CU Jul-Aug 2020

SOFTWAREfocus
A license to design
Software subscriptions are growing in popularity as they meet the needs of both software developers
and their customers, according to Vectorworks CEO Dr. Biplab Sarkar
Why do architectural studios
adopt one particular
application rather than
another? I suppose there are a number
of reasons - familiarity with an
application having used it at university
or at another practice, or because it
met the needs of the projects it was
intended to be used for, or it viable
under the financial constraints of a new
design studio. Whatever the reason,
once a practice starts to grow and take
on more staff or the scope of its work
widens, all subsequent software
decisions revolve around the key
architectural package.
That's why the initial decision has to
be soundly based and why the needs
of both the customer and the software
provider are conducive to forming a
long and fruitful partnership. As a
customer you need the developer to
maintain the software to a high
standard, to incorporate the latest
techniques and technologies to meet
the challenges of an evolving industry,
and to provide support and advice
whenever it is required. To be able to
do that, the software developer has to
be able to guarantee sufficient
commitment from its customers to pay
for the development and support.
A range of software licensing and
maintenance options designed to
handle this have been adopted by
software developers. The requirements
for design studios vary though, and a
degree of flexibility has to be built into
the system to enable it to share
licenses between architects and
designers if they are not being used to
their maximum, to use the same
license for both office and home use
or to acquire licenses on a short-term
basis to handle projects with a limited
duration.
Increasingly, though, a software
subscription is seen as an alternative to
the existing software licensing and
maintenance options. Nicole Davison,
VP of Sales at Vectorworks explained,
"We value our customers, so we
prioritise offering purchasing options
and solutions that make the most
sense for them. With this in mind, we've
chosen to offer perpetual, perpetual
with maintenance, network, single-user
options for perpetual licenses, and
subscription with single-user options,
so that we can customise a solution
that's best for our customers and their
varying needs.
Additionally, our philosophy is to
reward customers for their longevity
commitment. A customer who commits
to the long-term by purchasing a
perpetual license and staying on our
maintenance plan always receives the
lowest price for our product."
Her comments were echoed by
Vectorworks CEO Dr. Biplab Sarkar.
"Historically, our goal has been to
maintain cost of ownership lower than
our primary competition. Vectorworks is
a value-priced product over time, and
we find that these cost savings allow us
to best support our customers.
Continuing to offer versatile purchasing
options to our customers around the
world allows us the flexibility to
challenge our competitors who have
limited offerings."
Vectorworks customers now have the
option to choose between perpetual
licensing and subscription terms that fit
their business requirements best. "In
fact," Dr. Biplab added, "the option is
growing in popularity with Vectorworks
customers, particularly in the
entertainment industry, contractors with
fluctuating workforces and architects
who like to budget by project."
LICENSING OPTIONS
There are, basically, two types of
Vectorworks licenses: subscription
licenses that renew both monthly and
annually, and a perpetual license with
an optional yearly maintenance
program, Vectorworks Service Select,
that offers a free upgrade every year
and additional services such as access
to additional content libraries,
discounted training, expanded cloud
storage, premium tech support and
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July/August 2020