u p F r o n t . e Z i n e
the business of cad, enlightened
Issue #618 | October 13, 2009 | English Edition
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In This Issue
1. The upFront.eZine Tour of Russia
Part IV: Top Systems (last week; available in Russian at isicad.ru/ru/articles.php?article_num=13350)
Part V: Autodesk CIS
- Rooftop Dinner Meeting
- How Autodesk CIS Markets into Russia
- How Autodesk CIS Markets into a Recession
- How Autodesk Grows Its Business in Russia
Part VI: Nanosoft (next week)
2. Tailoring AutoCAD Updated
3. Out of the Inbox, and our other regular columns
[Disclosure: Some of the firms mention in the "The upFront.eZine Tour of Russia" provided assistance with the airfare, accommodation, ground transportation, and meals.]
The upFront.eZine Tour of Russia
Part IV: Autodesk CIS
Location: Moscow, Russia
Time stamp: Wed 09 Sep 2009 03:09:04 PM MSD
(This article also available in Russian at isicad.ru/ru/articles.php?article_num=13362 )
My meeting with Autodesk CIS began Tuesday evening and continued on Wednesday afternoon. No, not 18 hours long. Following the "Future of MCAD" roundtable, Alexander Tasev the head of Autodesk CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States] took me out for dinner.
Dinner is atop the Hayatt hotel, in an outdoor cafe. Below us is the reconstruction site of the Bolshoi Theatre, while the ruby red stars are lit over Red Square.
Rooftop Dinner Meeting
We decide to begin the business meeting while waiting on dinner. As I scramble around for a pen and piece of paper, marketing manager Anastasia Morozova picks up her handbag, digs in, and withdraws a notebook computer. "I have everything in here," she laughs. Mr Tasev begins relating to me how he, a Bulgarian, built up Autodesk's business in Russia.
"You can do business, and you can do business," he begins describing the business climate in Russia. Piracy still a problem at 74%, but not as bad as the 1990s. A company that uses pirate software is usually "gray" in other areas, too, such as not paying taxes and under paying employees. But when a business goes legal in software, the rest of its business also goes "white." In Russia, a "white business" is one that pays taxes and follows the laws of the land.
The pirating problem began 1980s with the West's ban on exporting CATIA and other software to Communist Bloc countries. So the Russian government reverse-engineered CAD software to write their own. Russia now enforces piracy, in part to get the tax revenues from corporations.
High-level corporations are using CAD properly, but the mass market is not. For example, they tend to have more seats than they need, or they use different (sometimes illegal) CAD programs within the company, and so designs are passed around on paper: the next designer re-enters the design to analyze it; they lack file exchange.
The fall of communism came at a bad time for CAD companies: industry crumbled, and then private interests purchased companies using shady methods. But since 2000, the CAD industry began to thrive, except for the current recession. Putin's reelection ensured smooth continence of business, which had slowed down before election due to the uncertainty of the outcome.
How Autodesk CIS Markets into Russia
Autodesk first used regional distributors to sell its product, seeing an annual growth rate of 30-40%. In 2004, the company opened its own office (named Autodesk CIS), and then saw growth rates of 100%. Since opening office and until the recession hit, the total growth has been 1,300%.
The big stumbling block: How to crack piracy? Mr Tasev employed the following steps:
Step 1: Autodesk introduced AutoCAD 2002 in 2004 at a low price of $1,000. Autodesk enjoyed massive sales, because people were already using AutoCAD 2002, and the hardware requirements were lower than for 2004. In addition, Autodesk advertised aggressively against pirate copies. (Here in Russia, "crossgrade" means switching from pirate to an appropriate vertical.)
The marketing campaign created "a wave in the market;" competitors even thanked Autodesk for waking up the market, he tells me. One time, he had customers arrive to reseller with suitcases filled with $1,000 to buy software. He found that a third of new customers immediately got the upgrade to the latest version. This showed that a business could thrive in Russia.
(Our meeting continued the next afternoon at Autodesk CIS' office on the 17th floor of the Kutuzoff Tower in Moscow.)
Step 2: Encourage localization through the use of the Russian language on third-party applications. The first to be localized after AutoCAD was AutoCAD Architecture.
A further step was "countrification," which is his word for adopting local standards and functionality for Russian drafting standards.
Another step was to focus on verticals. AutoCAD was already popular, but customers needed the greater design capabilities that came with vertical products that are easily accessible. With special pricing for vertical apps in Russia, sales skyrocketed, representing half of the Autodesk Russia's business.
So, there was a huge behind-the-scenes effort: localization, channel creation, training, marketing, education, and especially information on new products. Autodesk CIS found that many did not know about 3D design, including engineers who used CAD every day. The goal is to describe 3D as practical, not as theory, and so the company held "3D Forums." The first one in Moscow had 1,000 attendees, and represented the biggest CAD event in Russian history. The next year, they did the same in three other cities. Now 3D is no longer a foreign idea.
How Autodesk CIS Markets into a Recession
Despite the recession hitting Russia harder than most countries, customers who understood 3D continued to buy, especially those who understood the business benefits. On the other hand, those who are thinking of "going white" are now hesitating, because they need to save every penny.
To counter the hesitation, Autodesk CIS again introduced an old version of AutoCAD (2008) for cheaper price. Pay the low price, and then pay the difference to upgrade to 2010. There is similar program for LT and 3ds Max. The company does recognize the danger in those who might have bought 2010 now instead buying 2008 to save the money.
Last October, Autodesk CIS introduced one-year software rentals. The price is 60% less than the full price, but there was less interest than they thought the rental scheme would generate. Still, customers appreciated the ability to have choices in payment methods.
The newest campaign uses the slogan, "We Support Your Business." And Autodesk CIS added the Premier Service Promotion, which provides extra training and consulting. Customers receive three hours of service per 3D seat purchased. Purchase 100 seats, get 300 hours of support. The customer decides what kind of help he needs.
While the idea is to teach customers that service costs money, there is currently a price promotion to help out during the recession: right now, the cost is just a little more than the software itself. This promotion answers the question, "How to teach Russian customers to buy service?" He hopes that the story gets out that it is worthwhile to use service.
How Autodesk Grows Its Business in Russia
Mr Tasev's goal to grow the business 3x every two years. In 2006, Autodesk CIS experienced 85% growth; 2007 had 165% growth. Russian like global brands, he asserted, because they are proven brands, a statement sure to dismay local CAD vendors, such as ASCON and Top Systems.
But his other goal is to help the community by, ahem, "democratizing CAD." The spiritual mission is to bring technology to Russia, and to help its economy grow. One part of this was to grant 22,000 licenses to a thousand faculties at a hundred universities, along with training 400 professors. As in North American, students can download free versions of software.
It was not until September 2006 that Autodesk CIS introduced Revit, Civil 3D, and the Inventor Series to Russia. Since all three include AutoCAD, the theme of the move-to-2D-or-3D marketing campaign was "Chose the right AutoCAD."
In early 2007, Autodesk CIS followed up with a strong investment plan: massive localization, adding marketing people, providing general training at 140 reseller sites, and having more than 1,000 people in the sales force. The highlight of the year was participating in the Moscow Air Show.
Since it is hard to understand when new technology from just a description, dealers give out Test Drive versions of the software, which includes a tutorial. Last year, 5000 Test Drives were handed out; this Autodesk CIS expects 12,000 in 60 cities. This has helped sustain 3D sales in a recessionary year. As Mr Tasev handed me a copy of Russian Inventor 2010 Test Drive, he noted proudly that the Inventor box used around the world features the image of a Russian-designed front-end loader.
The front-end loader featured on Inventor 2010 packaging was designed in Russia, as desribed here.
Russian customers tend to be secretive, and so getting approvals for customer stories is very difficult, especially in manufacturing and in the and oil and gas industry. In contrast, architects are more likely to provides samples.
I wondered how independent Autodesk CIS is of head office in San Rafael, USA? Mr Tasev has to cooperate on the global image and goals. Some decisions need head office approval, but he is primarily part is a team that works with European offices, agreeing on strategy. Autodesk CIS, however, is able to launch its own ideas because the market is different here. And so much of their strategy of the last years was produced locally. He looks forward to continuing to execute local ideas.
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Tailoring AutoCAD Updated
Tailoring AutoCAD 2010 is ready for purchase, but I've made a big change made to it: the ebook is split into five volumes. (Otherwise, it would be an overwhelming 800 pages in length, sport an unaffordable price tag of around $80.00, and become an unmanageable 12MB download!) Some splitting off began with earlier editions of this ebook, but now the job is complete. Here are the five volumes:
Vol 1: Tailoring AutoCAD 2010 (excludes the topics found in the ebooks listed below).
- see www.upfrontezine.com/tax for more information.
Vol 2: Tailoring Dynamic Blocks 2010
- to become available later in October.
Vol 3: Tailoring AutoCAD CUI 2010
- see www.upfrontezine.com/cuix
Vol 4: Tailoring QuickCalc
- not needed to be updated; see www.upfrontezine.com/tqc
Vol 5: Tailoring AutoLISP, Diesel, DCL, and Scripts
- not updated; see www.upfrontezine.com/tadd
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We know data translation and provide immaculate developer-to-customer relations. www.okino.com.
[617/18]
DS Spatial adds JT to its InterOp translation softawre. Evaluation license available from www.spatial.com/products/evaluation.
ITI TranscenData updates CADfix 8.0 for importing and repairing CAD data with a shrink wrap STL generator, imprinting tools, native 64-bit versions for Linux and Windows, and automatic sliver face and sharp angle fixing. www.transcendata.com
Siemens PLM Software releases of NX 7 with "HD3D" (high definition 3D) and enhancements to synchronous technology. www.siemens.com/plm The company also updated two of its D-Cubed components: version 56.0 of 2D Dimensional Constraint Manager and Profile Geometry Manager. www.plm.automation.siemens.com/en_us/products/open/d-cubed/latest_releases/
PDF2DWG 2.1 from DotSoft places PDF content into drawings from any CAD software. Includes command line options for batch processing.
Details at www.dotsoft.com/pdf2dwg.htm
KBMax configurator software from Citius Corporation now supports SolidWorks 2010 and automatically creates 3D models, BOMs, CAD drawings, office documentation, and price quotes. citiuscorporation.com
First Trace releases Service Pack 2 for Kinnosa 4.1 engineering document management software with support for 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 7, AutoCAD 2010, and AutoVue. www.FirstTrace.com
PTC releases CoCreate 16.5 with integration into PTC's ProductView, Arbortext IsoDraw, MathCAD, Pro/E, and Pro/E NC and Machining. www.cocreate.com/products/cocreate/
And Anark Core 3.0 features native support for Adobe 3D PDF exported as B-reps and mesh, import and export Siemens JT as B-reps and mesh complete with PDM and data connectors, and more. www.anark.com
- - -
These were some of the news items posted during the last week at the WorldCAD Access blog <worldcadaccess.typepad.com>:
- Sold! MSC Goes Private
- The Day Sun Announced Jini
- Does CAD Face Antitrust Under Obama?
- Installing MEDUSA4 on Linux
- 64-bit Nearly "Obsolete"
- Alibre V11 $99 V12 Free (Not Really)
- Bricscad 10: What's New?
- Making Euros From Free
And at the Gizmos Grabowski weblog <worldcadaccess.typepad.com/gizmos>:
- PS/2 Port Servers as Power Source
- Reading MIME (*.mim) Files
People/Companies on the Move
Geomagic appoints Tom Kurke as chief operating officer. Mr Kurke is the former vp of subscriptions at Bentley Systems.
Siemens PLM Software purchases of Rulestream for its engineer-to-order software.
Hexagon Metrology acquires all outstanding assets and technical intellectual property of Mahr Multisensor GmbH. The world’s largest industrial measurement group now incorporates the brands of Brown & Sharpe, CE Johansson, CimCore, CogniTens, DEA, Leica Geosystems (Metrology Division), Leitz, m&h Inprocess Messtechnik, PC-DMIS, ROMER, Sheffield and TESA.
think3 joins up with EniT of India, but with head office in Germany customizethink3's software for the domestic market.
WorthWhile Web
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-10370026-264.html
"Google: Computer memory flakier than expected"
by Stephen Shankland
"Microsoft mulling 128-bit versions of Windows 8, Windows 9"
by Emil Protalinski
Spin Doctor of the Moment
"After months of testing Vista on multiple computers, new and old, I believe it is the best version of Windows that Microsoft has produced."
- Walt Mossberg, Wall Street Journal, January 2007
"After using pre-release versions of Windows 7 for nine months, and intensively testing the final version for the past month on many different machines, I believe it is the best version of Windows Microsoft has produced."
- Walt Mossberg, Wall Street Journal, October 2009
brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/10/08/whats-wrong-with-windows-7/
Notable Quotable
"For geeks like me, wasting time on cool new technologies is lots of fun. But for most of the world? It's just wasting time."
- Robert Scoble
scobleizer.com/2009/10/03/google-waves-unproductive-email-metaphors/
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- DS Spatial
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Entire contents copyright ©2009 by upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd. All rights reserved worldwide. Letters sent to the editor are subject to publication. Article reprint fee: $250 and up. All trademarks belong to their respective holders. "upFront.eZine," "The Business of CAD," and "On your desktop every Tuesday morning" are trademarks of upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd. Letters to the editor may be edited for clarity and brevity. Translations and opinions expressed are not necessarily shared by upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd.