In a series of Autodesk update articles, Susan Smith at AECcafe.com underlines the Autodesk logic regarding the Constructware acquisition (see previous post):
“Amar Hanspal spoke about Autodesk’s recent acquisition of Constructware. He said that Buzzsaw provides a central repository for data, its strength is in being used for design and pre-construction. It is useful in the flow of information and early states of preconstruction, providing a single source of project information. “We need to get more into the construction process, i.e., we need cost information, communications, RFI, change orders, etc. so people have a comprehensive view of what’s going on,” said Hanspal.
“We’ve been taking a build approach with Buzzsaw, but with Constructware we found a company that was compatible and complementary and they offered us general contractor and engineering companies that complemented our customer base.” These two products are both chasing the same problem from different views. The purchase nets Autodesk 1,000 new users, who are a combination of large construction companies, with a strong base in government, schools, universities and on the commercial side, homebuilders.
Indirectly, this confirms what we’ve always known about Autodesk Buzzsaw: that it is weak when it comes to managing construction – as opposed to design-related – processes; this may be even more the case if one talks about managing UK-specific construction processes. (The number of users seems a bit low, but perhaps this should read ‘customers’?)
