
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