While I personally thought Autodesk would announce next (not this) release would be the final release of Land Desktop, the announcement itself really comes as no surprise. Since the Technology Preview release of 2004, Civil 3D has evolved from a really cool new technology to a technology now able to sustain real-world design. For firms still using Land Desktop, switching to Civil 3D has less to do with the technical abilities of the software, and more to do with the cultural paradigm and the raw cost.
Civil 3D is not an incremental upgrade to Land Desktop; it’s a replacement for Land Desktop. For that reason many firms still have weighed Civil 3D vs LDT, and simply decided to stay on LDT subscribing to the notion “if it aint broke, don’t fix it”. More often than not that argument is code for, we’re not willing to commit to the hours upon hours of training our staff will need to be productive on Civil 3D. While Civil 3D certainly has the potential to save lots of time [money] in the long run, it’s difficult to convince management to forgo the necessary cost of training.
News of a reseller offering training is far from monumental. Something monumental would be a reseller offering unlimited live training to their customers. That’s exactly the announcement Engineered Efficiency recently made. EE CivilAccess and EE GuidedAccess customers will have the opportunity to enjoy unlimited free access to an impressive curriculum including; Core Concepts; Residential Design; Site Design; Transportation (local roads); Survey; Styles; Data Management; and Workflows.
Something especially appealing to those migrating from Land Desktop is the other services included in the EE CivilAccess and EE GuidedAccess portfolios. In addition to unlimited instructor led training, EE customers receive their impressive ProPak Base [Express Tools for C3D], access to an exclusive knowledge base, and support tokens. Their GuidedAccess offering provides a 5-step implementation, including the all important pilot project mentoring. The folks over at Engineered Efficiency have all but ignored the conventional reseller model, offering their clients premium services at an affordable price.
To learn more about EE’s impressive offering check out their website at www.eng-eff.com.
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Donnie-you are absolutely correct. It is much easier, and cheaper, to hire people and then let them go when a problem comes up. With a software, you are stuck with it. The only way out is to purchase new software.
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Brian – Personally I think it comes to be a matter of predictability. When a manager looks at a purchase request for technology they have little assurance that the company will ever recover the costs. On the other hand, a manager can simply hire another person, and by means of job performance goals and the like – measure his/her performance over time to insure an adequate ROI. Knowing the benefits of C3D vs hiring another person seems ridiculous, but for a manager who knows people but not technology – that new guy seems more responsible from a financial perspective.
Great post Donnie. You hit on many points that I am currently dealing with where I work. Be bought Civil3D 2007, 2 years ago, and have yet to do anything with it. We did upgrade from AutoCAD 2004 to 2007, then to 2008. Now we are debating running 2009. But we run C3D as vanilla AutoCAD, with tons of custom lisp routines. Some of our surveyors are using Civil3D to manage points, but that’s the extent. Management is worried about the bottom line. We had our vendor come in and train us, but that was in October 2007. The market is slow right now for us and they are worried about, as you said, fixing something that isn’t broken. I understand this thinking to an extent, but if we already bought the software, bought the training, then why aren’t we using it? I told my boss yesterday that I have come to the realization in my life that there are two things I will never understand; women (no offense I’m just dumb) and management. Neither he nor my wife appreciated that comment. Another thing I haven’t learned is to keep my mouth shut!