Company: Autodesk, Inc., San Francisco, CA
Nomination Submitted by: Spur Reply
Company Description: Autodesk is a leader in 3D design, engineering, and entertainment software, and has been developing design and make technology since 1982. Known for AutoCAD, Revit, and Maya 3D, Autodesk offers the broadest portfolio of 3D software for global markets, serving customers across the manufacturing, architecture, building, construction, media and entertainment industries.
Nomination Category: Sales Awards Achievement Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Sales Enablement Program of the Year
 Nomination Title: Autodesk’s Enablement for the New Buying Experience
- Briefly describe the nominated organization or individual: history and past performance (up to 200 words):
Total 194 words used.
Autodesk’s mission is to empower everyone, everywhere to design and make anything.
Autodesk has spent the four decades since its founding in service of this mission, empowering customers to find solutions to today’s challenges, big and small. Autodesk also ensures its partners and employees have the tools and resources necessary to work fluidly across the boundaries of project, team, and discipline.
The most recent example of this commitment is the launch of a new buying experience that provides value to everyone involved in Autodesk’s buying cycle. Customers, partners, and customer-facing roles each benefit from a more personalized buying experience, predictable pricing, and a streamlined data-enriched process. The transition from a traditional reseller model to the new buying experience, where Autodesk, its partners, and customers are more closely connected than ever, marks a significant transformation for Autodesk. This evolution prompted new types of sales conversations and processes for Autodesk partners and support teams, who would have been unprepared without a comprehensive enablement plan supporting the rollout.
The new buying experience, and the supporting enablement program, are a continued manifestation of Autodesk’s efforts to empower creators and the teams supporting them to do their best work.
- Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes, explaining the nominated achievement since July 1, 2022, OR written answers to the questions? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video. If you are submitting written answers to the questions for this category, provide them in the spaces below.
- Outline the nominated achievement since July 1 2022 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 250 words):
Total 234 words used.
Autodesk launched the new buying experience in Australia in November 2023, New Zealand in March 2024, the United States and Canada in June, Europe (EEA/UK/CH) in September, and Japan in November. This phased global rollout required the careful coordination of Autodesk’s global partner network and 13 internal workstreams to enable 2120 partners and sellers worldwide.
The enablement, communication, and change management groups utilized Autodesk’s cross-functional and agile One Team approach to develop and distribute 23tech releases, 66 live sessions, 11 on-demand courses, 52 guides, and 41 videos customized for specific audiences, across 4 time zones, and in 5 languages.
Delivered across four consecutive learning stages (Getting started; Basic workflows and supporting customers; Navigating tools, policy and processes; Rollout and reinforcement), the 193resources support a progressive learning journey that distills complex information into different formats and easily digestible segments. The team also created new learning and support modalities (Knowledge Nuggets, the One Thing Podcast, a Change Agent Network, Manager Success Kits, the Hypercare team) to support self-paced learning and post-launch enablement and reinforcement.
Enablement content was centralized within Autodesk’s Seismic hub that notified users when new material was available. For the first time, Autodesk partners had access to this internal content hub. This contributed to increased trust between Autodesk and its partners, and to partner readiness by equipping partners with tailored content to be used to proactively train their internal teams and engage with customers.
- Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 216 words used.
Regularly awarded as one of the best places to work, more information on how Autodesk enables its employees to do their best work can be found here.
Autodesk announced fiscal 2025 second quarter results in a news release published here on August 29, 2024. The interim CFO mentions the “smooth launch” of the new buying experience and its positive business impact, enabling Autodesk to raise the mid-points of billings, revenue, earnings per share, and free cash flow guidance ranges.
Links to the One Thing Podcast, and Knowledge Nuggets:
These are new learning modalities created as part of the enablement efforts supporting the new buying experience rollout.
We have also included:
- “Autodesk New Buying Experience Enablement”: PowerPoint deck illustrating the reach, impact, and effectiveness of the enablement program supporting the launch of Autodesk’s new buying experience. Included are supporting details about the enablement strategy (phases and timelines guiding rollout), the learning content and support modalities created, and data on training engagement and completion rates.
- “Empowering to Win” video of partner and team testimonials that further validate the program’s success in preparing teams for the transition and demonstrates the real-world value and adoption of the regions served.
- Explain why the achievement you have highlighted is unique or significant. If possible compare the achievement to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the nominee's past performance (up to 250 words):
Total 205 words used.
Unlike traditional enablement programs in the industry, Autodesk’s enablement for the new buying experience provides a comprehensive learning journey that caters to diverse learning styles and roles, a method that is both flexible and robust compared to industry norms.
Evolutions in business priorities and the international scale of the transition demanded this flexibility. The phased global rollout and stages of the enablement program created reliable opportunities to capture and integrate learner feedback. This approach leveraged valuable insights to adapt processes, align with evolving business priorities, and illuminate new areas of discovery for continuous improvement and excellence. This involved refining existing enablement materials to maintain accuracy and developing new touchpoints and collateral to meet identified needs and geo complexities.
The result was a more robust set of localized materials for subsequent geos while bolstering the enablement reinforcement activities for the preceding regions. By creating geo- and audience-specific collateral, Autodesk ensured the resources were impactful and relevant for partner and customer-facing teams. This unified messaging minimized the risks of revenue impact or potential fallout from customers or partners during rollout. Autodesk customers, partners, and internal Autodesk teams thus felt prepared for the change, understood the new model’s value, and knew steps to take ahead of the transition.
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