Tell us about autodesk’s geospatial solutions
Autodesk provide solutions to design, operate and manage infrastructure. Our geospatial solutions are meant for the entire lifecycle of infrastructure design to management, be it water or electricity network or utility infrastructure. We offer solutions with geospatial perspective. Our technology helps in mapping, civil engineering and design data.

What solution you offer as an integration of cad & GIs?
Our customers demand integration. By providing CAD and GIS functionality in a single offering, we deliver a great deal of functionality to our customers. Our solutions are transforming the civil engineering in design development and documentation process. The solutions are of immense use for government and utility organizations. We make our products as easy to use as possible, so that its adoption is easy and fast streamlining complex processes and simplify the sharing of data.

How important is precision in autodesk’s geospatial solutions?
It is hard to have geospatial solution unless we have a good design story. In case of utility and water infrastructure management, design is critical and so is precision. That ultimately leads to you to the accurate answers to the questions like where is my asset and in what condition it is in.

Do you have any customized solutions for India?
India is changing very fast especially if you look at the pace of urbanization. The government and utility organisations are under stress in extending the proper services to urban population. Autodesk solutions have a major role to play. We have understanding of local needs and do customize our products to suit their needs. To help us in this, we have talent and knowledge base here. India is a country which
continues to attract our attention.

Any comparison between India and china?
In fact both countries are focusing on infrastructure development. If Beijing is getting ready for Olympics then Delhi prepares itself for Commom Wealth. In both case there is huge opportunity for managing infrastructure like airports, hotels, buildings, etc. We have perfect offerings not only to manage them but also for future analysis and simulations.

What about the acceptability of these solutions?
We ensure that our customers are successful in adoption of the technology. Our solutions are easy to learn and adopt. We have large trained engineers and customer base. We provide training to our customers. We are also training students in Universities as well.

How closely do you work with Universities in India?
Autodesk is working very closely with some of the leading institutes of India. We are working on development of laboratories on “Innovative Design and Research” with Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and Chennai. We are also working with National Institute of Design to promote design education in India. We are not simply providing the software but also involving research associates in live projects for prototyping and simulations. By interacting with these institutes, we are able to create a talent pool and also bring academia and industry closer to each other.

Has autodesk growth in India spilled over to the saarc region also?
There is tremendous interest in these countries. We have customers in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. However, the initiatives are isolated and need to be taken to the next stage. The advantage is that they can learn from our mistakes. Our interaction continues with senior level officials there. Although slow, still there is a growth, a definite growth.