Subscription Only at Autodesk

Archive notice: This article was originally published on October 9, 2014. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.

Autodesk Senior Vice President Andrew Anagnost announced at Investor Day 2014 that the desktop subscription model is performing excellently. 35 percent of all subscription customers are new users of Autodesk products.

Nevertheless, 2.9 million users still have a perpetual licence. Anagost believes, however, that these customers only still use this type of licence because it is offered. Autodesk wants to increase the pressure to switch to the pay-as-you-go subscription model through the changes. The process is to be implemented gradually over the next 12 to 24 months by repeatedly removing perpetual licences from the overall offering.

Autodesk is currently already trying to entice users with a 10 percent discount when upgrading and switching to the subscription model. From February 2015 onwards, upgrades for older versions are no longer supposed to be available, and anyone who takes out a subscription contract by October 24 can still benefit from the discount.

Overall, this change is intended to improve the Autodesk support system, because it means all software users will be working on the latest version.

Most subscription sales, around 51 percent, were made through Autodesk’s own e-store, but the company wants to make its subscriptions more attractive for reseller sales channels in the future as well. Following the announcement of the new sales plans for the next two years, Autodesk’s share price rose to a new record high of 58.75 US dollars on Wall Street.

All further information about Autodesk can be found here.