| Guest Editorial by Erik De Keyser |
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In his response to my two-part article "How Bricsys Plans to Conquer 3D," the ceo of Bricsys Erik de Keyser lays out his plan to attack underserved verticals using his company's unique 3D variational direct modeling technology and spending 40% of revenues on R&D -- all the while running an extreme-lean organization in which fewer than 100 employees serve 250,000 customers.
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Interesting article -- with exception of the quote, "I aim to make BricsCAD #1 in 3D by 2020," which indeed made me choke on my morning coffee, because I never said it. Aiming to be in a #1 position in 3D is for me irrelevant, even if it ever were at all possible. I don’t expect Dassault or Siemens or Autodesk to shrink that much by 2020!.
But I do agree with a lot of your analysis, and so I want to clarify what we do, and how we do it.
Our plan is to enter step-by-step specific vertical markets where we can make a difference with our 3D variational direct modeling technology. In those markets, yes, we aim to attain a forefront position. So our developments in sheet metal and BIM are not there to encourage third-party developers or to impress potential customers (as you suggested), but we aim these products to really be the best-in-class. Allow me to explain how.
Sheet Metal Development
Although we are the youngest player in the field of sheet metal design, today we can stand any comparison with all well-known competitors. We model quickly and accurately. For example, BricsCAD Sheet Metal has unfold capabilities for lofted bends that no other software has. Recently we added batch unfold processing for large assemblies, which gives you warnings when errors were made while modeling.
A sheet metal part modeled in BricsCAD can be imported into CAM systems without needing to partially or completely remodel it; it can be processed immediately for machining. This seems normal to me, but ask CAM software providers about the major players, and they will tell you this is not standard practice.
This is our first sheet metal product, and we will continue in the field for sure. You can view our movie about how well it works at https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bricscad+sheet+metal.
BIM Development
The three main BIM [building information modeling] products we encounter worldwide are Revit, ArchiCAD, and VectorWorks, and all have a long history in the field. None of the three is based on .dwg, even though AEC [architecture, engineering, construction] market is the biggest .dwg environment of all.
These software packages date back to an era before direct modeling became widely applied. Through SketchUp (a great product) everyone got to know how easy direct modeling is. But SketchUp is not a solid modeler nor a precise CAD package, and it lacks the tools to modify models on the fly when needed.
In the conceptual phase, most projects are modeled first in SketchUp and after the job is approved, it is redesigned from scratch again in a Revit to produce a full BIM model. For final detailing, AutoCAD or BricsCAD is used in many cases. So, drawings travel from SKP to RVT to DWG with the resulting loss of intelligence.
By contrast, our BricsCAD BIM unifies all of these steps in one single step using only .dwg files and in a familiar software environment. For AEC customers familiar with .dwg, it is an easy step to take.
BricsCAD BIM is in its final stage of development, and we plan a major upgrade with V17 this October. We soon will deliver APIs [application programming interfaces] that enable third-party applications to tale part in our implementation of BIM and provide all the extras needed by users. We would not have stepped into the BIM market unless we were convinced that we could deliver a winner.
BIM Trends
Let me point to a recent analyst report, "CAD TRENDS 2016" from http://www.business-advantage.com/CAD-Trends-Results-2016.php. Pages 7-9 report on the evolution of BIM awareness and the BIM adoption rate: for 2016, awareness is 46% and the adoption rate is 19%. In the last three years it grew, but we can hardly call it a major shift.
This is my analysis of the slow adoption rate: today's offered solutions targeting AutoCAD users are far too complex. One solution to complexity is much costly education, which results in small groups of experts per company. It is our bet that a majority of AEC users is still using .dwg products and so we are at the forefront to catch a substantial part of the future growth in this market, because we are the only ones offering a BIM solution on the so-popular .dwg format.
But we offer it only on the condition that we have technology that includes the following criteria:
- It is intuitive, and fast to learn
- It covers all needs, from initial conceptual design to as-built
- It has a strong SaaS [software as a service] collaboration component compliant with standards like IFC and CoBie [construction operations building information exchange]
- It offers a flexible, hybrid licensing for desktop and cloud-based use of the software
- It offers an ecosystem of vertical applications serving international and regional users
We are working simultaneously on all of these criteria, and I see none of them as being out of reach for us.
Chapoo Collaboration, Communicator Translator
As I said, a BIM solution needs a collaboration platform as well. We are extendingChapoo to be our model server for BIM collaboration. Chapoo can be extended for PDM [product data management] and PLM [product lifecycle management]. That’s one of the things that is on the short list. Each function of Chapoo is available in a REST[representational state transfer] API for third parties.
You mentioned correctly our universal approach to enable direct import and export of 3D models with our Communicator module. You can import almost every mechanical 3D model into BricsCAD. At that moment it becomes a full .dwg model which can be edited with direct modeling operations, it can be sectioned and annotated within an environment that is familiar to the majority of the market. Models can be exported back into CATIA, NX, Creo, STEP, etc. It makes BricsCAD an exchange platform accessible for the vast majority of the market.
2D and Cloud
In the meantime we continue to extend the 2D capabilities of the BricsCAD platform.
Along the improvements to our 3D technology, we will step into more vertical 3D categories when we see winning capabilities.
As for "all the Web, only the Web," Bricsys has been preparing itself, and is close to making an announcement. We expect this will be a complementary offering for our users. Today, I see no need for only cloud-based offerings; in some circumstances, certain users might need cloud-based CAD and will combine run it together with desktop licenses. We are sure we can now deliver that too, with stability and performance.
About Our Marketing
When it comes to marketing, it is true that Bricsys took another road than SpaceClaim. We decided to grow organically (no rounds of investors money [such as SpaceClaim and Onshape]). We indeed invest heavily in R&D [research and development], and less in marketing. It is a choice to grow slower, but then deliver more.
As a result, we built a solid, profitable, debt-free company controlled by Bricsys people, along with an ecosystem with more than thousand third-party applications. Hidden from view is our in-house cloud-based CRM [customer relationship management] system, the backbone of our very lean growth model. It allows us to automate all of our business processes and link with partners and customers. We can scale our business for future growth, while minimizing overhead. As I recall, upFront.eZine referred a while ago to our support system as probably being the best in the industry, and we have improved it since then.
We entered the US market only recently on purpose. We have only one chance to do it right, and so we preferred to have advanced technology, solid products, a solid backbone with an outstanding support system, and some seasoned people in the field before starting big-scale marketing. You’re right that as yet we are almost unknown in the USA; let’s see what happens next.
http://www.bricsys.com
[Erik De Keyser is ceo of Bricsys, located in Gent Belgium.] |
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| Two of the BIM organizations in Canada -- CanBIM and IBC/buildingSMART Canada -- are merging two committees to further the interests of BIM users in Canada. The Owners Committee and the Education Committee address issues facing AECOOs[architecture, engineering, construction, owner, operators]. http://www.canbim.com |
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