Just found a boring news release on PRnewswire announcing new Autodesk Buzzsaw functionality. It's not going to change the UK construction collaboration technology market – just about everything highlighted in the release is already offered by competing solutions from other vendors.
The new Buzzsaw functionality focuses on automating business processes, and includes:
- increased breadth of available standard construction management forms and business processes, including submittals, ASIs (Architect's Supplemental Instructions), bulletins, transmittals, addenda and print orders
- a collaborative paperless bid management command centre to streamline the bidding process – from electronically distributing bid invitations and bid packages, to notifying sub-contractors and awarding contracts
- functionality to customise and configure forms (expected to be available mid-December) – customers will be able to customise existing Buzzsaw forms, or create their own, to suit their unique business needs. Additionally, customers will be able to use pre-defined workflows and then assign them to their new forms or business processes
Why's this make me yawn? Well, certainly so far as BIW is concerned, workflow/business process and support for standard forms has been available to BIW customers and end-users for more than two-and-a-half years (see 17 March 2003 release) while e-tendering/bid management was available in July 2003. Moreover, this functionality has been developed further since 2003 (only this summer, BIW announced its 'Integration' edition – a release featuring business process support embedded in BIW's drawing viewer application).
