Dara Treseder, Chief Marketing Officer, Autodesk: Our customers are seeing a massive positive impact from digital transformation and digital maturity. The Design and Make category employs over 300 million professionals across a variety of industries that essentially combine digital design and making of things in the physical world. Whether it’s construction, it’s manufacturing, it’s architecture, it’s media and entertainment, that convergence of design and make is what this category is all about.
The State of Design & Make report helps our industries better understand the trends shaping the current environment and, more importantly, equips them with the insights that are critical for addressing these challenges head-on.
Steve Blum, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Autodesk: Our customers are dealing with a lot of challenges these days. First, I will say they’re dealing with more uncertainty than ever before. And in fact, the report shows that the level of uncertainty has gone up since the last report.
Treseder: There were three big things on our customers’ minds. Economic pressure, the skills gap, and emerging technology.
Blum: Companies are dealing with cost controls, and they’re a little more tentative in making those expenditures.
Treseder: Everyone was thinking about, “How can I be more efficient? How can I address supply-chain issues?” Whether you’re in the architecture industry or in the construction or manufacturing or in media and entertainment, the reality of the economic pressure was real.
Blum: Sixty-one percent of companies are saying they are having difficulty finding the talent they need. The skills gap in this talent challenge continues to exist. Companies are more concerned they do not have the talent and the skills to execute on AI to meet their goals going forward.
Treseder: AI is here to stay, just like the Internet, just like 5G, just like computers. And increasingly, our customers are trying to understand, “How do I make the most of this emerging technology?”
Blum: Companies that are investing in their digital transformations are getting 50% return on that investment already. While the companies that actually are behind are pulling back on their spend. So they’re actually going to put themselves further behind. One of the ways that we are talking with our customers is how do we team up to go ensure that the universities and educational institutions have the tools and the mechanisms in the curriculum to be training students to come out into the commercial world ready to take on those roles.
Treseder: It’s really exciting to see how data-effective organizations are starting to use AI to be more sustainable. Nearly 75% of business leaders of digitally mature companies saw that investing in sustainability improved short-term growth with even more leaders talking about the impact it has on long-term growth.
Blum: I am blown away by what our customers do with our software. Our customers are creating innovations that have such impact in the world and they’re impacting the lives of so many people. They’re making the world really a better place.
Treseder: I’m optimistic and hopeful because of not only the next generation, but today’s workforce. I’m inspired by how everyone is committed to reskilling and upskilling and just doing whatever it takes to keep up with the pace of ensuring that we are designing and making a better world.
Blum: This connection to purpose and impact is something that makes me so proud of being an Autodesker and so proud of what our customers do each and every day.
Treseder: I think that the possibilities are endless—across water, transportation, architecture, construction, manufacturing—and I’m excited to see our customers start to really take their digital transformation from an early effort to a mature effort. And we’re going to be with them every step of the way.
