Amy Bunszel: Innovating Products in the AEC Industry at Autodesk

By Luke Lightning

May 11, 2022

On this episode of the Future Construct Podcast (24 min interview), we are excited to feature Amy Bunszel (@AmyBunszel), who is the EVP of AEC Design, Autodesk (@Autodesk). Amy is a board member and a C-level technology executive, product strategist and thought leader with over 20 years of experience innovating enterprise software products across the architectural, engineering and construction (AEC), manufacturing and film and game industries. She has a unique ability to inspire innovative strategy while driving large-scale agile software development around the globe. Her roots as a start-up co-founder, combined with deep product leadership, large-scale product execution expertise and a successful change management record enable her to drive and advise on business model transform while maintaining and growing customer loyalty.

Autodesk is changing how the world is designed and made, their technology spans architecture, engineering, construction, product design, manufacturing, media, and entertainment, empowering innovators everywhere to solve challenges big and small. From greener buildings to smarter products to more mesmerizing blockbusters, Autodesk software helps its customers to design and make a better world for all.

Click to listen to our interview with Amy Bunszel on Apple, Spotify, or Google, or watch on our Facebook or YouTube channels.

Highlights of Amy Bunszel’s interview with host Amy Peck (@AmyPeckXR) include:

• Amy Bunszel’s career path starting as an electrical engineer  

• Training new employees in modular construction in a safe, low-waste factory setting

• Autodesk's work with schools: K-12, community colleges, and secondary education

• How exciting high-tech construction is for the next generation while passing the knowledge along from the retiring generation

Amy was also co-founder of Linius Technologies in 1996. The company delivered wire harness design software to the manufacturing industry. Its technology was integrated with Autodesk’s Inventor 3D mechanical design software when Autodesk acquired the company in 2003. This spring, she was named one of “2021 Top 50 Women in Tech” by the National Diversity and Leadership Conference.

Some of her notable achievements include having led a global team of 1,200 to develop and deliver highly adopted Windows and Mac desktop products, web services and mobile apps that are responsible for more than 90% of Autodesk’s over $2B annualized recurring revenue and 90% of its 3.5M subscribers, catalyzing revenue growth of over 90% and an increase of Autodesk's stock price of 3X after she led the transformation of the products to transform a perpetual business model to a 100% subscription model in 3 years. As Vice President of AutoCAD Products, Amy led product strategy and execution of Autodesk’s AutoCAD product family serving 11M worldwide users (desktop, web and mobile), generating $1B in annual revenue. Based on LUMA’s design thinking methodology, she built a culture of customer-centered innovation and scaled it to 2,000+ people at Autodesk.

Click to listen to our interview with Amy Bunszel on Apple, Spotify, or Google, or watch on our Facebook or YouTube channels.

Show Notes

00:37  Amy Peck introduces Amy Bunszel, EVP of AEC Design, Autodesk.

06:07 You're in a business that is 3D in nature, and we live in 3D environments, and yet we really have trained ourselves to work in 2D. How has the evolution of moving these sorts of 3D designs and assets into the 3D realm affected workflow, and how difficult is it to manage that end-to-end workflow?

12:38 So we talked about training the next generation who have no construction experience, but on the other side, there is an incredible amount of knowledge within the workforce who may be retiring over the next decade or so. Are there some ways that companies can capture and leverage that knowledge and expertise for this next generation of construction professionals?

16:37 And then with this next-generation workforce, there’s a big challenge in recruiting and showing that these industries are leveraging cutting edge technology and great software, it really does require this kind of marketing effort to show what a day in the life of this future worker might be. And so, are there some examples of that we might be able to share that would be interesting for people listening?

20:05 Yeah. And just looking into the future again, and we talked a little bit about some of the emerging technologies, you know, are there some other things that just, you know, you're really excited about or, or some technologies you've seen or, or uses of technology that really, you know, can, can make a huge difference in, in process and how it improves outcomes?

21:55 So taking us to the future, I'd love to ask you the question that I ask everyone. And that is if you could project yourself 20, 25 years in the future, and you could bring with you any gadget or service that would actually just make your life, you know, on a personal level better, or make you happy, what would it be and what would it do?

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