FROM RESELLERS TO STRATEGIC ADVISORS: THE EVOLUTION OF AUTODESK’S CHANNEL ECOSYSTEM

Pradeepto Dey, Director – Channels, Autodesk India & SAARC, outlines how a future-ready, outcome-driven partner ecosystem is becoming the cornerstone of Autodesk’s strategy to capitalize on India’s digital construction, infrastructure, and manufacturing boom.

India's infrastructure renaissance, manufacturing resurgence, and rapid adoption of digital construction technologies are reshaping the country's economic landscape at an unprecedented pace. As organizations across sectors embrace digitization to drive efficiency, sustainability, and scale, technology providers are reimagining how they engage customers and deliver business outcomes. At the heart of this transformation lies a robust and evolving channel ecosystem that serves as the critical bridge between innovation and execution.

In this special exclusive interaction with SME Channels’ Editor Manash Ranjan Debata, Pradeepto Dey, Director – Channels, Autodesk India & SAARC, offers an in-depth perspective on how Autodesk is aligning its channel strategy with India's growth story. The conversation explores how the company is empowering partners to move beyond traditional software transactions toward outcome-driven engagements, while building capabilities in cloud collaboration, AI-led design, automation, digital construction, and platform services. It also examines the pivotal role partners play in accelerating customer adoption, expanding Autodesk's reach across India's diverse SME landscape, and supporting the country's ambitious infrastructure and manufacturing goals.

More importantly, this exclusive discussion delves into Autodesk's long-term vision for channel transformation—covering partner enablement, specialization, cloud adoption, customer success, and ecosystem diversification. Pradeepto shares valuable insights into the company's future-ready approach to building a highly capable, services-led, platform-centric partner network that can drive measurable customer outcomes at scale. From growth opportunities in Tier-2 and Tier-3 markets to the evolving role of partners in the age of AI and digital transformation, the interaction offers a comprehensive roadmap for channel leaders seeking to remain relevant and profitable in an increasingly outcome-driven technology landscape. Edited Excerpts…

Q. How does Autodesk’s India channel strategy align with the country’s rapid growth in infrastructure, manufacturing, and digital construction, and what role do partners play in driving this growth?

Autodesk’s channel strategy is closely aligned with India’s accelerating growth across infrastructure, manufacturing, and digital construction. Through its connected, data-driven Design and Make Platform, Autodesk enables customers to enhance efficiency, improve outcomes, and scale operations effectively.

Partners are central to this strategy. The Autodesk partner ecosystem is evolving from a traditional product-centric sales model to an outcome-driven engagement approach. As Autodesk transitions from a software company to a platform-led organization, partners are also transforming their business models to support customers throughout the entire project lifecycle—from planning and design to construction, manufacturing, operations, and lifecycle management.

To support this transformation, Autodesk assesses partner readiness, willingness, and capability to evolve, and invests in those best positioned to deliver measurable customer outcomes. These efforts are designed to create long-term value for customers while supporting sustainable growth for both partners and Autodesk.

Recognizing the significant investments being made in the public sector, Autodesk has also established a dedicated public sector vertical and strengthened its channel organization with specialized resources and partners focused on government opportunities. This further reinforces Autodesk’s commitment to supporting India’s growth agenda.

Q. What specific investments is Autodesk making to upskill and enable its Indian channel partners in emerging areas such as AI-driven design, automation, and cloud-based collaboration?

Autodesk is making targeted investments to strengthen partner capabilities across AI-driven design, automation, cloud collaboration, and customer adoption. As customer environments increasingly shift toward cloud-based and platform-driven models, developing advanced partner capabilities has become a strategic priority.

The company has launched multiple enablement programs focused on cloud collaboration, design automation, and Autodesk Platform Services. Through its Strategic Investment Program, Autodesk provides funding to help partners enhance technical capabilities and expand service offerings.

A key aspect of this approach is fostering partner-to-partner collaboration. Autodesk connects solution providers with application providers and ISVs, enabling them to work jointly on customer projects, accelerate practical expertise, and deliver services-led engagements that drive business growth.

In addition, Autodesk provides partners with API access through Autodesk Platform Services, enabling them to develop scalable automation solutions, workflow integrations, and cloud-connected applications. These initiatives are supported by technical guidance from Autodesk’s Developer Advocacy team.

Overall, Autodesk’s focus extends beyond product training to helping partners build deep industry expertise and service capabilities that support long-term customer engagement and business growth.

Q. India has a large SME customer base—how is Autodesk leveraging its channel ecosystem to deepen penetration in this segment while maintaining scale and profitability for partners?

Autodesk is expanding its presence within India’s SME segment by enabling partners to adopt an outcome-driven, domain-led engagement model rather than a purely product-centric approach. Partners are being equipped to deliver measurable business outcomes through workflow optimization, automation, cloud collaboration, productivity enhancement, cost reduction, and faster project delivery.

A services-led engagement model not only improves customer outcomes but also enhances partner profitability. Autodesk actively assesses partner service capabilities and invests in addressing capability gaps where required.

To deepen market penetration, Autodesk focuses on three strategic pillars: coverage, capacity, and capability. Coverage relates to geographic expansion, capacity focuses on partner resources and productivity, and capability addresses technical expertise and solution delivery.

The company also works closely with its value-added distributors, which follow a hub-and-spoke model to expand reach across Tier-2 and Tier-3 markets. By aligning market opportunities with regional economic growth indicators, Autodesk continuously optimizes its channel ecosystem to improve SME market coverage and drive sustainable growth.

Q. As Autodesk continues to evolve its subscription and platform-based offerings, how are channel partners adapting, and what support is Autodesk providing to help them transition successfully?

Autodesk has successfully transitioned to a subscription-based business model and is now advancing toward a platform-centric strategy. In parallel, its partner ecosystem is evolving from traditional reselling to delivering measurable customer outcomes aligned with Autodesk’s Design and Make Platform vision.

To support this transformation, Autodesk invests significantly in capability development, scalable capacity creation, and platform-focused go-to-market enablement. The company provides market development funds, dedicated readiness programs, and structured enablement initiatives designed to prepare partners for a platform-driven future.

Autodesk also encourages collaboration between solution providers and its ecosystem of ISVs and application providers. This approach helps partners build repeatable services-led revenue streams and strengthen their relevance in a subscription-first environment.

Additional initiatives such as industry accelerators, targeted account-selling frameworks, and specialized training programs further enhance partner readiness. Autodesk remains deeply committed to supporting its partners throughout this transformation journey.

Q. With increasing competition in the design and engineering software space, how do you encourage channel partners to differentiate through industry specialization or value-added services?

Autodesk strongly encourages partners to differentiate themselves through deep industry specialization and scalable value-added services. Rather than positioning themselves as general technology resellers, partners are encouraged to develop expertise in specific sectors such as manufacturing, automotive, architecture, engineering, construction, infrastructure, and emerging industries such as electric vehicles.

The company works closely with partners to assess their inherent strengths and competitive advantages, align them with Autodesk’s business priorities, and create tailored capability development plans.

Autodesk’s consulting and readiness teams play a critical role in evaluating service maturity, defining best practices, and building structured transformation roadmaps. Combined with targeted enablement programs and outcome-driven go-to-market strategies, these efforts help partners establish meaningful differentiation and deliver measurable customer value.

Q. How critical is the channel in accelerating cloud adoption among Indian customers, particularly in traditionally conservative industries like construction and manufacturing?

The channel ecosystem plays a pivotal role in accelerating cloud adoption across India’s construction and manufacturing sectors. These industries often require trusted local engagement, industry expertise, and outcome-oriented guidance to successfully embrace digital transformation.

Autodesk’s cloud portfolio includes industry-specific platforms such as Autodesk Forma for architecture, engineering, and construction; Autodesk Fusion for manufacturing; and Autodesk Flow for media and entertainment. In addition, Autodesk Construction Cloud supports end-to-end construction management, while Autodesk Platform Services provides APIs and web services that enable customization and integration.

Partners leverage these technologies to develop tailored solutions, automate workflows, and create industry-specific applications. Increasingly, partners are expanding beyond traditional solution delivery and becoming digital transformation providers by building their own applications and services on Autodesk’s platform.

As a result, channel partners serve as a critical bridge between Autodesk’s cloud innovations and customer adoption.

Q. What KPIs or success metrics does Autodesk prioritize when evaluating channel partner performance in India beyond revenue, such as customer success or adoption outcomes?

While revenue remains an important performance indicator, Autodesk evaluates partner success through a broader set of customer-centric metrics focused on long-term value creation.

Key measures include customer renewal rates, account expansion, product adoption, assignment rates, and utilization rates. These indicators provide insights into how effectively customers are using Autodesk solutions and whether partners are delivering sustained value beyond the initial transaction.

Autodesk believes that successful customer outcomes are driven by strong post-sales adoption frameworks. Accordingly, partners are expected to support customers throughout their adoption journey, ensuring effective deployment, utilization, and value realization.

To facilitate this, Autodesk maintains dedicated customer success teams and partner success managers who work closely with partners to strengthen customer success capabilities. The overall objective is to drive higher retention, stronger adoption, and scalable expansion opportunities across the customer lifecycle.

Q. Going ahead three to five years, how do you see Autodesk’s India channel ecosystem evolving, and what new opportunities or challenges should partners prepare for?

Over the next three to five years, Autodesk expects its India channel ecosystem to evolve into a highly specialized, services-led, platform-driven network capable of supporting significant business growth.

The focus will not simply be on increasing the number of partners, but on building a stronger ecosystem of highly capable partners that can consistently deliver measurable business value and sustainable profitability.

This evolution will create opportunities beyond traditional software sales, including consulting, implementation, managed services, customer success, workflow automation, lifecycle support, and digital transformation services.

Autodesk’s future channel strategy is anchored on three pillars: channel expansion, channel diversification, and channel transformation. Expansion will focus on extending reach into Tier-2 and Tier-3 markets. Diversification will include broader engagement with ISVs, system integrators, consulting firms, hyperscalers, and public-sector specialists. Transformation will focus on modernizing existing partners into industry-specialized, outcome-driven solution providers aligned with Autodesk’s cloud-first platform vision.

Q. As a channel chief, what according to you should be the holy grail of channel or partner success? And how do you manage to chisel out the best out of your channel partners?

The foundation of partner success within the Autodesk ecosystem lies in developing deep domain expertise rather than pursuing broad but superficial specialization. Partners should strive to become trusted advisors capable of supporting customers throughout the entire lifecycle—from planning and design to construction, operations, and maintenance.

A second critical success factor is a strong focus on services. In an increasingly platform-driven environment, value-added services are the primary differentiator. Customers invest in technology to achieve business outcomes, and partners who can deliver those outcomes through consulting, implementation, optimization, and support services will be best positioned for long-term success.

In summary, the key principles are simple: develop deep specialization and maintain an unwavering focus on delivering measurable customer outcomes.