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industryweek.com

Shaping the Future of Computer-Aided

Design

By Rob Maguire, AutoCAD Product Line Director, Autodesk | Apr 13, 2017
8-10 minutos

The B2B software industry is accelerating its transition to software-

as-a-service, while industries increasingly adopt 3-D parametric
modeling, simulation and collaboration solutions — transforming
the way architects, designers, drafters, detailers, engineers and
many other professionals design and make things.

This begs the question: Where is more traditional Computer Aided

Design software heading? There are three big evolutions shaping
the future of CAD software and influencing CAD users’
expectations. These entail enablement of a highly personalized
experience, seamless and expanded collaboration, and universal
access to game-changing insights.

Let’s take a closer look at important trends and their implications for
users.

The Growing Importance of Personalization

The ability to easily customize design and drafting software is key

to the perceived utility of these important tools. In the traditional
desktop software environment, most software vendors have added
features and expanded their portfolios over the years in an effort to
address the needs of the largest number of users. This has resulted
in complex and feature-rich products with a huge number of
available commands that most users never touch. On the flipside,
an overwhelming majority of users need additional features that the
application doesn’t provide out of the box.

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Thankfully, this time will soon be over.

The future lies in providing users with platform technologies that

can easily be configured and augmented. Within the product, it will
be simple for users to discover and test add-ons and third-party
vertical applications complementing a base product. Think of it as
plain yogurt: you can add whichever toppings you choose.

Adding updated features to your existing workflow and upgrading

software will be seamless. This will be true not only for features,
user interfaces, and tools, but also for training and learning
materials, content, additional subscription benefits, and more — all
of which will be recommended or served at the right time based on
the user’s design intent and preferences.

The shift toward a subscription model and cloud-based services will

allow software vendors to become much more intelligent and agile
in terms of offering what’s right for each user and organization,
while also helping them gradually and seamlessly adopt the next
level of technology. At any time, depending on the project
requirements or skills, users will be able to adapt their software to
their needs. In other words, their CAD tools will evolve both with
them and for them.

Improved Collaboration Will Occur in the Cloud

Collaboration challenges are as old as the design and engineering

space. These challenges remain one of the main sources of pain
for today’s CAD users. Indeed, there are routinely multiple
stakeholders — often hundreds — involved in the design process
from different companies. Thousands of revisions get performed
asynchronously throughout the lifecycle of a project. And with
dozens of so-called collaboration tools often being used in parallel
within a company or project ecosystem, it’s little wonder there are
problems.

Now, imagine a world where collaborating is more streamlined. The

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move to cloud-based design technology will free up some of the

constraints that arise when only a single user can work on a file at a
time. A world where connecting different tools is seamless and file
formats and software releases won’t matter or exist, freeing users
from the challenges of versions, compatibility and interoperability.
There will be one version, one platform and one design, and it will
be maintained in the cloud.

Another accelerating factor is the evolution of how users think

about collaboration. In the world before CAD, collaboration was a
slow, expensive process. Making a design change required using
razor blades to scrape ink lines from acetate sheets. As a result,
there wasn’t any room for iterative collaboration. However, the
advent of design and drafting software changed that by reducing
the time and cost to change a design, enabling far greater degrees
of collaboration.

Something similar is occurring with cloud- and web-based CAD.

Users will gain the ability to work simultaneously on a single model,
have access based on design element, or access playback — like
in a video editing tool — of the history and ramifications of changes
made throughout the entire project.

But when we look at how collaboration will evolve, there is a much

bigger disruption that may be on the horizon as a result of moving
to cloud-based technology. The power of the crowd is really where
the new generation of CAD will find its potential.

At some point, there will be digital marketplaces and social

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networks that will allow CAD users to connect with one another
from within their application, share — and eventually monetize best
practices, content, add-ons, and engineering solutions. There will
most likely be a place where designers working on similar projects
or products will be able to agree on certain specifications and group
orders to suppliers and manufacturers, thereby taking the unit cost
down while ensuring a more predictable and stable demand for
suppliers.

Cloud-based CAD will make it possible for users to exchange the

recipes that compose the engineering world, tapping into much
more intelligence than what the most advanced level of software or
artificial intelligence can provide.

Universal Access to Rich Data and Transformational Insights

Most users already expect access to their design data any time,
anywhere, in a way that is device and platform agnostic. The real
value of having data stored in the cloud will come from the insights
that will be provided back to users, design team managers and
executives. For example, one challenge for users is not being able
to reuse old designs, as old data isn’t well archived, or is hard to
search (or when knowledge leaves with employees). Analyzing
data from past projects will provide users with contextual content,
like blocks or templates, as people design.

Almost any question you could ask about a project will have an
answer: How many individuals in a department touched the model?
How many hours have been spent on the project across different
disciplines and tasks? What were the friction points, and where can
workflows be improved?

Such insights will help with strategic decisions around resource

allocation, innovation, IT investments, talent acquisition and
development. This will put more power in the hands of those
overseeing CAD technology, such as CAD managers and system
engineers.

This data will still be proprietary to the companies and users

creating it.

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Today, there are already very strict restrictions about data

protection in most countries, and as the industry moves to the
cloud, more regulations will emerge and bring additional protection.
One thing is certain: companies embracing the cloud early on for
their design and collaboration applications will have a significant
competitive advantage. Some large companies have already made
the leap and are pressuring CAD software vendors to move faster.

There is no doubt, the shift to a software-as-a-service model will

accelerate the delivery of an entirely new and delightful experience
for users, while profoundly changing the way they collaborate and
do their work.

Rob Maguire is the AutoCAD product line director at Autodesk. He

is responsible for overseeing the company’s flagship product line,
AutoCAD, the world’s leading design and drafting solution. Rob has
more than 17 years of experience in engineering and project
management roles. Rob is passionately engaged in new
technology, most recently 3-D laser scanning and photogrammetry
requirements gathering. He can be reached at
rob.maguire@autodesk.com.

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